Last Words

This chapter explores both the end of war (and its accompanying diction), and the end of Andrew Clark’s ‘Words in War-Time’ project in 1919, and the afterlives that this reveals. The language of memory, and public and private memorialization, is an important part of this. Poppies, war shrines, and memorial services are all part of Clark’s process of attentive record. So, too, was the shifting language of the souvenir. As war ended, Clark, of necessity, also gathered his own last words. Nevertheless, as he stressed, trying to create a history of war-time usage in a single-handed project now seemed increasingly foolhardy. He was acutely aware of the imperfections of what he had achieved. ‘Words in War-Time’ remained incomplete and unrevised (Clark died in 1922) – an archive of scraps and annotations, both fascinating and frustrating. This chapter concludes by examining his legacies, insights, and the enduring value of his work.