20200207-Project Two- Image and Text-Exercise-Poem

The aim of this exercise was to take a poem that resonates with you. For this I didn’t take a full poem but the part that sits deeply with me. The poem I have chosen is by Laurence Binyon’s “For the Fallen”

brookwood mil cem trip

brookwood mil cemt trip 2

brookwood mil cem trip 4

For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
The paragraph in bold is what everyone will know. I chose to use triptych for this exercise to show element within the poem. Agree there are some that repeat themselves but in a different narrative from the meaning of “They shall grow not old” by showing the varying ages and time frames from 1917 to 2009. The Sun casting shadows in the morning, remembering them.
Reflecting on this exercise, I had originally thought of using Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Tommy”. It is quite a lengthy poem with some complex issues. I had thought of using various locations by visiting the Brookwood Military cemetery and local cemeteries that contain military graves. If this was to be a further subject id travel further afield to the national arboretum in Stafford.
This may turn out to be an ongoing project and possibly an idea for assignment two once I’ve consulted my tutor.

Bibliography

(n.d.). For The Fallen By Laurence Binyon | Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved February 7, 2020, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57322/for-the-fallen {asessed 20200207}

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