The Nobel Peace Prize Sonnets

Nobel

You will find the continuation of my sonnet series on winners of the Nobel Peace Prize as ‘Posts’ in the Poems section here:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/poems/

Unfortunately, they are posted in reverse order, so the historical series begins at the bottom of the page and continues upward. Below on this page, I introduce each, and eventually begin to share some of my annotation notes on them.

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In the next sonnet, I discuss the context of Nobel’s interest in peacemaking and peace:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/02/29/peace/

The life and work of the first winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 is discussed in this sonnet:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/01/1901-frederic-passy/

Here are two sonnets devoted to one of the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded in 1902:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/03/1902-elie-docommun/

and https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/03/1902-ducommun-2/

Ducommun shared the 1902 Prize with Albert Gobat:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1902-albert-gobat/

Here is Sir William Randal Cremer, the winner of the prize in 1903, in two sonnets:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1903-sir-william-randal-cremer/

and, https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1903/

The Institute of International Law won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1904-the-institute-of-international-law/

Bertha Von Suttner won the Prize in 1905. I devote three sonnets to her here:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1905-bertha-von-suttner/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1905-von-suttner-2/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1905-von-suttner-3/

The American President, Theodore Roosevelt, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. I devote two sonnets to him:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1906-theodore-roosevelt/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/15/1906-roosevelt-2/

Today, let’s honor an Italian peacemaker, Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1907:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/26/1907-ernesto-teodoro-moneta/

Louis Renault shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Moneta in 1907. Here I discuss his life and important work:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/26/1907-louis-renault/

I look at the two winners of the Prize in 1908 in these two sonnets. Their initiatives obviously echo in our modern world so clearly:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/27/1908-klas-pontus-arnoldson/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/03/27/1908-fredrik-bajer/

Again, in 1909, there were two winners of the Prize. Both are remarkable, one for what he so presciently proposed, the other for what he accomplished in his life:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/04/05/1909-august-marie-francois-beernaert/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/04/05/1909-baron-destournelles/

There was one winner of the prize in 1910, a global organization still in existence and active today:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/04/05/1910-the-international-peace-bureau/

Alfred Hermann Fried won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911, a writer, publisher and theorist.

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/05/10/1911-alfred-hermann-fried/

Elihu Root, an American diplomat, won the prize in 1912:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/05/10/1912-elihu-root/

Henry La Fontaine won the prize in 1913 for his lifetime of work developing what today we would call ‘international rule of law’, and for his dedication to achieving peace-making in those efforts:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/05/10/1913-henry-la-fontaine/

There wasn’t another Nobel Peace Prize awarded before 1917. I take this pause in its history to share four sonnets on World War 1:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/05/10/1914-1919-world-war-i/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/05/10/1914-1919-world-war-i-2/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/05/10/world-war-i-3/

I recently added this sonnet to my WWI set:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2020/05/10/1914-1919-world-war-i-4/

The Red Cross received the Nobel Peace Prize for the year, 1917:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1917-the-international-committee-of-the-red-cross/

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson won the prize in 1919:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1919-thomas-woodrow-wilson/

France’s Leon Victor Auguste Bourgeois won the prize in 1920:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1920-leon-victor-auguste-bourgeois/

The Prize in 1921 was shared between the Swede, Karl Hjalmar Branting, and the Norwegian, Christian Lous Lange:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1921-karl-hjalmar-branting/

<a href=”https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1921-christian-lous-lange/

The Norwegian, Fridtjof Nansen, received the Peace prize in 1922. I devote two sonnets to him:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1922-fridtjof-nansen/

and

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1922-fridtjof-nansen-2/

The Peace Prize was not awarded in either 1923 or 1924. I discuss that period, post-WWI, in one sonnet:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1923-24/

The American attorney and U.S. administrator, Charles Gates Dawes, and the British politician, Sir Austen J. Chamberlain, shared the Nobel Prize in 1925, both for their work on post-WWI reparations administration:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1925-charles-gates-dawes/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1925-sir-austen-j-chamberlain/

The French politician, Aristide Briand, won the Nobel Peace prize in 1926, sharing it with the German, Gustav Stresemann. I write one sonnet for each:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1926-aristide-briand/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1926-gustav-stresemann/

Again, in 1927, a Frenchman and a German shared the Nobel Peace prize, Ferdinand Edouard Buisson and Ludwig Quidde. I devote one sonnet to each:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1927-ferdinand-edouard-buisson/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1927-ludwig-quidde/

The Peace Prize was not issued in 1928. In 1929, the prize went to the American, Frank Billings Kellogg, but it was not presented until 1930:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1929-frank-billings-kellogg/

The 1930 Peace Prize was awarded to the Swede, Nathan Söderblom:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1930-nathan-soderblom/

The 1931 Nobel Peace Prize was shared between two Americans, Jane Addams, and Nicholas Murray Butler. I devote two sonnets to Adams and one to Butler:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1931-jane-addams/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1931-jane-addams-2/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/1931-nicholas-murray-butler/

I take a break from the Prize winners to discuss some of the changes occurring in the world at this time:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/01/pre-war-and-world-war-ii/

The Peace Prize was awarded to the Englishman, Norman Angell, in 1933:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1933-norman-angell/

Here, we have a man seemingly caught in the tide of history, the 1934 winner of the Prize, Arthur Henderson:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1934-arthur-henderson/

The Peace Prize was awarded to Carl Von Ossietzky in 1935. He is described as being “one of the most distinctive winners” of the prize. I devote two sonnets to him:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1935-carl-von-ossietzky/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1935-carl-von-ossietzky-2/

The Argentinian, Carlos Saavedra Lamas, won the Peace Prize in 1936:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1936-carlos-saavedra-lamas/

The 1937 Nobel Peace Prize went to Lord Edgar Algernon, Robert Gascogne Cecil:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1937-lord-edgar-algernon-robert-gascogne-cecil/

The 1938 Peace Prize was awarded to an organization, the Nansen International Office for Refugees:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1938-the-nansen-international-office-for-refugees/

The years involving the actions of World War II, 1939-1945, held near unimaginable danger, power, death and destruction. I pause from sonnets on the prize winners to muse on the war, in 3 sonnets, that challenge us to consider how peace is hardest won, wrongly brought about and-or poorly served:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1939-1945-world-war-ii/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1939-1945-world-war-ii-2/

https://manycorsses2bare.com/2021/04/02/1939-1945-world-war-ii-3/

The Peace Prize was given to the International Red Cross in 1944:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/05/1944-the-international-committee-of-the-red-cross/

In 1945, the American, Cordell Hull, called “the father of the United Nations,” was awarded the Peace Prize:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/05/1945-cordell-hull/

The Americans, John Raleigh Mott and Emily Greene Balch, shared the Peace Prize awarded in 1946. I devote two sonnets to Balch’s work:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/05/1946-john-raleigh-mott/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/05/1946-emily-greene-balch/

https://manycrosses2bare.comÆ/2021/04/05/1946-emily-greene-balch-2/

The prize was awarded to the Quakers in 1947:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/05/1947-the-quakers/

No Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1948, after the death of Mahatma Ghandi, who was nominated for the prize but never received it. I discuss Ghandi’s life and peace-related work in two sonnets:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/05/1948-mahatma-ghandi-1/

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/04/05/1948-mahatma-ghandi-2/

The Scotsman, John Boyd Orr, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949. I discuss his work in this sonnet:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/11/22/1949-john-boyd-orr/

The peace prize was awarded to the American, Ralph Johnson Bunche, in 1950. I discuss his work in this sonnet:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/11/22/1950-ralph-johnson-bunche/

I devote two sonnets to the winner of the 1951 Nobel Peace Prize, Leon Jouhaux, of France:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/11/22/1951-leon-jouhaux/

and

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2021/11/22/1951-leon-jouhaux-2/

I devote two sonnets to the winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize, Albert Schweitzer, the Alsatian German-French humanitarian and philosopher:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2022/11/11/1952-albert-schweitzer/

and

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2022/11/11/1952-albert-schweitzer-2/

I devote two sonnets to the winner of the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize, George Catlett Marshall, the American military general:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2022/11/11/1953-george-catlett-marshall/

and

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2022/11/11/1953-george-catlett-marshall-2/

The 1954 Peace Prize was awarded to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The 1954 Prize was not awarded until 1955. Here is my sonnet on this award:

https://manycrosses2bare.com/2022/11/11/1954-office-of-the-u-n-high-commissioner-for-refugees/

The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided not to award the Peace Prize for 1955 or 1956. This can occur due to not finding a qualified candidate, or not agreeing on a winner.

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Further sonnets are being posted now that I wrote some time ago, and I seem stymied by the WordPress set-up for this. I will simply identify the winners here, and you will find the related sonnets at the ‘Poems’ page, without links to them showing here.

The 1957 Peace Prize was awarded to Lester Bowles Pearson, an international diplomat of the highest order.

The 1958 Peace Prize was awarded to George Pire, an active Belgian theologian helping war refugees call Europe their new home.

The 1959 Peace Prize was awarded to Philip John Noel-Baker, a global diplomat working to use disarmament among nations to achieve Peace.

The 1960 Peace Prize was awarded to Albert John Lutuli, an African college teacher who became a force in the fight for an end to apartheid in South Africa. I devote two sonnets to him, in part because of the sainthood and strength I see in his life’s moving story.

The 1961 Peace Prize was awarded to the Swede, Dag Hammarskjold, whose work in Africa and the Middle East helped bring peace to various border disputes. He was an early U.N. leader. I devote one sonnet to his work and approach.

The 1962 Peace Prize was awarded to Linus Carl Pauling, who also had earlier won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His goal was nuclear disarmament, an end to testing and an end to all war. I devote 2 sonnets to his work.

The 1963 Peace Prize was awarded to two Red Cross societies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies, in a reflection of the evolving role they were playing for peace in our world.

The winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize was Martin Luther King, Jr. I devote 2 sonnets to his broad legacy.

The 1965 Peace Prize was awarded to the U.N. Children’s Fund for their extensive work to reduce infant mortality across the globe. I devote 1 sonnet to their work.

No Peace Prize was awarded for 1966 or 1967, as the Committee disagreed about whether qualified candidates had been nominated.

The 1968 Peace Prize was awarded to the Frenchman, Rene Cassin for his work in international human rights. I devote 2 sonnets to him.

The 1969 Peace Prize was awarded to the International Labor Organization (ILO) for its work to bring rights and protections to workers, as well as enhance their human endeavors. I devote 1 sonnet to them.

The 1970 Peace Prize was awarded to Norman Ernest Borlaug for his scientific work to enhance food production and distribution to feed a starving world. I devote 1 sonnet to him.

The 1971 Peace Prize was awarded to Willy Brandt, the German politician and global activist. I devote 1 sonnet to him.

No award was made for the year, 1972.

The 1973 Peace Prize was awarded to two individuals for their common negotiations to end the Vietnam War, Le Duc Tho and Henry Kissinger. I devote 1 sonnet to them.

The 1974 Peace Prize was awarded to two individuals, Eisaku Sato, the Japanese Prime Minister, and Sean McBride, the Irishman whose work focused on political prisoners. I devote 1 sonnet to each.

The 1975 Peace Prize was awarded to the Russian physicist, Andrei Sakharov, for his work to end nuclear weapon testing as well as harness Peace from war’s nuclear fusion. I discuss his work in 2 sonnets.

At this point in the series, I also began to write out some of the annotations I would include for references I am making in my sonnets in this series. In this one, I note them here: The first sonnet includes an asterisk to his writing: he wrote, ” Mankind is threatened by the decline of morality of persons and states, demonstrated in the disintegration of the fundamental ideals of law and justice, in consumer egotism, the growth of crime, and the new international catastrophe of nationalist and political terrorism.” This seems so prescient to our current time.

In the second sonnet, my final couplet reference is to Wagner’s Ring Cycle opera, Siegfried, in which he asks the Norns to tell him how to hinder the rolling wheel of Fate.

The 1976 Peace Prize was awarded to two Irish women who worked to quell the hatred, terrorism and violence that plagued northern Ireland, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan. I devote 2 sonnets to their work and words.

In the first sonnet, line 12 refers to their work going door to door, knocking and talking to folks in their homes. The line 13 quote is from an interview with Mareid Corrigan published in 2006.

In the second sonnet, the line 1 quote is from the Committee’s own presentation speech. Line 5 and lines 10-12 include quotes from Betty William’s Nobel Prize lecture.

The 1977 Peace Prize was awarded to Amnesty International for its work to free unfairly imprisoned people. I devote 2 sonnets to them.

In the first sonnet, lines 4 and 5 are quoted from the Nobel Committee’s award presentation speech.

In the second sonnet, line 9 refers to Amnesty’s candle logo symbol.

The 1978 Peace Prize was awarded to Anwar el-Sadat and Menachem Begin for their work to accomplish a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. I devote 1 sonnet to this.

The 1979 Peace Prize was awarded to Mother Teresa, the founder and tireless worker of Missionaries of Charity. I devote 2 sonnets to her.

In the first sonnet, the line 14 quote was included in the Nobel Committee’s Presentation speech to Mother Teresa which quoted Fritjof Nansen, the 1922 winner of the prize.

The 1980 Peace prize was awarded to the Argentine peace activist, Adolfo Perez Esquivel. I devote 2 sonnets to him and this time.

In the first sonnet, line 10, this refers to the regime’s military, who came often into private homes during the night, kidnapping a family member who was taken to a holding jail where they were photographed and then tortured to death. The bodies were then flown out of the city areas in sacks which were air-dumped from planes into river delta and ocean areas. Mass graves are believed to exist.

In the second sonnet, the quote in lines 5-6 is from the Nobel Committee’s Presentation speech. Further quotes are Esquivel’s own words.

The 1981 Peace Prize was awarded to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The first annotation is a reference from the Nobel Committee’s Prize Presentation Speech. The second annotation is from the U.S. High Commissioner’s Nobel Lecture.

The 1982 Peace Prize was awarded to Alva Myrdal and Alfonso Garcia Robles for their work on nuclear disarmament. The first annotation includes a quote, words and context from Myrdal’s Nobel lecture. The second annotation refers to the ‘no-undermining condition’ accomplished by a second Protocol to the original agreement on which Robles worked, which was signed by the U.S., U.K., France, China and Russia.

The 1983 Peace Prize was awarded to the Polish union rights champion, Lech Walesa. The annotation recognizes that this was part of his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech.

The 1984 Peace Prize was awarded to the South African priest, Desmond Tutu. I devote two sonnets to him and his work. In the first, my annotation notes this as a quote from his Nobel lecture accepting the prize. In the second sonnet, the first annotation notes this is a quotation from George Orwell’s novel, 1984. The second annotation notes that this idea was a focus of Tutu’s later book, No Future Without Forgiveness, as discussed in The Guardian, March 22, 2014.

The 1985 Peace Prize was awarded to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. The first annotation refers to one of the organizations main points, made in their Prize Acceptance Speech. The second annotation quotes a phrase from that Acceptance Speech. The third annotation refers to the Hypocratic oath, which doctors take, which requires they honor basic principles of truthfulness, commitment to the patient’s best interest, and compassion, which led to the organization’s premise for establishing itself.

The 1986 Peace Prize was awarded to Eli Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and author. The first annotation is my own use of a term found in usage in legal theory, practice and law – contributory negligence. The second annotation refers to a discussion found in Wiesel’s Nobel Prize Lecture. The third longer quotation is from his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech. As the sonnet ends, his own next words were: “Sometimes we must interfere.” I couldn’t decide whether to break the 14-line sonnet structure to add this as a 15th line, but it would seem to be completely appropriate.

The 1987 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica. The first annotation is a reference to the Nobel Committee’s Presentation Speech: the five nations involved were: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The second annotation is a quotation from Sanchez’s Nobel Lecture.

The 1988 Peace Prize was awarded to the U.N. Peacekeeping Forces for their important work around the world. My annotation refers to both the Nobel Committee’s Presentation speech and the U.N’s Acceptance speech, which gave this context to the award -my words, and not a direct quote from either.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, the Tibetan nation’s Holiness. The first annotation refers to discussion by the Nobel Committee as an important element of the prize award, from their Presentation Speech. The second annotation recognizes that the quotation and ideas mentioned here were the gist of the Dalai Lama’s Nobel Lecture.

The 1990 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Russian leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. I devote two sonnets to him. In the first, my annotation refers to Gorbachev’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, which focused on the Russian concept of perestroika and the need to embrace greater openness in community with others to achieve peace. In the second sonnet, my annotation refers to a discussion he had when interviewed in the article, “Crucify me right here” The Post-Presidential Life of Mikhail Gorbachev,” by Ilya Zhegulev, in Meduza, Dec. 21, 2018.

The Peace Prize in 1991 was awarded to the Burmese (Myanmar) activist for democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi. I devote two sonnets to her life and work. The annotation in the second sonnet refers to values mentioned by the Nobel Committee in their Award presentation speech.

The 1992 Peace Prize was awarded to Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala. My first annotation is to recognize the words of the Nobel Committee during the Prize Presentation speech. The second annotation summarizes her core remarks in her Nobel Lecture. The prize was intended to encourage greater recognition of the rights and claims of indigenous peoples all across the world, in particular in the western continents, Central America and the United States.

Sonnets are ready for posting – postings to be continued shortly! -June

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