The Copybook
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
On May 8th, 1945, Winston Churchill took to the radio to tell the British public that almost six years of war were ended.
VE Day is Victory in Europe Day, the commemoration of Germany’s surrender at the end of the Second World War. It is kept to this day (though with less and less pomp as each year goes by) on May 8th. The passage below collects a few of the more significant dates in the months that led up to the unconditional surrender signed at Berlin on that day (more or less) in 1945.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge holds on to those precious moments when loneliness is a problem for tomorrow.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge visited Germany in September 1798 in company with the Wordsworths, staying until the following July. He would later remember Germany as ‘a bright spot of sunshine’ in his life, but at the time he was lonely and homesick, and the death of his little son Berkeley on February 10th added to his griefs. These verses were included in a letter home to his wife Sarah on April 23rd.
William Dewy runs into a menacing bull, but his soothing music doesn’t seem to be soothing enough.
In Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Tess is milking a cow for dairy farmer Mr Crick (he remembered her mother, herself a dairymaid) and finding it rather restful. As she milks, the dairy lads and maids begin a song. ‘You should get your harp, sir’ ventures one lad, a little out of breath; ‘not but what a fiddle is best.’ And Mr Crick shares a story that shows just how right he is.
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle explains what it is that defines a tyranny.
We tend to use the word ‘tyrant’ today with a mental picture of some apoplectic dictator raving and stamping. This is hardly adequate, and it allows much tyranny to pass unnoticed. Aristotle gave us a more carefully drawn word-portrait: of a man (or of men) whose goal is to keep a grip on power by systematically dividing, demeaning and disheartening the public.
Eusebius remembers the banner that Emperor Constantine carried into battle on the day he won his crown.
It was at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, on October 28th, 312, that Constantine — encouraged by the British legions — overcame his rival Maxentius and emerged as the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. In this passage, his friend and confidant Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, recalls what Constantine told him about his vision before the battle, and the banner that Christ told him to make.