Many look at 1968 as a seminal year in American history -- the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the riots in American cities and the height of protests against the Vietnam War all contributed to this turning point in the United States.

When social and political unrest occurs, art often abounds. Many renowned poets turned their attention to 1968, putting pain, grief, anger and rebellion into words.

Georgetown’s Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice celebrated those poets and those who came after during its annual Lannan Literary Symposium and Festival on March 30-31. “Cry Havoc! Poetry of War and Remembrance, 1968-2008” brought together poets, activists, journalists and visual artists to recall the last four decades and find ways to create a peaceful future.

When Henry Schwarz, director of the symposium, and Mark McMorris, director of the Lannan Center, sat down to plan this year’s events, they agreed on 1968’s significance, especially when the nation is still at war today, Schwarz recalled.

“Why was it, we wondered, we failed to remember? What allows us to continue to participate in a culture that seemingly condones the violence, the destructiveness, the misery and waste, the expense and corruption and the moral failure of incessant foreign war?” asked Schwarz, associate professor of English and director of the Program on Justice and Peace.

The topic seemed to touch a nerve -- no less than 100 people came to each of the symposium’s four readings and discussions on March 31, while Gaston Hall filled up for the opening event the night before.

Attendees included faculty members, who incorporated the events into their curriculum and brought students, as well as scholars from area universities and people from outside academia with an interest in poetry.

Over two days, participants looked at specific moments of war, such as the invasion of Fallujah, Iraq, and the consequences of war, survival and the stories of soldiers. Panelists and featured artists included a veteran of the Iraq war, a Cambodian poet imprisoned by former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot and writers from Iraq, Iran and Libya.

Carolyn Forché, Lannan Visiting Chair in Poetics, assigned importance to the variety of perspectives on war since no conflict is exactly the same. In researching war poetry, she has found different trends, depending on the conflict -- for example, Spanish Civil War poetry shows a common purpose of fighting fascism, she said.

“Trench poetry of the Great War (World War I) really established the genre of war poetry,” Forché explained. “The trajectory toward the end showed the revulsion for the wasted lives throughout Europe.”

Who writes the poetry, when the war took place and who is benefiting from the conflict all shape the kind of poetry that stems from war, Forché added.

“All of that makes the poetry tremendously different. What stays the same is the death, carnage, brutality and suffering of civilians,” she said. “This symposium was not set up as a protest of war, but the examination of what happens to the human spirit and humanity in warfare and its aftermath.”

Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter responsible for exposing both the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and investigative journalist Amy Goodman, author and host of Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now!,” spoke during the opening ceremony.

Both journalists cover the human cost of war, and Hersh decried the notion that U.S. obligation in Iraq ends with the withdrawal of American troops.

“In the election last year, there was never a sense what our moral obligation is,” Hersh said. “It’s overwhelmingly sad that it’s not on the agenda what we owe (Iraqis) … There’s no talk of spending hundreds of millions of dollars on reparations, and there won’t be.”

Goodman’s program is noted for bringing in voices frequently ignored by the mainstream media. Her radio program and the Lannan symposium are important, she said, because they personalize war.

“When you can break down the caricatures and the stereotypes that fuel the hate groups, that’s when we can start talk about building bridges between communities,” she said. “We need a media that builds bridges (and) doesn’t advocate the bombing of bridges. The media can be the greatest force for peace.”

In addition to Goodman and Hersh’s takes on war, the symposium also included a tribute to the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, S.J., a poet and peace activist who was imprisoned for nearly seven years for his protest actions against the Vietnam War. Berrigan was unable to attend due to illness, but the audience viewed a clip of him from an earlier talk at Georgetown condemning warfare, and Forché read excerpts of the Jesuit’s war poetry.

After what several participants described as an intense, provocative two days, planning is already under way for the next Lannan symposium. Discussions on a theme continue, but it is a good bet that the symposium won’t shy away from complex issues.

“Over the past few years, the Lannan Center has staged a series of events examining the force of poetry and the other arts at specific, focused moments of intense social and political upheaval,” noted Lannan Center director McMorris. “We think that if poetic forms rise in response to a social world, then that world in turn will be legible, will be vocal with what (poet) Adrienne Rich has called art’s social presence.”