Moving poem, need some help for translation ..

[Wels 2]

Hello,

 

this is an english poem from 2004 sent to me by Harry, describing a Zeppelin raid on the city of Folkestone in 1917. Now i know what it is about, but not the exact meaning of some idioms. So if some english-speaking person could assist ... ? The exact german translation is not necessary, but the description of some idioms like "see it through", or "join the potato queue" ?

 

It seems the poem is about a Zeppelin raid, the Folkestone inhabitants expected no attack in WW1 because local fishermen had helped german sailors when their ship "Grosser Kurfuerst" sank in the channel near Folkestone, in 1878 (a bit like in Hannover when they hoped England would not bomb them in WW2, because of the old british Kingdom of Hannover). Now the civilian victims of WW1 lie next to the perished sailors, at Cheriton Road Cemetary, Folkestone.

 

 

 

Cheriton Road

A glint in the sky

 

for Florrie and all the others

 

Calm spring evening look up high

see the glint in the sky

grab the kids and see it through

go and join the potato queue

 

Crashing sounds are getting near

but surely there is nothing to fear

those zeps it´s said have had their day

we´ve gone blown them all away

 

Anyway, Germans, no surely not

they promised not to bomb us lot

we fished their boys out from the deep

and in Cheriton road they lie asleep

 

Busy in thought inside the store

Florrie stares patiently at the door

soon it´ll be time for walking home

via viaduct and gas holder home

And as the children continue to play outside

their mothers begin to nervously hide

expect for those queuing at Stokes´s shop

upon whom the roof comes crashing down on top

 

Now ninety long years have since flown

the prayers have faded on their stones

and for them we can only stand and weep

as in Cheriton Road they lie asleep

 

Martin Easdown, 2004

 

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

Edited October 22, 2009 by Wels

[Flyby PC 23]

I understand what you're asking Wels, but the phrase is a bit obscure.

 

Normally, to 'see something through' means to stick with something from start to finish, or 'see it through to the bitter end'. It could mean the author has grabbed the kids to keep hold of them while the raid is on. Maybe, but I'm not sure.

 

Potato queue? No ideas. Maybe meeting the usual faces you'd meet queueing at the shops, only queueing to get into a bomb shelter.

 

 

I'm not really in to poetry, but I find the language a bit too obscure to be certain what the author meant, (which probably means I've misunderstood something), but that's my take on the poem.

 

I hope other more literate people will add more.

[themightysrc 5]

"go and join the potato queue"

 

Probably refers to rationing in WWI? Don't know for sure but that would be reasonable. Certainly 'see it through' means 'follow through to conclusion'.

 

The poem's pretty easy to understand and deconstruct - there's no hidden message here: it's simply the pathos of a bombing event from WWI that clearly killed women and children in Folkestone, and their (attributed) naivety that they wouldn't be molested by German zeppelins on the basis of their prior good deed.

 

I dare say that all wars throw up similar tales.

 

[Caveman 1]

The way I read the potato queue is ether a food line (which I find unlikely due to a food line mention) or a bomb shelter which seems more likely to me as if I recall corectly potato's are grown underground and after looking at the 2 lines grab the kids and see it through go and join the potato queue it seams to me that the writer is saying take my kids to the bomb shelter....

 

 

 

just me and I could be very wrong but thats my read on it

 

I would also have to say that the 2 posts before mine are pretty well on the mark :drinks:

Edited October 22, 2009 by Caveman

[rwmarth 0]

Seems like it could be what Caveman suggests in that people going underground in a line into the bomb shelter are just like potatoes which are grown underground.... The queue reference may be referring to how potatoes are grown in a row and look like a line, just as people are positioned in a narrow bomb shelter...

 

Maybe even that the bombing raids are so frequent that the kids spend so much time undergroud that just like potato spuds growing big, the kids are forced to grow up underground....Though that is probably a stretch.

Edited October 22, 2009 by rwmarth

[cptroyce 0]

Wels-

 

"grab the kids and see it through

go and join the potato queue"

 

>> wait out the raid, and get the children on line to a bomb shelter.

 

That is what it means.

 

 

Royce

[Stiffy 1]

Dont think you guys have really read the rest of the poem.... they are not going to a shelter because they dont believe they are at risk, instead they are 'seeing it through' (ignoring it) and joining the ration queue for potatoes.

 

Next verses continue to describe that they are in a shop called 'Stoke's' queing for rations.

 

The people queuing are killed when the shop takes a direct hit.

 

It all makes sense when you read the whole thing through.

[Stiffy 1]

Here is a detailed account of the raid, describing how people were queing for extra food when it happened. It was a bank holiday weekend so unusual amount of shoppers stocking up on food (including rationed potatoes)

 

http://freepages.gen...ntinestreet.htm

 

The pont is... noone went to a shelter in the folkestone raid, thats why it was a massacre. It is very unlikely there even was a shelter, they had after all never been bombed before.

Edited October 22, 2009 by Stiffy

[rwmarth 0]

Dont think you guys have really read the rest of the poem.... they are not going to a shelter because they dont believe they are at risk, instead they are 'seeing it through' (ignoring it) and joining the ration queue for potatoes.

 

Next verses continue to describe that they are in a shop called 'Stoke's' queing for rations.

 

The people queuing are killed when the shop takes a direct hit.

 

It all makes sense when you read the whole thing through.

 

Well that does make sense now doesn't it?!

[Stiffy 1]

In fact its amazing what you can find on the internet! :)

 

Here is a photograph of Stoke's after the raid!

 

 

 

Also a full acount of the destruction of the shop.

 

http://www.leshaigh....ontineraid.html

 

Very nasty business

Edited October 22, 2009 by Stiffy

[Stiffy 1]

Another acount here shows just how sudden and horrific the bombing was

 

 

As already stated, Tontine Street was the scene of

the greatest loss of life, the result of a single bomb

falling on the pavement in front of the spacious green-

grocery stores of Messrs. Stokes Bros. (Nos. 5ia,

5ib, 5ic), In an instant a spectacle of life and bustle

was changed into an appalling scene of carnage and

destruction. In this part of the town the early part

of Friday evening is a favourite time for shopping.

To many inhabitants it is a convenient opportunity

for replenishing the household larder for the ensuing

week, as likewise it is to some people in the adjoining

country districts. Consequently, when the Gothas

passed over the borough this thoroughfare, especially

at this point, was thronged with people, mainly

women and children, amongst whom was hurled from

the skies this death-laden missile. The bomb exploded

with tremendous force, killing nearly sixty people

instantaneously, injuring others so grievously that

they died the same night or the next day, and wounding

more or less seriously nearly a hundred more. In a

moment the street was filled with dead and dying,

some torn limb from limb, intermingled with human

bodies being the lifeless and mangled carcases of

horses, which added to the horror and ghastliness of

the scene. Near the centre of this zone of slaughter

was Police Constable Whittaker, who, wonderful to

relate, was left standing unhurt, with the dead and

maimed strewn all around him. At the inquest, in

describing the spectacle which he saw on visiting

Tontine Street immediately after the raid, Mr. Harry

Reeve (the Chief Constable) said it was an appalling

sight which he would never forget to his dying day.

 

The premises of Messrs. Stokes Bros, were

completely wrecked, the materials of which the

structure was composed, fittings, and stock being

reduced to a state of chaos difficult to imagine. Mr.

W. H. Stokes, one of the partners, was killed, dying

just as the rescuing party reached him, most of the

staff of women and girls meeting with a similar fate.

William Edmond Stokes, the fourteen-year-old son of

Mr. W. H. Stokes, was amongst those fatally injured.

The shop front of Mr. J. A. Waite, confectioner, of

No. 51, was destroyed, Mr. Waite himself sustaining

a rather severe wound in the head, which was struck

by some flying fragment, and the Brewery Tap (No.

53), kept by Mr. Albert Taylor, was also extensively

damaged. No. 53 was not badly damaged, but the

proprietor, Councillor John Jones, was injured in the

leg.

 

Great havoc was also wrought on the opposite side

of the road, the drapery emporium of Messrs.

Gosnold Bros., at Nos. 56, 58, and 60, Tontine Street,

bearing the brunt. The front of the premises was

destroyed, and some people sheltering there were

killed. None of the employees was killed, but Mr.

George Gosnold was injured. Mr. William Henry.... More here! http://www.archive.org/stream/folkestoneduring00carliala/folkestoneduring00carliala_djvu.txt

 

 

Thanks for posting this poem, never read it before and interesting linking it to the history of the folkestone raid!

Edited October 22, 2009 by Stiffy

[Flyby PC 23]

I'm with Stiffy I think. It does make sense, that you'd see the raid coming and watch the spectacle believing there's no danger. And your potato queue might actually be a queue for potatos!!!

 

As for rationing, not so sure. There was some rationing, but I thought it was later, as from Springtime in 1918. If this was May 1917, I don't think there was rationing, - but there might very well have been shortages.

 

Good call Stiffy.

[Stiffy 1]

Shortages of basics like potatoes and bread became so severe that at one point king george issued a statement asking anyone wealthy enough to stick to buying luxury goods allowing poorer people to buy the rare potatoes.

 

Youre right that they were not rationed.... that was the problem, some people had all the food.

 

Read through the accounts... the poem is talking about the single bomb that dropped outside of Stokes Brothers green grocers (vegetable merchant!) where people were queueing for vegetables. Noone in the street reacted to the Gothas until just before the bomb dropped, the people in the shops didnt react at all. There was no running to shelters in the Folkestone raid, it is well documented. No-one believed they were in danger until just before the bomb hit.

 

Basic food shortages where at times far worse in ww1 than it was in ww2 in england.

Edited October 23, 2009 by Stiffy

[Wels 2]

Hello,

 

thank you all for the answers .. and the links posted - sobering.

And so this has obviously not been an airship, but a heavier-than-air bomber raid. I had looked for a Zeppelin being above England at that date, but had not found anything, but then the lists of german raids/missions are all else than complete.

 

Thanks i will translate and send it back, with a link to your comments,

 

Greetings,

Catfish