indeed, Branagh's version is lavish, and memorable. a few years ago, while
at high school, our English class was sent to the cinema to see it - though
a few teachers were extremely cynical about just how good it was going to
be, i think they all agreed afterwards that it's a very effective film for
first-time students of Hamlet. the sets and the emphasis placed on certain
scenes really gave a teenage reader (such as myself) a sense of the
dimensions and scale of the play.

though, it has to be said, Jack Lemmon is pretty terrible.

as for the CA Duffy issue, i find both David's and Alison's responses very
interesting. i don't feel qualified to enter the debate whole-heartedly, but
upon first reading 'Warming Her Pearls' what struck me was its awkward
appearance on the page. i'm not sure the poem wants to be in neat four-line
stanzas of rougly equal length. some of the line endings are rough and
unexplainable (if one is wont to 'explain' line endings):

>Full moon. Her carriage brings her home. I see
>her every movement in my head...Undressing,
>taking off her jewels, her slim hand reaching
>for the case, slipping naked into bed, the way
>
>she always does...

why does that line up there end with 'I see'? why does this stanza end with
'the way'? a lot of these line-endings seem arbitrary.

a personal anecdote might help here: one day at uni i scheduled an
'appointment' with John Mateer, one of the creative writing tutors. the
half-hour i spent with him was more enlightening than any of the hour-long
creative writing lectures i attended. he ripped into the one poem i showed
him, questioning the fundamentals, demanding to know WHY one line ended
where it did. looking back now i can see the poem was pretty woeful - the
best thing was i went away from the meeting and my writing improved
immensely (i think).

people might disagree with the way he instructed me, but it helped, and in
turn made me wary of poems like 'Warming Her Pearls', in which the poet
seems to hope that subjects like 'silk or taffeta' distract the reader from
considerations of form. i've never read Duffy before, but this poem is
uninspiring and dull, despite the jewels and 'indolent sighs'.

feel free to pull me up on these criticisms - as i say, i'm much less
qualified than most on this list. like Chris Jones i'm always curious as to
how we come to see poems as 'GREAT' or canonical, or how we can judge poems
at all.

cheers

Will


-----Original Message-----
From: david.bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, 6 January 2003 6:17
Subject: Re: British commanders, etc.--reply to Liz


>I've just come to this from a very engrossing time watching the Kenneth
>Branagh production of Hamlet. It is a very lavish version, studded with
star
>actors, Charlton Heston as the leader of the players, Robin Williams as
>Osric etc. My favourites were the (non-speaking) cameo of Ken Dodd in
>flashback as Yorick and most of all Richard Briers as Polonius. Branagh
>performs ensemble scenes and dialogue very well the one area where he fell
>down I felt was in solo, the 'to be or not to be' soliloquy is flat while
in
>another he gives a very bad impersonation of Laurence Olivier in full Henry
>Vth mode. The finale doesn't quite work but those are always the most
>difficult scenes in Shakespearean acting. I certainly enjoyed it, but, to
>come from that to contemplating poetry by CA Duffy is quite a culture
shock.
>A great poet? as someone said, I think not.
>
>As Liz has posted a complete text it is quite fair to examine it
>forensically, as it were. Let me begin with first impressions: they are
>threefold - one, I have a sense that this poem wants to convince the reader
>of its reality; two, I feel that the 'reality' being presented has nothing
>whatsoever to do with contemporary Britain; three, the phrasing and level
of
>language employed deserve examination.
>
>More about that later.
>
>But to start with 'one': the poem offers an ostensibly 'real' situation,
one
>of the things that are noticeable about is the emphasis on apparently
>observational detail, it is full of 'furniture', starting with the pearls,
>proceeding through the Yellow Room, via the attic, the mirror, the carriage
>and all the other paraphernalia.
>
>Which leads one to 'two'. This poem describes no reality of contemporary
>Britain at all - to take it on its own terms one starts to ask if this is
>real what is it describing? Edwardian servants called their profession
>'skivvying', to be on the 'skivvy' was the second worst thing that could
>befall one, in social terms, the workhouse or the 'parish' was only more
>dreaded. It also made Britain a middle-class paradise as cheap labour was
>plentiful. And disposable. British culture is still infected with the myth
>of pre-war (WWI that is) splendour and subsequent decline. Larkin's poem
>'1914' encapsulates that lie perfectly 'Never such innocence again' the
poem
>says. And in case anyone thinks my linkage of Duffy's poem to this is
>tenuous pray look again at these words of hers: "She fans herself/ whilst I
>work willingly," the archaism of 'whilst' there is telling (that's why I
>just used 'pray', a joke, folks)  I've seen some reports of how strongly
>Duffy denies being influenced by Larkin, the lady doth protest too much,
>methinks.
>
>Which leaves 'three'. The language of this poem would not look out of place
>in Barbara Cartland novels: 'her cool, white throat';  'picture her
dancing/
>with tall men, puzzled by my faint, persistent scent' etc etc.
>
>I know that a sophistry could be presented against my views on the
language:
>that the 'maid' would think in such language and thus it is justified
>however I feel the presentation of the poem does not admit of such an
>argument, what comes across to me is a very poor piece of erotic fantasy
>couched in the trappings of an outdated social order.
>
>Best
>
>Dave
>
>
>
>
>David Bircumshaw
>
>Leicester, England
>
>Home Page
>
>A Chide's Alphabet
>
>Painting Without Numbers
>
>http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/index.htm
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Liz Kirby" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 12:09 AM
>Subject: Re: British commanders, etc.--reply to Liz
>
>
>vry interesting response Rebecca - glad you came out of lurkdom to comment.
>(I usually lurk a lot too - it is fun having the time to engage) I remember
>reading Boland's discussion too, how to make that switch from object to
>subject..... Carol Ann works a great deal through voices, which is one
>response I think - the persona/dramatisation acting as a carrier for the
>shift...... (for those who dont know it 'Warming Her Pearls' is written in
>the voice of the maid, - blah blah see below - it is to my mind a verrrrry
>sexy poem, and my students always think so too)
>
>Liz
>
>
>Warming Her Pearls
>for Judith Radstone
>
>Next to my own skin, her pearls. My mistress
>bids me wear them, warm then, until evening
>when I'll brush her hair. At six, I place them
>round her cool, white throat. All day I think of her,
>
>resting in the Yellow Room, contemplating silk
>or taffeta, which gown tonight? She fans herself
>whilst I work willingly, my slow heat entering
>each pearl. Slack on my neck, her rope.
>
>She's beautiful. I dream about her
>in my attic bed; picture her dancing
>with tall men, puzzled by my faint, persistent scent
>beneath her French perfume, her milky stones.
>
>I dust her shoulders with a rabbit's foot,
>watch the soft blush seep through her skin
>like an indolent sigh. In her looking-glass
>my red lips part as though I want to speak.
>
>Full moon. Her carriage brings her home. I see
>her every movement in my head...Undressing,
>taking off her jewels, her slim hand reaching
>for the case, slipping naked into bed, the way
>
>she always does...And I lie here awake,
>knowing the pearls are cooling even now
>in the room where my mistress sleeps. All night
>I feel their absence and I burn.
>
>-CAROL ANN DUFFY
>