Assoc for Scottish Literature

At last we have them all well fooled, well tamed;
they use our baths and lard themselves with oil,
truss up their souls and bodies in the toga…

—William Neill (1922–2010), “Despatches Home”
from DESPATCHES HOME (Reprographia, 1972)

A poem for the Ides o fMarch

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #Roman #RomanBritain #IdesofMarch

Mar 15 at 1:32pmWeb
Show threadBodhipaksaMar 15
@scotlit I love a nice bit of modern iambic pentameter! And this is a great portrayal of the colonial mindset, which I assume had more to do with modern than Roman times?
Show threadAssoc for Scottish LiteratureMar 15
@bodhipaksa I assume so – Neill is obviously imagining the disdain of the Roman soldiery for the “assimilated” Britons. Neill joined the RAF in 1938, aged 16, so would definitely have served in WW2; he stayed in the forces until the 1960s & saw active service in lots of places as the British Empire fell apart. It’s possibly worth noting that “Parry! Thrust! Recover!” is British Army bayonet drill.