Crete 1941

Australia has 'The Great South Land', South Africa has 'Shaka Zulu', Argentina has the gaucho epic 'Martin Fierro', and Chile has 'La Araucana' as its national poem. Now New Zealand has Crete 1941, an epic poem about the New Zealand-led defence of Crete during the Battle of Crete between 20 May and 1 June 1941. Crete 1941 is the only epic long poem in English since Derek Walcott's 'Omeros', with the entry of the 28th (Māori) Battalion as an active combat force providing the culmination of the poem. As geopolitical tensions rise in the Pacific today, it's timely to look back to when New Zealand last went to war and defended another small nation - Greece - on its last redoubt, in a battle that ended in a Dunkirk-style evacuation. More than just a war story, Crete 1941 brings women back into the historic struggle for Crete. The poem is a life-changing reflection on the virtue of good small nations, on the contribution of indigenous peoples such as Māori and Cretans to international developments, and on the fragility that both peace and its disruptors share. "Australia has The Great South Road, South Africa has Shaka Zulu, Argentina has the gaucho epic Martin Fierro, and Chile has La Araucana as its national poem. Now New Zealand has Crete 1941, a 2475-line epic poem about the New Zealand-led defence of Crete during the Battle of Crete between 20 May and 1 June 1941. Crete 1941 is the only epic long poem in English since Derek Walcotts Omeros, with the entry of the 28th (Māori) Battalion as an active combat force providing the culmination of the poem. As geopolitical tensions rise in the Pacific today, it is timely to look back to when New Zealand last went to war and defended another small nation Greece on its last redoubt, in a battle that ended in a Dunkirk-style evacuation. More than just a war story, Crete 1941 brings women back into the historic struggle for Crete. The poem is a life-changing reflection on the virtue of good small nations, on the contribution of indigenous people such as Māori and Cretans to international developments, and on the fragility that both peace and its disruptors share. In this poem, Bernard Cadogan tells the story of what small nations such as Greece and Aotearoa New Zealand have had to do to uphold international law, and of the extraordinary extent which indigenous citizenship, such as Māori possess, contributes to the international personality of a country. The defence of the island of Crete in the second world war was a mission which Allied forces could have won. The failure to repel the German landings embroiled Cretans in more than three years of bitter occupation. It is astonishing, in retrospect, that New Zealanders led the defence of the island against a great power such as Germany. Crete is where the famed 28th (Māori) Battalion found its feet in battle. Sfakia on Crete is where the revolutionaries began the struggle for a Hellenic republic in 1821, while in 1941 it was where Allied troops were evacuated from; New Zealand Dunkirk. This poem presents a story which both Greeks and New Zealanders need to recover for themselves from the myths that British writers have created around the Battle of Crete."--Publisher website Australia has 'The Great South Land', South Africa has 'Shaka Zulu', Argentina has the gaucho epic 'Martin Fierro', and Chile has 'La Araucana' as its national poem. Now New Zealand has Crete 1941 , an epic poem about the New Zealand-led defence of Crete during the Battle of Crete between 20 May and 1 June 1941. Crete 1941 is the only epic long poem in English since Derek Walcott's 'Omeros', with the entry of the 28th (Mori) Battalion as an active combat force providing the culmination of the poem. As geopolitical tensions rise in the Pacific today, it's timely to look back to when New Zealand last went to war and defended another small nation - Greece - on its last redoubt, in a battle that ended in a Dunkirk-style evacuation. More than just a war story, Crete 1941 brings women back into the historic struggle for Crete. The poem is a life-changing reflection on the virtue of good small nations, on the contribution of indigenous peoples such as Mori and Cretans to international developments, and on the fragility that both peace and its disruptors share. 'In no way glorifying the violence of the Greek campaign and the battle of Crete, ' said poet Bernard Cadogan, 'this epic places conflict right at the heart of our desire for peace, as well as our capacity to reason, will and love. Unlike other "war stories", women are central to this poem, never absent.' Cadogan 'Why did New Zealanders fight for the oldest site of a European palace the site of the myth of the labyrinth and Minotaur? What was the monster in the palace that we fought? What other ways are there of dealing with such a menace?' 'This is a radical poem, not a fuddy-duddy poem, ' said Cadogan. 'It is not composed in Spenserian stanzas as a conservative nostalgia trip or whimsy, but as a deliberate act of decolonisation and reparation for Edmund Spenser and our own premier Alfred Domett's dreadfully racist "Ranolf and Amohia".' ' Crete 1941 does this in the spirit of Wu Ming's New Italian Epic, inverting Ferrara, Cork, colonial Wellington.... Someone has said Crete 1941 has put intellect and heart back into New Zealand verse; in a way this is true.' In Crete 1941: an epic poem, Bernard Cadogan relates the story of the New Zealand-led defence of Crete during the Battle of Crete between 20 May and 1 June 1941. More than just a war story, Crete 1941 brings women back into the historic struggle for the island. This 2475-line poem is a life-changing reflection on the virtue of small nations, on the contribution of indigenous people such as Māori and Cretans to international developments, and on the fragility that both peace and its disruptors share. Intro Contents Karakia Foreword By Rt Hon Trevor Mallard Introduction Sonnet for Lieutenant Ngārimu VC Crete 1941 Canto I Canto II Canto III Canto IV Canto V Sonnet to Hölderlin Coda About the author Thanks Tuwhiri thanks