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Ernest Pyle
Oct. 31st, 2004 01:19 amErnie's War
Excerpts, Ernie's War
Excerpt: A Dreadful Masterpiece
Setting: Longdon, December 30, 1940
Theme: Beauty in destruction, life in death
Notable Quotes:
"For on that night this old, old city—even though I must bite my tongue in shame for saying it—was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. It was a night when London was ringed and stabbed with fire."
~ The central idea of the piece. Though one is conditioned to associate horror with destruction, Pyle witnessed the spectacle that was the burning of London with awe and fascination.
"The thing I shall always remember above all the other things in my life is the monstrous loveliness of that one single view of London on a holiday night—London stabbed with great fires, shaken by explosions, its dark regions along the Thames sparkling with the pinpoints of white-hot bombs, all of it roofed over with a ceiling of pink that held bursting shells, balloons, flares and the grind of vicious engines. And in yourself the excitement and anticipation and wonder in your soul that this could be happening at all. These things all went together to make the most hateful, most beautiful single scene I have ever known."
~ Theme: beauty in destruction. Pyle uses vivid imageries to describe what he saw.
"Somehow I didn't have a feeling that this was war. I just felt as if I were seeing a terrific number of big "natural" fires. Even when I came upon two buildings that had been blown to dust by heavy bombs less than an hour before, there was still a feeling that it was all perfectly natural."
~ What should be the "right" feeling and response to the fire, if any?
"Life goes on—where last night you felt that this must be the end of everything."
~ The world does not stop to cater to the aftermaths of destruction. It continues.
( More Ernie's War excerpts... )
Drought Bowl
Home Country, Ernest Pyle
Setting: South Dakota. 1930's, during FDR's presidency.
Theme: destruction, courage to live, hope
Notable Quotes:
"You could see the whole obliteration of a great land, and the destruction of a people and long years of calamity for those of the soil, and the emptiness of life that knows only struggle and ends in despair. I had seen a great deal of this in the past few years. Sometimes at night when I was thinking too hard I felt that there was nothing but leanness everywhere, that nobody had the privilege of a full life. Of course I was wrong about that."
~ Destruction. The constant changeability of life. Reminiscent of Ecclesiastes, where there is profound hope amid despair.
"For every one that dies, a thousand come to his funeral."
~ Referring to the plethora of grasshoppers. Grasshoppers plagues come in cycles; it is part of the cycle of life: destruction, rebirth, growth, destruction, rebirth, growth...
"It was the tenderest, most admiring tribute to courage I have ever seen. It was such a poignant thing, so surprising, so spontaneous."
~ Applause to handicapped FDR struggling to walk. Analogous to the people's crippled life. They struggle to live on nonetheless. They still possess strength and hope in face of death and despair.
Ernie Pyle writes to people's hearts. He does not talk about life. He shows life by inviting readers to walk his journeys with him. Often the life he shows us is bleak. But it's real. The paradoxes in life remind me of the song "Blessed Be Your Name" -- Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering/ though there's pain in the offering/ blessed be your name; You give and take away/ my heart will choose to say/ Lord blessed be your name.
Beauty in destruction. Hope in despair. Life in the threat of death. This is our world.
Excerpts, Ernie's War
Excerpt: A Dreadful Masterpiece
Setting: Longdon, December 30, 1940
Theme: Beauty in destruction, life in death
Notable Quotes:
"For on that night this old, old city—even though I must bite my tongue in shame for saying it—was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. It was a night when London was ringed and stabbed with fire."
~ The central idea of the piece. Though one is conditioned to associate horror with destruction, Pyle witnessed the spectacle that was the burning of London with awe and fascination.
"The thing I shall always remember above all the other things in my life is the monstrous loveliness of that one single view of London on a holiday night—London stabbed with great fires, shaken by explosions, its dark regions along the Thames sparkling with the pinpoints of white-hot bombs, all of it roofed over with a ceiling of pink that held bursting shells, balloons, flares and the grind of vicious engines. And in yourself the excitement and anticipation and wonder in your soul that this could be happening at all. These things all went together to make the most hateful, most beautiful single scene I have ever known."
~ Theme: beauty in destruction. Pyle uses vivid imageries to describe what he saw.
"Somehow I didn't have a feeling that this was war. I just felt as if I were seeing a terrific number of big "natural" fires. Even when I came upon two buildings that had been blown to dust by heavy bombs less than an hour before, there was still a feeling that it was all perfectly natural."
~ What should be the "right" feeling and response to the fire, if any?
"Life goes on—where last night you felt that this must be the end of everything."
~ The world does not stop to cater to the aftermaths of destruction. It continues.
( More Ernie's War excerpts... )
Drought Bowl
Home Country, Ernest Pyle
Setting: South Dakota. 1930's, during FDR's presidency.
Theme: destruction, courage to live, hope
Notable Quotes:
"You could see the whole obliteration of a great land, and the destruction of a people and long years of calamity for those of the soil, and the emptiness of life that knows only struggle and ends in despair. I had seen a great deal of this in the past few years. Sometimes at night when I was thinking too hard I felt that there was nothing but leanness everywhere, that nobody had the privilege of a full life. Of course I was wrong about that."
~ Destruction. The constant changeability of life. Reminiscent of Ecclesiastes, where there is profound hope amid despair.
"For every one that dies, a thousand come to his funeral."
~ Referring to the plethora of grasshoppers. Grasshoppers plagues come in cycles; it is part of the cycle of life: destruction, rebirth, growth, destruction, rebirth, growth...
"It was the tenderest, most admiring tribute to courage I have ever seen. It was such a poignant thing, so surprising, so spontaneous."
~ Applause to handicapped FDR struggling to walk. Analogous to the people's crippled life. They struggle to live on nonetheless. They still possess strength and hope in face of death and despair.
Ernie Pyle writes to people's hearts. He does not talk about life. He shows life by inviting readers to walk his journeys with him. Often the life he shows us is bleak. But it's real. The paradoxes in life remind me of the song "Blessed Be Your Name" -- Blessed be your name on the road marked with suffering/ though there's pain in the offering/ blessed be your name; You give and take away/ my heart will choose to say/ Lord blessed be your name.
Beauty in destruction. Hope in despair. Life in the threat of death. This is our world.
