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STAGE 1

In order to organise the video I decided to take advantage of a documentary on First World War illustrated novel that I had once seen on television (The Great War). Searching on the Internet, I luckily found it in rtve.com archive and decided to take advantage of it for my poetry university project.

The documentary presents the American cartoonist Joe Sacco and his best and more recent works such as War’s end or Safe Area Gorazde. You can watch it here.

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WHAT IS THE GREAT WAR ABOUT?

The Great War is a piece of art on the Battle of the Somme where that same day and night (18th of November, 1916) are represented as a continuum through a detailed drawing and representations of the soldiers and battlefield. The work itself is 7.3 metres long as its format consists of A4 pieces of paper connected horizontally. The reader can access to it by opening the work as accordion.

In order to develop my work, I selected  some scenes from the documentary where sections that illustrate the soldier's fear and the cruelty of the war are clearly visible. By using these images at the beginning of the video, the audience would be set in an imaginary live coverage of the war on television. Later, the coverage would be would be interrupted by the announcement of the National Lottery (see next section: STAGE 2).

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What is interesting is that during the live broadcasting of the war I thought that the audience would feel the war threat closer if they listened a recitation of one of Charles’ Sorley poems, When you see millions of the mouthless dead (1916).

In order to find the recitation of the poem I decided to take advantage of a native speaker so that the pronunciation, stress and rhythm of the poem were as accurate as possible. As an international student in my class (Wesley James Peterson) offered himself to recite the poem, I recorded his voice and added the recitation to my video.

When you see millions of the mouthless dead

When you see millions of the mouthless dead

Across your dreams in pale battalions go,

Say not soft things as other men have said,

That you'll remember. For you need not so.

Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know

It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?

Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.

Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.

Say only this, “They are dead.” Then add thereto,

“Yet many a better one has died before.”

Then, scanning all the o'ercrowded mass, should you

Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,

It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.

Great death has made all his for evermore.

Marlborought and Other Poems, 1916