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Writing Films
A few of the closing scenes from the 1930 Hollywood production of "All Quiet on the Western Front" (Universal) starring Lewis Milestone. |
These two clips, and the five that follow, are remarkably clever and admirable pieces of computer animation in which the eighty-five year old photographs of the World War One poets come to life reciting their famous verses.This first one depicts the doomed poet Wilfred Owen "reading" his poem "Dulce et Decorum Est".
We can do no better than give the excellent concise notes from Wikipedia about this very sad and beautiful poem.It is read superbly by poet Alan Mumford from Hampstead of London.
Wikipedia entry......
"Dulce et Decorum Est" is a poem written by British poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen in 1917, and published posthumously in 1920. Owen's poem is known for its horrifying imagery and its condemnation of war."
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Poet Siegfried Sassoon "reading" his poem "The Dug Out":
WHY do you lie with your legs ungainly huddled,
And one arm bent across your sullen, cold,
Exhausted face? It hurts my heart to watch you,
Deep-shadowed from the candle's guttering gold;
And you wonder why I shake you by the shoulder;
Drowsy, you mumble and sigh and turn your head . . . .
You are too young to fall asleep for ever;
And when you sleep you remind me of the dead. |
Canadian poet John McCrae (1872 - 1918) was a medical officer in both the Boer War and World War I. A year into the latter war he published in Punch magazine, on December 8, 1915, the sole work by which he would be remembered. This sonnet commemorates the deaths of thousands of young men who died in Flanders during the grueling battles there. It created a great sensation, and was used widely as a recruiting tool, inspiring other young men to join the Army. Legend has it that he was inspired by seeing the blood-red poppies blooming in the fields where many friends had died. In 1918 McCrae died at the age of 40, in the way most men died during that war, not from a bullet or bomb, but from disease: pneumonia, in his case. |
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