Through complete coincidence of timing, her reign saw her become head of state for the entire post-war United Kingdom. Life was different back then, in a way that is more complex than being defined by the things we didn’t have. Entire continents were owned by London, fields were hand harvested by men in tweed with scythes, it was illegal to compete with the government telephone monopoly and/or be gay, and goods were hoisted off ships in cargo nets.
It’s hard enough to look back at the 1980s and see what a shockingly different country the UK was, let alone to the 60s and 50s. Elizabeth was present for the post war reconstruction of Europe, the emancipation of the working classes, and ironically the end of most people’s deference to anything except money or celebrity.
On top of all this she also represented a beloved family
member to which many of us can relate, especially those of us who have lost that grandma, mother, or sister.
Her death is both a single flower dying, and the last flower of its species dying.
>On top of all this she also represented a beloved family member to which many of us can relate, especially those of us who have lost that grandma, mother, or sister.
She represents a bygone institution that will one day cease to exist, quite possibly the last monarch to die with the title in Australia and hopefully elsewhere.
>Her death is both a single flower dying, and the last flower of its species dying.
This is exactly what my previous comment was getting at. This is HN not poetry corner.
