h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How many RL connections can one poem have?

Read this poem, which is called 'The Life That I Have', by Leo Marks. It won't take you long.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-life-that-i-have/

This poem was originally written on Christmas Eve, 1943, in memory of a woman the poet loved. Ruth had just died in a plane crash in Canada.

Here are some of the connections to this poem:

- Leo Marks, the poet, was the chief cryptographer for S.O.,E. Back during World War II, their operatives often used poems as a source for code messages. Marks, worried that published poems might be known to the Abwehr, decided to use his own poems. He gave this poem to French agent Violette Szabo. Szabo was later killed by the Nazis. Here's a site about Violette Szabo: http://www.violette-szabo-museum.co.uk/foyer.htm

Now, Marks claims in his autobiography that he wrote this poem, and I see no reason not to believe him. But the poem's origin has become controversial because of its inclusion in a slightly fictionalised film about Szabo called 'Carve Her Name with Pride'. The Telegraph has the skinny on this controversy: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraphtv/3460867/Virginia-McKenna-recites-The-Life-That-I-Have.html

- Leo Marks' father and uncle were proprietors of the bookshop at 84, Charing Cross Road, where Leo grew up meeting quite a few famous writers and thinkers. Helene Hanff, an author from Philadelphia, wrote a book and a play about her long-time correspondence with the booksellers. Read Smij's Entry at A710056.

- When the play came out in New York, Leo Marks was invited to attend. According to Marks' autobiography, 'Between Silk and Cyanide', Hanff introduced him to another attendee, filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Scorsese was struck by Marks' unusual voice, and asked him to play a voice role in his upcoming film. So the poet who wrote 'The Life That I Have' also played the Devil in 'The Last Temptation of Christ'.

- Leo Marks was also the screenwriter responsible for ruining director Michael Powell's career. The film 'Peeping Tom' is now considered a masterpiece, but in 1960...well, let's say it wouldn't have surprised naysayers to learn that Marks later played the Devil.

- Marks' poem, 'The Life That I Have', even turned up at a high-profile wedding. Chelsea Clinton chose this poem for her ceremony.

- Many people have looked to this poem for comfort in times of crisis.

I point all this out to say one thing: poetry can have more far-reaching effects than we often give it credit for. You may think, 'It's a few words, usually - sometimes they rhyme. We read, recite, forget.' But poems focus our thoughts, often in ways not envisioned by the poem's author. They accrue connections with time: think of what 'In Flanders Fields' means to millions of people. A poem can have a long life, indeed. And, like a beloved song, a poem can have very personal connections.

As Marks put it:
'For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours. '

Proper poetry has always resounded with me, though not, I am afraid a lot of the modern stuff which passes for poetry. But then I have much the same view of what passes for 'Art' these days too.

Thank you for that,

Websailor