tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8881054030497725613.post64073289806986777..comments2023-11-03T15:50:56.001+01:00Comments on POET IN RESIDENCE : Albizzi's prolonged sonnet; a poem to end all war poemsGwil Whttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8881054030497725613.post-16342475788289981952008-11-19T09:01:00.000+01:002008-11-19T09:01:00.000+01:00dammitall!, Thanks for visiting and for the info. ...dammitall!, Thanks for visiting and for the info. I'll see if I can google Belloc's poem; I can't bring it mind but maybe it'll be one of those "ah, yes" moments. Both my grandads were at the Somme. Taid, my Welsh one, came back with trench knee. My Geordie one came back with gangrene. Both considered themsleves lucky to get their discharge papers. Reality and propoganda are strange bedfellows.Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8881054030497725613.post-46341123759948748582008-11-18T23:45:00.000+01:002008-11-18T23:45:00.000+01:00Hello again - also it seems to summon up a gaunt e...Hello again - also it seems to summon up a gaunt expressionist picture of the 1910s-1920s.<BR/>My granny remembered the 1914 recruiting rush well: she was the daughter of a cow-man, and there was much unemployment in the countryside. <BR/> Do you know Hilaire Belloc's heartbreaking "Ha'nacker Mill"? - a picture of rural desolation after the war. On YOUTUBE there's a recording of the old boy actually singing his "Miranda". (M. was a Spanish nobleman, according to A.N.Wilson, not some young doxy that HB had picked up to go rambling with in the Pyrenees.)<BR/> The form of this translation is interesting: two octets, I suppose, but only the second concluding with a couplet.<BR/>The syncopation of "over the bridge dreadfully" in an iambic context so well summons up the sound of stumbling hooves!<BR/>Thanks again!Dammitall!https://www.blogger.com/profile/09388454250396637047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8881054030497725613.post-26017480961336320722008-11-18T08:29:00.000+01:002008-11-18T08:29:00.000+01:00Thanks for having a look and please do come again....Thanks for having a look and please do come again. It's a wonderful translation for its time. I feel also that those last six words bring in a very strong image; the barber with his cut-throat razor, just about to lay it on a man's bare neck. Great way to finish such a poem!Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8881054030497725613.post-31773097354934082402008-11-18T00:40:00.000+01:002008-11-18T00:40:00.000+01:00I enjoyed our little meeting at Harry's Place, so ...I enjoyed our little meeting at Harry's Place, so I thougt I'd drop in on you at home.<BR/>Gosh, the two opening lines of that poem took me by surprise, if they are really translated by Rosetti! Amazing that a Victorian used language like "dead beat" in formal verse-making - it takes one forward to Owen or Sassoon!<BR/>Thanks for that!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8881054030497725613.post-57016974344419846982008-11-12T22:24:00.000+01:002008-11-12T22:24:00.000+01:00It's sad to think that Albizzi's poem is 800 years...It's sad to think that Albizzi's poem is 800 years old and that nothing has much has changed. <BR/>Enjoyed Pendragon. Will call again. Thanks for the invitation.Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8881054030497725613.post-39545857435021959732008-11-12T17:32:00.000+01:002008-11-12T17:32:00.000+01:00Not sure what a prolonged sonnet is but my goodnes...Not sure what a prolonged sonnet is but my goodness what a strong poem - no glorification of war, no sentiment - just plain, awful facts. Brilliant.<BR/>Thanks for visiting. Glad Pendragon castle reminded you of a holiday! Call again.The Weaver of Grasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947971556343746883noreply@blogger.com