A Man Could Stand Up: --a NovelThe third part of Ford's great novel of WWI, the Tietjens family, and the degrading of English society, "Parade's End." The title refers to an imagined time when a man could literally stand up, instead of living in a trench. Or figuratively stand for a strict set of values and conduct which society no longer recognizes. |
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Common terms and phrases
Anyhow appeared Armistice Armistice Day arms Army artillery asked Bailleul battalion beastly Bemerton breath Brigade brother called Campion Cockney Colonel coming command Company course damn devil doubt dugout earth Edith Ethel exclaimed eyes face feel feet fellow felt FORD MADOX FORD German girl going gone gravel grey Groby guns hand head hear hell Huns imagined immense keep killed knew Lady Macmaster Lance-Corporal Duckett little Aranjuez looked Mckechnie Mills bombs mind minutes Miss Wanostrocht mother mound never night noise officer pals paper perhaps poor pretty probably rag-time remembered round sacking Sergeant shells shouting side skylarks sonnet sort sound stand stood stop strafe Sylvia talk telephone tell thing thought Tiet Tietjens tion trench trench warfare Valentine Wannop voice waiting Walter Savage Landor whilst whole wife woman words
Popular passages
Page 54 - Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me, And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea. But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For tho...
Page 135 - When oppressed with this feeling, — " the burden and the mystery of all this unintelligible world," the hurry of mankind out of this brief world into the unchangeable and endless next, — I have heard him, with deep feeling, repeat Andrew Marvel's strong lines : — " But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariots hurrying near; And yonder all before me lie Deserts of vast eternity.
Page 259 - You seduced a young woman in order to be able to finish your talks with her. You could not do that without living with her. You could not live with her without seducing her; but that was the byproduct. The point is that you can't otherwise talk.
Page 272 - The last projectile must have been pretty near. He would not have noticed the sound, it had become such a regular sequence. But he noticed the quiver in the earth. . . . Reprehensible! He said. For God's sake let us be reprehensible! And have done with it ! We aren't Hun strategists for ever balancing pros and cons of militant morality! He took, with his left hand the cup from the rock. Little Aranjuez came round the mound. Tietjens threw the cup downhill at a large bit of rock. He said to Aranjuez's...
Page 123 - ... trying to think himself with the Exmoor staghounds. The man's shoulders had come heavily on him as he had rebounded from the parados-face. He felt outraged. Watching that performing Hun he held the knife pointed and tried to think of the German for Hands Up. He imagined it to be Hoch die Haend&l He looked for a nice spot in the Hun's side.
Page 28 - ... them was the other note. A quite definite fear. If, at this parting of the ways, at this crack across the table of History, the School — the World, the future mothers of Europe — got out of hand, would they ever come back? The Authorities — Authority all over the world — was afraid of that; more afraid of that than of any other thing. Wasn't it a possibility that there was to be no more Respect?
Page 275 - It was slow, slow, slow. . . like a slowed down movie. The earth manoeuvred for an infinite time. He remained suspended in space. As if he were suspended as he had wanted to be in front of that cockscomb in whitewash. Coincidence! The earth sucked slowly and composedly at his feet. It assimilated his calves, his thighs. It imprisoned him above the waist. His arms being free, he resembled a man in a life-buoy. The earth moved him slowly. It was solidish. Below him, down a mound, the face of little...
Page 297 - She stepped irresolutely into the shadows; she returned irresolutely to the light. ... A long hollow sound existed: the sea saying: Ow, Ow, Ow along miles and miles. It was the armistice. It was Armistice Day. She had forgotten it. She was to be cloistered on Armistice Day! Ah, not cloistered! Not cloistered there. My beloved is mine and I am his ! But she might as well close the door ! She closed the door as delicately as if she were kissing him on the lips.
Page 6 - This is what the late war was like: this is how modern fighting of the organized, scientific type affects the mind. If, for reason of gain or, as is still more likely, out of dislike for collective types other than your own, you choose to permit your rulers to embark on another war, this — or something very accentuated along similar lines — is what you will have to put up with ! ' Like Aldington, Ford accuses the Victorians, but unlike Aldington his accusation is dramatic and structural.