Criticism > Short Story Criticism > World War I Short Fiction - David Clarke (essay date 2002)

World War I Short Fiction - David Clarke (essay date 2002)

David Clarke (essay date 2002)

SOURCE: Clarke, David. “Rumours of Angels: A Legend of the First World War.” Folklore 113 (2002): 151-73.

[In the following essay, Clarke asserts that Arthur Machen's “The Bowmen” was inspired by the Angel of Mons legend, which offered encouragement to the British troops during World War I.]

It's true, Sister. We all saw it. First there was a sort of a yellow mist like, sort of risin' before the Germans as they came to the top of the hill, come on like a solid wall they did—springing out of the earth just solid, no end to ‘em. I just gave up. No use fighting the whole German race, thinks I; it's all up with us. The next minute comes this funny cloud of light, and when it clears off there's a tall man with yellow hair in golden armour, on a white horse, holding his sword up, and his mouth open as if he was saying, “Come on boys! I'll put the kybosh on the devils.” … The minute I...

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