A Worker Reads History

I watched session 1 of a Yale Open Course today. It is a free course titled "France Since 1871" and it is taught by Professor John Merriman. Although the video itself is a little choppy, I am finding the professor quite enjoyable and am looking forward to learning about France. There are 24 lectures and the class reads six books and watches three films. I thought this would be a great way to prepare for our trip to France this summer.

The first lecture was mostly about what to expect in the course. At the conclusion, though, the professor read a poem by Brecht that he said highly influenced him to become a history teacher. The poem is "A Worker Reads History."

Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
And Babylon, so many times destroyed.
Who built the city up each time? In which of Lima's houses,
That city glittering with gold, lived those who built it?
In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished
Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome
Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song.
Were all her dwellings palaces? And even in Atlantis of the legend
The night the seas rushed in,
The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.

Young Alexander conquered India.
He alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Was there not even a cook in his army?
Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet
was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?
Frederick the Great triumphed in the Seven Years War.
Who triumphed with him?

Each page a victory
At whose expense the victory ball?
Every ten years a great man,
Who paid the piper?

So many particulars.
So many questions.