Life — August 24, 1916 — page 7: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Dragon" from Life Magazine This page features a poem and illustration titled "The Dragon," credited to Earl Simonson. The poem invokes medieval imagery—"Trumpets of steel, ye knights of Normandy!"—calling upon Christian warriors to battle a demonic creature ("the Thing the Devil made"). The accompanying illustration shows "THE LINE OF DESCENT," depicting a woman cowering before an aggressive man in what appears to be a domestic interior. The satire appears to equate male domestic violence or aggression with the mythological dragon—reframing household tyranny as a modern "beast" requiring confrontation. The juxtaposition mocks chivalric ideals by suggesting that true knightly virtue should address contemporary social problems (likely domestic abuse or male dominance) rather than historical crusades.