"Break of Day in the Trenches" by Isaac Rosenberg (poetry reading)

[thallassocracy]

'Cosmopolitan' was used as a term of racial abuse by GK Chesterton - to mean 'Jewish'.

I've often wondered if that was a general euphemism at the time - or a Chesterton special.

It makes a difference to the way I read this poem.

[SpokenVerse]

Characters in Dickens who described themselves as 'Cosmopolitan' were given to displays of charity and humanitarianism while neglecting their family and personal relationships. In time of war the term was not the compliment it seemed to be because it implied doubt about patriotism.