July 28th marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I. In commemoration, UC Libraries has created an exhibit on display on the 4th floor of the Walter C. Langsam Library. “The Great War: Poems, Movies, Music and Literature Inspired by World War I” showcases the collections of UC Libraries.
Included in the display are references to both popular and classical music to come out of the war such as “Over There,” “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary,” and Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem.”
Both classic and newer movies are included such as Grand Illusion and the recent Joyeaux Noel. Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms and Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong are among the novels featured in the exhibit.
Poets from both the Eastern and Western fronts are listed, including Canadian John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields”
In Flanders Fields
John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place, and in the sky,
The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
A bibliography of the works found in the exhibit, along with other resources, is found at the exhibit and online at WWIbibliography3 (PDF).
The exhibit was curated by Lorna Newman, head of interlibrary services and government documents, and Sally Moffitt, reference and instructional services librarian, and designed by Anna Freeman, communications graphic design co-op student from the College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning (DAAP). Images of propaganda posters included in the exhibit are from The First World War online portal, a resource provided through a collaboration between UC Libraries, Taft, and the UC History Department’s Von Rosenteil Fund.
For more on commemorations of World War I:
World War I and the Arts: Sounds, Sights, Psyches
June 23 – July 20, 2014
University of Cincinnati History Department and McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
Winkler Center Exhibit of WWI Artifacts – through June 11th
Cincinnati Opera – www.cincinnatiopera.org/wwi