Circles of Time (51 page)

1. Throughout
   Circles of Time
   , how are the established social codes of the characters' worlds changing? Which characters seem to embrace the changes, and which resist?
   
2. At the beginning of the novel, Martin Rilke makes his last visit to Ivy's grave, resolving that he “had faced the reality of the war and cut the knot that bound him to the past.” Is his attempt to move on successful? How does this attitude about the war's costs compare to that of other characters?
   
3. Martin Rilke has achieved success as a result of the Great War, building a name for himself as a journalist, though his book
   A Killing Ground
   has ruffled the feathers of powerful people. What do you think motivates him—especially after the loss of Ivy?
   
4. William seems adrift at the beginning of the novel, unsure of his place in the world. What troubles him? What holds him back from following his father's wishes? Does he blame Charles for the injury that kept him out of the war?
   
5. Before Martin Rilke's visit, the earl and Hanna seem resolved that Charles should remain in the mental institution. Why are they so resigned to his situation? What do Fenton and Martin seem to see about Charles's condition that they don't?
   
6. Following is Thomas Hardy's “The Souls of the Slain.” Why do you think this poem stuck in Charles's mind? What does it say about life and death in wartime?
   
7. Fenton knows that the army is trying to push him out, but even with everyone in his life urging him to quit, he resists the pressure and follows orders. Why do you think he refuses to quit?
   
8. Circles of Time
   focuses on characters from various social backgrounds. Who are the most successful? Is it because of, or in spite of, their background? How have their fortunes changed as a result of the shifting social landscape?
   
9. What difficult lessons have the Grevilles and the other characters in this novel learned as a result of the war? What opportunities have been seized as a result of it? How has living in the shadow of war fundamentally changed their attitudes and approach to life?
   
10. Charles Greville eventually recovers from his shell shock, and as he rejuvenates, he stumbles across the opportunity to teach at Burgate House—which feels like “the proper place” for him. How have his war experiences—even the most tragic—brought him to a different place than he had expected in life?
    
11. The earl just refuses to understand the new world created by the war. Is there still a place for old-world manners and values? Or should they fall to the inevitable changes?
    
12. Lord Stanmore often has trouble adjusting to change—but sometimes, as when he brings Charles home, he does admit to being wrong. In what other ways do his viewpoints and attitudes evolve throughout
    Circles of Time
    ?
    
13. As Martin spends time in Germany and learns more about the political unrest there, he is uncomfortable to learn that his uncle Werner is providing financial backing to an incendiary new political party. With these signs of trouble ahead, do you think that Martin and Hanna will maintain ties with their German relations?
    
14. Throughout
    Circles of Time
    , in this period after the Great War, there seems to be an impulse to put the war behind—to make merry in jazz clubs and forget the ugliness of the war years. Is it possible to forget? How do the characters in the novel try to move on, and when do they choose to remember?
    

I

    The thick lids of Night closed upon me

    Alone at the Bill

    Of the Isle by the Race—

    Many-caverned, bald, wrinkled of face—

    And with darkness and silence the spirit was on me

    To brood and be still.

II

    No wind fanned the flats of the ocean,

    Or promontory sides,

    Or the ooze by the strand,

    Or the bent-bearded slope of the land,

    Whose base took its rest amid everlong motion

    Of criss-crossing tides.

III

    Soon from out of the Southward seemed nearing

    A whirr, as of wings

    Waved by mighty-vanned flies,

    Or by night-moths of measureless size,

    And in softness and smoothness well-nigh beyond hearing

    Of corporal things.

IV

    And they bore to the bluff, and alighted—

    A dim-discerned train

    Of sprites without mould,

    Frameless souls none might touch or might hold—

    On the ledge by the turreted lantern, farsighted

    By men of the main.

V

    And I heard them say “Home!” and I knew them

    For souls of the felled

    On the earth's nether bord

    Under Capricorn, whither they'd warred,

    And I neared in my awe, and gave heedfulness to them

    With breathings inheld.

VI

    Then, it seemed, there approached from the northward

    A senior soul-flame

    Of the like filmy hue:

    And he met them and spake: “Is it you,

    O my men?” Said they, “Aye! We bear homeward and hearthward

    To list to our fame!”

VII

    “I've flown there before you,” he said then:

    “Your households are well;

    But—your kin linger less

    On your glory arid war-mightiness

    Than on dearer things.”—“Dearer?” cried these from the dead then,

    “Of what do they tell?”

VIII

    “Some mothers muse sadly, and murmur

    Your doings as boys—

    Recall the quaint ways

    Of your babyhood's innocent days.

    Some pray that, ere dying, your faith had grown firmer,

    And higher your joys.

IX

    “A father broods: ‘Would I had set him

    To some humble trade,

    And so slacked his high fire,

    And his passionate martial desire;

    Had told him no stories to woo him and whet him

    To this due crusade!”

X

    “And, General, how hold out our sweethearts,

    Sworn loyal as doves?”

    —“Many mourn; many think

    It is not unattractive to prink

    Them in sables for heroes. Some fickle and fleet hearts

    Have found them new loves.”

XI

    “And our wives?” quoth another resignedly,

    “Dwell they on our deeds?”

    —“Deeds of home; that live yet

    Fresh as new—deeds of fondness or fret;

    Ancient words that were kindly expressed or unkindly,

    These, these have their heeds.”

XII

    —“Alas! then it seems that our glory

    Weighs less in their thought

    Than our old homely acts,

    And the long-ago commonplace facts

    Of our lives—held by us as scarce part of our story,

    And rated as nought!”

XIII

    Then bitterly some: “Was it wise now

    To raise the tomb-door

    For such knowledge? Away!”

    But the rest: “Fame we prized till to-day;

    Yet that hearts keep us green for old kindness we prize now

    A thousand times more!”

XIV

    Thus speaking, the trooped apparitions

    Began to disband

    And resolve them in two:

    Those whose record was lovely and true

    Bore to northward for home: those of bitter traditions