Francis Ledwidge - tribute to the centenary of his death скачать в хорошем качестве

Francis Ledwidge - tribute to the centenary of his death

Francis Ledwidge died on 31 July 1917. I've always admired the poem that he wrote for his close friend, Thomas MacDonagh, himself a poet but more notably one of the seven signatories of the 1916 Easter Rising proclamation. 'Lament for Thomas MacDonagh' was written following MacDonagh's execution by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol on 3rd May 1916. I wonder if Ledwidge had a feeling that it might be a poem for his own death. At The Battle of Passchendaele, the Irish patriot died fighting for Ireland, albeit in the wrong country, against the wrong enemy, wearing the wrong uniform. Fighting for Britain during WWI was seen by many Irish nationalists as the only sure way to secure Home Rule. Only by ending the war as soon as possible could we help return British politicians to implementing the Home Rule Bill, the progress for which was stifled when the war broke out. Ledwidge and many others died for Ireland. MacDonagh and his ideologues died for Ireland, though through a different strategy. Unfortunately, they were not complementary strategies. Perhaps Ledwidge realised (as was the case) that when the 1916 Rising began, any of his efforts in the war would thenceforth be completely futile. He and the Irishmen he fought alongside were remembered little in the following decades by the Irish nation for which he and they gave their lives.