concerned particularly with the First World War, are a war poets’, particular sub-species in this respect, for we have and recall many descriptions of past wars and significant events, in poetic form, but how many of these poetic histories come from participants in the actual event? And how truthful are they can they be relied on – as historical evidence or are they the distant onlooker’s comprehension, or a propaganda view, morale-boosting or a question for this essay, but it is patriotic glorification? That’s not worth considering how our view of history is affected by literary mediation: after all, if it were not for Tennyson, who apart from – the specialist would now talk about the Charge of the Light – Brigade? I have been struck by the similarities between translation, this exercise of making material available across the linguistic divide, and the advantage of making a direct link, in the context of the First World War and its English literature, between the lived experience of the war and the distillation of its effect on his poet’s mind and memory. Looking at the poet as witness to history offers a further layer of examination of the work, with its own merits as well as its writer’s limitations. On the one hand, a poem or other work may contain a vast amount of accurate background description, adding verisimilitude to a narrative based on personal experience but it – may be over-written, under-written, difficult to grasp in its atmospheric incident or character picture, and so we may perceive the story or theme but not be persuaded by the surrounding circumstances; on the other, we may have a wholly persuasive piece of work that engages our attention and our sympathies but – which is seriously inaccurate in terms of fact or interpretation and therefore turns easily into pro- or anti- psychological persuasion. We need, in fact, to consider what we want from the poet, from a particular item, whether we are enjoying it as a piece of pure literature or as a way to hitch a ride on the and writer’s experience imagination, to extend our own. This is the basis for a about using ‘consumer protection’ warning poetry, novels and personal memoirs of the war as evidence: the
war poets’, concerned particularly with the First World War, are a particular sub-species in this respect, for we have and recall many descriptions of past wars and significant events, in poetic form, but how many of these poetic histories come from participants in the actual event? And how truthful are they – can they be relied on as historical evidence or are they the distant onlooker’s comprehension, or a propaganda view, morale-boosting or patriotic glorification? That’s not a question for this essay, but it is worth considering how our view of history is affected by literary mediation: after all, if it were not for Tennyson, who – apart from the specialist – would now talk about the Charge of the Light Brigade? I have been struck by the similarities between translation, this exercise of making material available across the linguistic divide, and the advantage of making a direct link, in the context of the First World War and its English literature, between the lived experience of the war and the poet’s distillation of its effect on his mind and memory. Looking at the poet as witness to history offers a further layer of examination of the writer’s work, with its own merits as well as its limitations. On the one hand, a poem or other work may contain a vast amount of accurate background description, adding verisimilitude to a narrative based on personal experience – but it may be over-written, under-written, difficult to grasp in its atmospheric incident or character picture, and so we may perceive the story or theme but not be persuaded by the surrounding circumstances; on the other, we may have a wholly persuasive piece of work that engages our attention and our sympathies – but which is seriously inaccurate in terms of fact or interpretation and therefore turns easily into pro- or anti- psychological persuasion. We need, in fact, to consider what we want from the poet, from a particular item, whether we are enjoying it as a piece of pure literature or as a way to hitch a ride on the writer’s experience and imagination, to extend our own. This is the basis for a ‘consumer protection’ warning about using poetry, novels and personal memoirs of the war as evidence: the
3503_helen_mcphail,_%5c'actuality_and_imagination%5c'_(final).docx