Poesía inglesa sobre la I Guerra Mundial

Reading Between the Lines:
Understanding Social, Political and Cultural Aspects 
through Language in XXth-Century Literature in English

¿Os gusta la poesía ? ¿Y sabéis inglés? Si es así, ¿qué opinais de estos dos poemas?

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

(W.B. Yeats)

I know that I shall meet my fate

Somewhere among the clouds above;

Those that I fight I do not hate,

Those that I guard I do not love;

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,

No likely end could bring them loss

Or leave them happier than before.

Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,

Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,

A lonely impulse of delight

Drove to this tumult in the clouds;

I balanced all, brought all to mind,

The years to come seemed waste of breath,

A waste of breath the years behind

In balance with this life, this death.

Anthem for Doomed Youth
  (Wilfred Owen)

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

–Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle    

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,–   

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

  

Os invito a escucharlo en la voz de Kenneth Branagh

Si os gusta, podeis echar una amplia ojeada al capítulo 5 de esta obra (pp. 89-110), escrito por mí como una propuesta didáctica para profesores de inglés utilizando la poesía como vehñiculo para expresar profundos aspectos sociales, políticos culturales. En él comento largo y tendido lo que se lee entre líneas en estos hitos de la literatura inglesa: An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, del poeta y premio Nobel irlandés William Butler Yeats y fallecido en combate.

Pinchando el enlace a esta obra:
Reading between the lines: English war poetry,
los intersados podéis, además, ver una amplio extracto de mi artícul, o descargarlo entero.