[NA] Tommy Atkins Poem....

Snaggletooth

Snaggletooth

Line Up and Wait
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Dustin
Normally every week out at the Civil Air Patrol meetings we get a poem or phrase we have to look up. Well this week it was the Tommy Atkins Poem. I have to figure out what it means... Can anyone help me figure it out? I'm stumped.

Best I can tell it has something to do with something that happened in WWI.

"Such was the day for our regiment,
Dread the revenge we will take.
Dearly we paid for the blunder
A drawing-room General’s mistake.
Why weren’t we told of the trenches?
Why weren’t we told of the wire?
Why were we marched up in column,
May Tommy Atkins enquire…"
 
I know what tommy atkins is, but what does the poem mean! lol
 
Snaggletooth said:
So How can I put "War is H***" in a kid friendly way. lol
Click to expand...
FYI that is not what the poem is about.

Read the wiki description of the battle.

Break down the poem into two line segments:

"Such was the day for our regiment,
Dread the revenge we will take.

Dearly we paid for the blunder
A drawing-room General’s mistake.

Why weren’t we told of the trenches?
Why weren’t we told of the wire?

Why were we marched up in column,

May Tommy Atkins enquire…"

Then look at each segment and apply what you learned from the history to interpret what is happening in each of those little stanza. From there you will get the message of the poem.
 
smigaldi said:
FYI that is not what the poem is about.

Read the wiki description of the battle.

Break down the poem into two line segments:

"Such was the day for our regiment,
Dread the revenge we will take.

Dearly we paid for the blunder
A drawing-room General’s mistake.

Why weren’t we told of the trenches?
Why weren’t we told of the wire?

Why were we marched up in column,

May Tommy Atkins enquire…"

Then look at each segment and apply what you learned from the history to interpret what is happening in each of those little stanza. From there you will get the message of the poem.
Click to expand...

Best I can tell, he's saying that the Drawing-room Generals (High ranked people with that have seen no combat) sent them in to a Battle with no Intel of the battlefield, and got a lot of Solders killed.
 
Snaggletooth said:
Best I can tell, he's saying that the Drawing-room Generals (High ranked people with that have seen no combat) sent them in to a Battle with no Intel of the battlefield, and got a lot of Solders killed.
Click to expand...
:cheerswine::cheerswine:

Very good. And he is asking what and from whom?
Answer that last one and I think you have it.
 
Snaggletooth said:
Um...... He's asking Tommy Atkins to enquire?
Click to expand...
Who is or rather are Tommy Atkins?

To whom are these Tommy Atkins asking to for answers that may never be answered? Is it G-d or the reader, or the British people? This last one is hard to answer and is meant to make you think about who the story is being told to.

My thought is that the poem is a plea to anyone who will listen, part prayer, part report to the British people to make them aware so as to never have it happen again.

The real question is who do you think the poem is being addressed to?
 
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smigaldi said:
Who is or rather are Tommy Atkins?

To whom are these Tommy Atkins asking to for answers that may never be answered? Is it G-d or the reader, or the British people? This last one is hard to answer and is meant to make you think about who the story is being told to.

My thought is that the poem is a plea to anyone who will listen, part prayer, part report to the British people to make them aware so as to never have it happen again.

The real question is who do you think the poem is being addressed to?
Click to expand...

Tommy Atkins are British Solders.

I'd say probably the british people.
 
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