American Literature / Unit 11 AML 1004 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Editha" and the Cost of Romantic Talk
Captions available
The idea
In "Editha" a young woman thrilled by patriotic language urges her fiancé to enlist, and he is killed at once. Confronted by his mother, she is wounded in her feelings and comforted by a painter who calls her expression beautiful. The story indicts the vocabulary that sent him.
In practice
A fiancé sent to war by a phrase.
Where people slip
The satire aims at romantic language.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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