<Deleted User> (18980)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 19:36
Interesting and accurate... Like it..?
Comment is about The adoration of cats (blog)
Original item by eve nortley
Tue 13th Nov 2018 17:42
Thank you Keith for the like, very much appreciated.
All the best des
Comment is about Consumed (blog)
Original item by DESMOND CHILDS
When I was growing up, I thought that elemenno p was a certain kind of letter, kind of like capital letters.
Were there other letters that were also elemennos? Was there a p that was not an elemenno?
I did, however, have the confident expectation that I would one day receive a concrete answer.
Much different today, when my questions are butterflies going from flower to flower.
?
Comment is about Ella Minnow Pea (blog)
Original item by d.knape
<Deleted User> (16099)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 17:04
absolutely one of my favorite writes.. beautiful....
Comment is about Til Morning Light (blog)
Original item by Chiari Warrior Soldier
I've given a link to this anthology before, but no harm in repeating it - Neil Astley's The Hundred Years' War https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=43187. My review back in 2014 mentions a couple of first world war German poets, and I'm sure there are more in the anthology. Not saying that their names have resounded in the same way as those of Owen and Sassoon, but perhaps that's partly because the German attitude to its two twentieth century wars has always been different to ours.
Comment is about Wilfred Owen and the Poetry of Trauma (article)
Original item by Mike Took
Perhaps Brian should petition WOL for two categories of
"Poem of the Week".
Posh of the Week - for garrulous guff.
Tosh of the Week - for silly stuff.
:-)
Comment is about Teaching Brian Drivel (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
This has developed into a useful and informative forum
JFK's point about the absence of WW2 poetry, compared
to the volume from WW1, is interesting. It is surely the
product of a more cynical change in human attitudes -
perhaps finding its origin in the shock and anger that
preceded it and less ready to respond for that reason.
A poet like John Pudney ("For Johnny" and "The Letter")
is the exception and even he kept his lines brief and to
the point in contrast to the verbosity found in much of the
stuff from WW1. The war-weariness and its acceptance is much more evident two decades on from "the war to end to end all wars".
As for the Germans - a Prussian view and acceptance of militarism, was their raison d'etre for marching across the borders of other lands and that quasi-religious belief had no
time for poetry - unless you include
those strangely attractive "strutting"
songs they used to sing and which
surely served the same purpose as the more wry and sardonic songs
sung by British WW1 troops.
Comment is about Wilfred Owen and the Poetry of Trauma (article)
Original item by Mike Took
Fantastic poem of the week Jon..well deserved. A huge congratulations..??
Comment is about Words (blog)
Original item by Jon Stainsby
Really well constructed poem. I enjoyed this poem..thank you..?
Comment is about The true image in mind (blog)
Original item by Hasmukh Mehta
Well crafted silliness..you are the master Don..?
Comment is about Teaching Brian Drivel (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
Excellent...a serious subject very well versed..?
Comment is about Wipe out .Wet wipes an enormous cause of sewage blockage (blog)
Original item by hugh
What a lovely way to learn thanks D.K.?
Comment is about Ella Minnow Pea (blog)
Original item by d.knape
Tue 13th Nov 2018 14:55
Learning the ABC's
early on was a difficulty
but with the rhyme
I came to see
worlds of words
open up for me.
Comment is about Ella Minnow Pea (blog)
Original item by d.knape
Congratulations on your second POTW, and thank you for such a lovely and meaningful poem. xx
Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Words’ by Jon Stainsby (article)
Original item by steve pottinger
This is so beautiful. An awe-inspiring poem.
Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Words’ by Jon Stainsby (article)
Original item by steve pottinger
Words....it's what we are all made of!
Well done on joining the POTW double club Jon!
Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Words’ by Jon Stainsby (article)
Original item by steve pottinger
I would guess Isaac Rosenberg would fit the bill as a working class war poet, though I can't think of many others (and even he was a product of Jewish respect for education and attended a top art college). Niall Ferguson suggests that our image of war is distorted by over-emphasis on middle class reportage; many working class men actually enjoyed the excitement and comradeship of war. Remember that they had no romantic ideals or experiences to contrast the war experience with, unlike the upper middle class.
Something else that interests me is the exceptional English response to the war in terms of poetry. There are no German equivalents to Owen or Sassoon, for instance; yet Germany has a great literary heritage and its losses in the war were much heavier (2 million dead and many more wounded). Perhaps the German view of war as a pragmatic, professional activity explains the difference. Also, Germany already had a well-developed system of technical education which distanced many Germans from literary culture from a young age.
Comment is about Wilfred Owen and the Poetry of Trauma (article)
Original item by Mike Took
<Deleted User> (19913)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 11:19
<Deleted User> (19913)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 11:16
Silliness is so important. Thanks for the laugh.
Comment is about Teaching Brian Drivel (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
<Deleted User> (18980)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 11:11
<Deleted User> (19913)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 10:48
Thanks for your comment on Lost Hope Hugh. It's based on real events... So, so sad.
Comment is about hugh (poet profile)
Original item by hugh
Thanks, Kev. Sorry I didn’t make Well Spoken last week.
Comment is about RUGBY FATBOYS BLUES 2 (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
JFK you make some very good points. However, much overlooked are the ordinary "letters home" from those in the trenches that are occasionally aired on the radio etc. I'm not aware of an anthology of such letters (there might be one or two) but there is a poetry in amongst them which is clearly unrecorded. Education (which most of the WW1 poets enjoyed) does shine out but it would be lovely to see more of the "ordinary man's work" brought to the fore.
Comment is about Wilfred Owen and the Poetry of Trauma (article)
Original item by Mike Took
I love the last few lines in particular Cynthia. The idea of some drunken bugs marching through a body is quite marvellous.
A fabulous poem
Comment is about Chemotherapy (blog)
Original item by Cynthia Buell Thomas
I have been thinking about poetry and WWI and why the two are so intertwined in the UK. No other country or war produced such a rich poetic response and the WWI poets stand miles above all other war poets in stature and popular appeal.
Some reasons for this?
1. WWI occurred in a literary era prior to the rise of a modern mass media. People considered literature the default mode of self-expression.
2. WWI occurred when most educated people were still raised part of a canonical literary culture based on the Greek classics and the King James Bible. Hence poetic references to these things were widely appreciated.
3. At the time, translating Greek and Latin verse was a central feature of British middle class education. Consequently, the sheer quality of the poetry was very high. Subsquent generations did not have this default 'poetic' education.
4. Because of 3, WWI poetry was still defined by populist poetic devices such as rhyme, metre and alliteration. These are simply popular with laypeople, explaining the war poets' lasting populist appeal.
5. The War touched everyone as a kind of folk memory, which keeps the poetry alive. Remembrance Day always invokes the war poets and their works.
6. WWI was a seismic transitional event which ushered in the age of modernity and saw the decline of an older world based on mass religious belief and social conformity. The poetry captured this transition perfectly as idealism confronted the new industrial reality. WW2 lacked this quality utterly.
7. It is a bit controversial, but WWI was unusual in that it was the first war to be fought by all British social classes. Prior to it, the British military was staffed by a pragmatic officer class and underclass minions. Unsurprisingly, these people did not produce much in the way of war art, poetry or whatever: the military was just a career for them, not a diversion imbued with complex ideals. The same is true of the contemporary military, which has reverted to this professional elite/underclass model in the UK. WWI was unique in that the educated middle class fought in it - and that class are the typical creators of poetry, art, memoirs and so on. Most of the best war poets were intelligent public schoolboys who would have never have joined the army except for the war.
Comment is about Wilfred Owen and the Poetry of Trauma (article)
Original item by Mike Took
Ray, what you have described here are tribes. We are animals remember and as animals learned to band together for safety and to become a more potent hunting force.
Tribes then both fear and respect one another so eventually agree to help each other in times of threat from outside.
Wealth can then be accrued whether it be food or shiny things and is another sort of power to be protected and allied to.
The only thing that stops man from continually trying to defeat or dominate other tribes is the threat to their own existence, namely a deterrent.
Therefore tolerance is born! It is a very weak flame that must be nurtured.
Bloody good thought provoking stuff.
Comment is about THE ASSEMBLY OF MEN (blog)
Original item by ray pool
<Deleted User> (18474)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 08:14
Enjoyed this.
I see so many dysfunctional families in my day to day life, that I found this very warming.
Lucky parents indeed!
Thanks,
Beno
Comment is about Sisters (blog)
Original item by d.knape
<Deleted User> (18474)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 08:09
I agree with Taylor.
A lot left unsaid.
But it's best left there, as the poem works beautifully.
Thank.
Beno
Comment is about The Almost Child (blog)
Original item by Chris Armstrong
<Deleted User> (18474)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 08:05
This was a completely stunning read.
Thanks, Beno.
Comment is about Cutting The Line (blog)
Original item by kJ Walker
<Deleted User> (18980)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 07:52
Thank you very much, Kate, Mae, Keith, Big Sal, John, Bruce and Jane.
Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Words’ by Jon Stainsby (article)
Original item by steve pottinger
<Deleted User> (18474)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 07:22
Really love this poem Becky.
You and your children are lucky to have your Dad, and spend quality time together.
It's very Sad you lost your Mum at and age when you need her very much indeed. I am very sorry.
You have captured everything in the poem so brilliantly. It's so warm sentimental, happy warm and safe. The sadness at the end, tempered with the mutual support and love between Dad, and daughter, was beautifully phased.
I welled up a bit.
Thanks Becky.
Beno.
I am going to try and read more of your stuff.
Comment is about Leaving Home (blog)
Original item by Becky Who
Thanks Jon, Brian, Martin, Hugh, Anya and Don. Sorry for rambling, but I tend to write with my open mic in mind. We have 5 minutes each, so I try to keep just within that limit. I will try to keep them shorter in future, but most of my poems tell a story, so I find it hard to keep the word count down.
Cheers Kevin
Comment is about Cutting The Line (blog)
Original item by kJ Walker
ANYA
Drivel = twaddle = gobblygook = tommyrot.
Brian and I have taken many years to perfect this art. And yes, it is an art Anya. We are both degree'd from the School of Silliness (Spike Milligan also learnt his trade there. He was a few years ahead of us)
?
Comment is about Teaching Brian Drivel (blog)
Original item by Don Matthews
<Deleted User> (19836)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 04:15
Congratulations Jon! A beautifully structured poem! Well deserved.?
Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Words’ by Jon Stainsby (article)
Original item by steve pottinger
<Deleted User> (19788)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 04:15
Well done, Jon! Congratulations on getting Poem of the Week - it is well deserved!!!!!
Bruce
Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Words’ by Jon Stainsby (article)
Original item by steve pottinger
Hello Starfish. Not seen you around for a time. Nice to hear from you again. And thankyou.
Comment is about THE LOG BURNING FIRE (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
An added comment placed
By you in rhymic form
Adds icing to the cake
Of sisters who are born ?
Comment is about Sisters (blog)
Original item by d.knape
How I wish Ray. Problem is, humans seem to have this greed gene in their makeup ?
Comment is about THE ASSEMBLY OF MEN (blog)
Original item by ray pool
A sad debilitating disease striking many today. You have expressed it well here Martin. ?
Comment is about Dementia (blog)
Original item by Martin Forster
Utopia but How I wish
Thanks
Keith
Comment is about THE ASSEMBLY OF MEN (blog)
Original item by ray pool
All as in a dream but nicely sculpted, Peter; with a virtual story of the moon's presentation and our response to it. It is no wonder that in astrology the Moon represents the Mother and the Sun the Father. That's another story when I see you!
A very uplifting and pleasurable read.
Ray
Comment is about MOONWATCH (blog)
Original item by Peter Taylor
<Deleted User> (19913)
Mon 12th Nov 2018 19:53
Thanks for your comment on Lost Hope Jon. It's based on real events. Very sad.
Comment is about Jon Stainsby (poet profile)
Original item by Jon Stainsby
Words can be holy
and blasphemy, too
Words can be clear
but also misunderstood
Dr Johnson said 'brevity is the soul of wit'
And you got it!
Well Done Jon (without the 'h')
John
Comment is about The Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Words’ by Jon Stainsby (article)
Original item by steve pottinger
As my Nan once said.........we are only passing through
Thanks for this
Keith
Comment is about take some time, get some perspective (blog)
Original item by Grape
<Deleted User> (18980)
Tue 13th Nov 2018 19:39
Intriguing, and I'm trying to fill in the blanks
Taylor.
Comment is about Always Yesterday (blog)
Original item by Taylor Crowshaw