American Literature / Unit 11 AML 1015 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"The War Prayer" and the Late, Dark Twain
Captions available
The idea
In "The War Prayer" a stranger interrupts a patriotic service to spell out what the congregation's prayer for victory actually asks God to do to the enemy's families. Twain's publisher refused it, and the piece appeared after his death, with much of his late work.
In practice
A prayer, translated into its consequences.
Where people slip
The later work was too dark to print in his lifetime.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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