tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post3724255940600126528..comments2024-01-02T15:12:14.699+00:00Comments on War Poetry: Robert Service: 'Tri-colour'Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-868421736716232772009-11-21T10:31:36.187+00:002009-11-21T10:31:36.187+00:00Thank you for the kind words. Jonathan --- that...Thank you for the kind words. Jonathan --- that's an excellent point about the blue shirts, or 'dark-blue blouses' as the poem puts it. French, without a doubt.Tim Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-80229189169137870582009-11-20T21:18:37.327+00:002009-11-20T21:18:37.327+00:00I meant "site," of course.
Still excell...I meant "site," of course.<br /><br />Still excellent, though.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01235681683867806997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-76669871473450054512009-11-20T21:17:36.116+00:002009-11-20T21:17:36.116+00:00I believe that anybody in 1916 would identify the ...I believe that anybody in 1916 would identify the "Tricolor" as a direct reference to the French flag. The blue shirt is the clincher: worn by the French, not the British.<br /><br />Excellent cite, by the way!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01235681683867806997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-51454534641740247792009-11-16T19:00:56.181+00:002009-11-16T19:00:56.181+00:00Hmmm. I didn't mean literal line references (t...Hmmm. I didn't mean literal line references (though that Tennyson sounds promising), but rather the spirit, the gestalt, the mad terror, the soliloquy voice--Rob sort of channeling Will and Mac... Oh well, I did say "more nuts than usual."Ed Leimbacherhttp://www.mrebks.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-89586383534834892962009-11-16T07:49:44.824+00:002009-11-16T07:49:44.824+00:00I think that the source is Tennyson's Maud, th...I think that the source is Tennyson's <i>Maud</i>, the clue being the word 'dabbles'. Here's the start of <i>Maud</i>:<br /><br />I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood;<br />Its lips in the field above are dabbled with blood-red heath,<br />The red-ribb'd ledges drip with a silent horror of blood,<br />And Echo there, whatever is ask'd her, answers "Death."Tim Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-55981047415806872462009-11-15T18:37:18.095+00:002009-11-15T18:37:18.095+00:00Am I more nuts than usual, or do the first two sec...Am I more nuts than usual, or do the first two sections smack of Shakespeare and Macbeth? Anyone hear the echoes? No? Then I must be mad... it's all that blood, haunting me, surrounding me, till I'm steeped in gore... and glory!!Ed Leimbacherhttp://www.mrebks.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-86790104767997290682009-11-14T22:32:07.595+00:002009-11-14T22:32:07.595+00:00What an extraordinary poem - so much more evocativ...What an extraordinary poem - so much more evocative and trenchant ("goaded on to the shambles") than one would expect from Service. And very interesting to see the symbolism of poppies and cornflowers already potent in 1916 - the lilies have faded away since then, I suppose because the pre-existing connotations were too strong.Neilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18020242863144175965noreply@blogger.com