Pity of War - Poets at the Front
[DVD]

Description

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The experience of fighting in the First World War changed British culture more radically than any other historical event in the twentieth century. The witnesses and the great influencers of the change were young fighting men. The force for this cultural change came from the power of words written by the British war poets. 16 are honoured in Westminster Abbey. The Pity of War: Poets at the Front concentrates on two men who were the greatest of friends. One lived, one died. Siegfried Sassoon lived but could never forget the war, the deaths - and the manner of the deaths he saw. Nor could he forget his friend, Wilfred Owen, who was killed in the last week of the war. Both men's words have lived on - incorporated into the collective memory and consciousness of the British people. The programme evokes the visceral shock and horror of Sassoon and Owen at the incomprehension of the non-combatants at home of what was being experienced at the Front and above all the scale and nature of the deaths and pain experienced. Using archive footage, illustrative material and interviews with historians, critics and commentators, this 50 minute programme explores the poetry of the First World War, focusing on the lives and work of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. The lived experience and poetry of Sassoon, Owen and their fellow poets is evoked what they saw, what they felt, what they did and the poetry they wrote. REVIEW "This solid, often moving documentary focuses on the life and works of Wilfred Owen and his champion Siegfried Sassoon, both of whom fought on the Western Front and wrote about its horror." --Daily Telegraph

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