Who is This ? ? ?

[tankengine888]

6 hours ago, neverforget said:

Ouch! 

If I become a Cadet NCO, then I'll feel the pain.. teaching little urchins of my own size.

[David Ridgus]

1 hour ago, Bob Davies said:

The Highwayman. Alfred Noyse, is this man We learnt about him at school He comes from Wolverhampton.

Well done Bob, it is indeed Alfred Noyes. A fascinating chap who wrote some stunning antiwar poetry and brilliant short stories yet is only really remembered, if at all, for 'The Highwayman' a pot boiler of a poem he wrote in 1907. His poem 'The Victory Ball' I think ranks with Sassoon's 'Aftermath' in its portrayal of a certain strand of behaviour in post-Armistice Britain. It had a brief revival in the 60s when a Congressman was so outraged by White House balls taking place as casualties mounted in Vietnam had it read into the Congressional record.

And along with everything else he did he spent a brief time as an English Professor at Princeton where he taught amongst others F Scott Fitzgerald.

Ripe for a revival I think

David

[Fattyowls]

5 hours ago, David Ridgus said:

Romeo and Juliet Act 2 Scene 2 Line 1

😕

Are there any women here? I can recite from the heart from line 2 but hadn't a clue. If I were a better and nicer person I'd be ashamed. Unfortunately blank verse was of limited utility when I was oiling steam engine in't mill......

Excellent spot Bob and a good candidate, I'd never heard of him as usual. I had a trip around Yeats' entry in the extensive library and found lots of fun facts. I do have Looking For Clues by Robert Palmer as my earworm now which can only be a Good Thing.

Pete.

P.S. This evening's entertainment was totally splendid, we'll tell you all about it on Saturday.

[Bob Davies]

18 minutes ago, Fattyowls said:

when I was oiling steam engine in't mill......

Pete, thank you for dropin' some oil o'tn the wheels . I was thinking of the muvician composer bloke, his name escapeses me now who was associated with  him... Elgar. Excuse me , I have had a tot, or two by now

[Fattyowls]

9 hours ago, Bob Davies said:

I was thinking of the muvician composer bloke

Butterworth possibly?

[Uncle George]

10 hours ago, David Ridgus said:

its portrayal of a certain strand of behaviour in post-Armistice Britain. 

Thank you for ‘The Victory Ball’. In my ignorance I was not aware of it. One thinks of Philip Johnstone’s ‘High Wood,’ which was written, and this came  as a surprise, in 1918.

https://allpoetry.com/High-Wood

 

[neverforget]

Yes. The Victory Ball was new to me too.

Both The Victory Ball and High Wood give one cause to pause and reflect. Powerful stuff.

[neverforget]

Refused his commission, choosing instead to join the fray as a private, and was killed at the Somme as an O.R. 

[David Ridgus]

2 hours ago, Uncle George said:

Thank you for ‘The Victory Ball’. In my ignorance I was not aware of it. One thinks of Philip Johnstone’s ‘High Wood,’ which was written, and this came  as a surprise, in 1918.

https://allpoetry.com/High-Wood

 

Thank you UG. I knew there was another poem that was even better as a comparison than 'Aftermath' but I couldn't for the life of me remember it. What's even more embarrassing is I used to teach 'High Wood' too. A stunning poem, and to think it was written before the war was over, amazingly prescient. (I've only been retired for 8 months but I've adapted so well it seems a heck of a lot longer!)

David

[David Ridgus]

 

32 minutes ago, neverforget said:

Refused his commission, choosing instead to join the fray as a private, and was killed at the Somme as an O.R. 

Disturbing resemblance to Steve Smith (sorry Pete that's probably given you the vapours)

Edited 23 March , 2023 by David Ridgus

[neverforget]

7 minutes ago, David Ridgus said:

 

Disturbing resemblance to Steve Smith (sorry Pete that's probably given you the vapours)

He was another angry young man. His most well known and bitterest outpouring came just days before his death.

[Uncle George]

4 minutes ago, neverforget said:

He was another angry young man. His most well known and bitterest outpouring came just days before his death.

Is he Joyce Kilmer?

[Marilyne]

I do have that name somewhere in my notes... the story sounds familiar... but I guess somebody will figure this out before I have the time to get the notes out... 

M.

[Uncle George]

3 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

Is he Joyce Kilmer?

EDIT: no, scrap that - wrong nationality!

[neverforget]

28 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

EDIT: no, scrap that - wrong nationality!

Quite so, my man was English; born in London. 

Before he was asking questions of lawmakers whilst on the Somme, he was another who had felt the call of the ocean. 

[David Ridgus]

Steve

Is it Leslie Coulson? (Possibly not angry enough)

David

Edited 23 March , 2023 by David Ridgus

[neverforget]

Yes, David. Wrote the following a few days before was killed. His other poems include "Call of the Sea".

Who Made The Law ?

 

Who made the Law that men should die in shadows ?
Who spake the word that blood should splash in lanes ?
Who gave it forth that gardens should be bone-yards ?
Who spread the hills with flesh, and blood, and brains ?
Who made the Law ?  

Who made the Law that Death should stalk the village ?
Who spake the word to kill among the sheaves,
Who gave it forth that death should lurk in hedgerows,
Who flung the dead among the fallen leaves ?
Who made the Law ?  

But who made the Law ? the Trees shall whisper to him:
"See, see the blood - the splashes on our bark !"
Walking the meadows, he shall hear bones crackle,
And fleshless mouths shall gibber in silent lanes at dark.
Who made the Law ? At noon upon the hillside
His ears shall hear a moan, his cheeks shall feel a breath,
And all along the valleys, past gardens, croft, and homesteads,
HE who made the Law,
He who made the Law,
He who made the Law
shall walk along with Death.
WHO made the Law ?

Biography here:

https://warpoets.org/conflicts/great-war/lesliecoulson-1889-1916/

[David Ridgus]

And yet at times he could be much more elegiac

From the Somme

In other days I sang of simple things,
Of summer dawn, and summer noon and night,
The dewy grass, the dew wet fairy rings,
The larks long golden flight.

Deep in the forest I made melody
While squirrels cracked their hazel nuts on high,
Or I would cross the wet sand to the sea
And sing to sea and sky.

When came the silvered silence of the night
I stole to casements over scented lawns,
And softly sang of love and love’s delight
To mute white marble fauns.

Oft in the tavern parlour I would sing
Of morning sun upon the mountain vine,
And, calling for a chorus, sweep the string
In praise of good red wine.

I played with all the toys the gods provide,
I sang my songs and made glad holiday
Mow I have cast my broken toys aside
And flung my lute away.

A singer once, I now am fain to weep,
Within my soul I feel strange music swell,
Vast chants of tragedy too deep -  too deep
For my poor lips to tell.

Another new one on me, so thanks as ever Steve

[neverforget]

I think things had really got to him towards the end. 

[David Ridgus]

So here is another composer/fighter. Only he didn't fight he drove ambulances

WIT?

David

7 minutes ago, neverforget said:

I think things had really got to him towards the end. 

October on the Somme: who can blame him

 

[neverforget]

3 minutes ago, David Ridgus said:

 

David

October on the Somme: who can blame him

 

Absolutely. 

Edited 23 March , 2023 by neverforget

[David Ridgus]

Oh, and like Coulson my chap also had the call of the ocean in his youth before turning to music

[Uncle George]

1 hour ago, David Ridgus said:

So here is another composer/fighter. Only he didn't fight he drove ambulances

WIT?

David

October on the Somme: who can blame him

 

That’s Albert Roussel.

[David Ridgus]

8 minutes ago, Uncle George said:

That’s Albert Roussel.

It certainly is, well done. You'll gather I'm listening to a lot of French music at the moment!

Like RVW he signed up though in his forties and drove ambulances throughout. Far less neglected than Magnard, but still somewhat underplayed and valued. If anyone is interested I'd start off with Symphony No. 3.

David

[Fattyowls]

7 hours ago, David Ridgus said:

Disturbing

I don't know what the vapours are other than the one hit wonders behind Turning Japanese but that image gave me a jolt; it's enough to put you off your tea.....