Film and poetry: Some interrelationships

440 Pages·21.407 MB·English

by  Runden, Charity E

FIIM ABB POETRY! 30MB IBTERRELATIQBSHIPS
BY
CHARITY BYA BUBBES
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the Doctor of Philosophy degree
in the Graduate School
Indiana University
February, 1961
ProQuest Number: 10296497
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^ Qj>fOa~rv\
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
^ I. IBTBODUCTIOH . ............. . . . . . . . . . . . 1
- II. IMAGE AFD MORTAGE .............. IS
^III. POETRY A3 SCRIPT.............................. . 24
IV. CQMMMTAEY AS POETRY .......... . 38
Commentaries Written for Particular
Films— Poetry • 39
Commentaries Written for Particular
Films— Poetic Pros© ......... 86
Films Designed for a Published Poem
or Group of Poems . . . . . . . . . • 307
Commentary Which Poets Have Written and on
Which They Have Left Poetic Imprints . . . . . . 219
V, POETRY AID THE DOCUMENTARY F I L M ............. . . 254
VI. POETRY AID THE KDUCATIQHAL OR I2SSTRUCTI0HAL
FILM . ............* .....................269
^ VII. POETRY AND THE EXPERIMENTAL OR AVAHT-GAKPE
FILM............................... 280
VIII. POETRY AID THE' FEATURE F I L M ......................295
IY. THE P O E TS................................ 304
X. THE FILMS .................... 315
^XI, SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS , 412
Summary ......... . . . 412
Conclusions . . . . . . ........................ 415
BIBLIOGRAPHY . ........... .....................423
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1* A Selected List of films t'hlch Show Striking
Usage of Image and Montage .......... . • • » 23
2* A Selected Met of Commentaries Written for Par**
fcieular Films--* Poe try * » • • » « * . . . . ! « 45
5* A Selected list of Commentaries written for Par­
ticular Films**Poetic Prose * » * « * • • » • * 86
4# A Selected Met of Films Designed for a Published
Poem or Croup of Poems * • » * * * » • « • • « 208
6# A Selected List of Commentaries uixich Poets Have
Written and on Milch They Have Left Poetic
Imprint© * * « # # * » * * « « * * * * * * * » 220
6# A Selected Mat of Poetic Documentary II 1ms « * * 267
7# A Selected List of Poetic Educational Films • • * 274
8* A Selected List of Poetic Experimental or Avant-
Garde Films • « « « * • * * • * * * « * » < , . , 291
9# A Selected List of Poetic Feature Film© * * * * * 298
10* A List of Poets who Have 'written Poem© for One
Film or Whose Poem© Have Appeared as Integral
Parts of On© Film • * * » . • « * * « » • , • • 510
11* A List of Poets who Have written [email protected] for
From Two to Five Film® * • * # • # # . * * * * 511
12* i List of Poets who Have Written Commentaries for
From Six to Sight Films * • * * « * • « * » * * 512
15* A List of foots Who Have Written Dialogue for More
Than Hine Film.® ♦ * * * * ♦ * » * + • * * • • * 513
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Since the early days of the silent notion picture,
film writers and critics have made reference to the cine
poem and the poetic film; they have spoken of poetic im­
agery, poetic stylo, and the poetry of montage# After the
advent of sound,they began making allusions to lyrical com­
mentaries, poetic prose, poetic documentar;y,and poetic dia­
logue* No on© has gathered these comments and points of
view together, examined them critically, at the same time
looking at the films which have been labeled poetic, to
arrive at any clear solution of the problem; What are some
of the interrelationships of poetry and film# There is
even evidence to show that many producers and film script
writers are unaware of what or how much use other producers
and writers have made of poetry and poetic techniques#^
Rendering this problem difficult both to analyze and
synthesize is the practice many writers and critics observe
of tossing such terns as poetic, poetry, and lyrical around
glibly, usually without adequately accounting for their
choice of these terms# "The use of the word »poetry* Is
always ambiguous, even when applied solely to the literary
^The author has a collection of more than 10 letters
received from poets or producers who say they are unaware
of similar work done by other producers or poets#
2
medium*"^
It is apparent that different writers are thinking
of different characteristics or attributes of poetry when
they writ©# One writer would think of poetry as an "inten­
sity of feeling*’:
hot in Sodom used a technique similar to that
ffal'l of the House of Usher but far more skil­
fully””and resourcefuIlyT It drew upon all the means
of camera lenses, multiple exposure, distortions, dis­
solves and editing to achieve a beauty of mobile images,
of dazzling light and shade, of melting rhythms, with
an intensity of feeling that approached poetry#b
Another writer seems to think of poetry as fantasy
or as the opposite to reality:
The poetic film permits a transferral into the
unreal world of fairyland and affords man the oppor­
tunity to ©scape into the hazy realms of fantasy, into
a world of fabulous fauna and flora, Into a nature
created by the poets imagination# So that he might
transport the mind Into these ethereal regions, Walt
Disney made himself the high priest of the poetic film*4
As other writers employ these terms, one can only
guess at the author’s precis© meaning; for example: ‘"This
jjjouislana Stor^J is a real educational film; it is also
5
a poem, and the two things work together#
^Manvell, Roger, "The Poetry of the Film,” Penguin
Film Review 6:112, 1948.
^Jacobs, Lewis, "Experimental Cinema in America,"
Hollywood Quarterly 3:122, Winter, 1947-48*
^Benoit-Levy, Jean, The Art of the Motion Picture,
p * 131 •
^Griffith , Richard, "The Film Since Then," p.324,
in Part 3 of The Film Till Mow, by Paul Rothp,
3
Other critics have used poetry in speaking of a
specific actor or director: "The finest pantomime, the
deepest ©motion, the richest and most poignant poetry were
in Chaplin*© work*"8
Perhaps the greatest number of writers have been con­
cerned with poetry written as commentary or as some part of
the film script:
Yet another line that might be developed is
that of the poet as narrator* I am surprised that
the poet has not already been enlisted to documen­
tary. We have talked of poetry in style and poetry
in visual image, but there has been scarcely any
attempt to introduce poetry into film speech* Grier­
son is, I believe, making some experiment in this
direction. Auden1s use of chorus in Coal Face was
stimulating* * * . Poetry, the chorus, and the use
of several speakers in rotation all provide lines of
development for the narration, for getting right away
from the conventional method of the professional com­
mentator*'7
EisensteinS and others® have pointed out that
* * many masters of literature expressed themselves in
the cinematic manner long before the advent of the film.”
Another film critic feels that certain poems may
suggest "The fluent images, the sudden c<.ose-ups, the
8Agee, James, "Comedy’s Greatest Era," Life 27:77,
September 5, 1949#
^Hotha, Paul, Documentary Film, pp* 47-61*
8Eisensteln, Sergei, The Film Sense, pp* 47-61.
®See Chapter II*
4
shifting angle of th© cinema/1
Critics since Aristotle have attempted to define
poetry, to circumscribe the term, to give distinguishing
qualities and properties of poetry, and to tell what it Is
not* It is impossible to write a brief definition of poetry
that will satisfy all critics. For the purpose of this
study, the author has chosen th© definitions of one British-
American scholar-critic— definitions which are based on
historical knowledge of literary criticisms as well as the
varied concepts of present-day critical schools*
Poetry, like fiction,, uses words as its medium,
but in poetry words are exploited differently « * . .
for the poet employs the Intellectual meaning of words,
and he also uses their associations and suggestions,
their sound and rhythm, and the musical and other pat­
terns they form in combination with each other
In another place, the same author states his defini­
tion with added implicationsi
Good poetry is the result of the adequate coun­
terpointing of the different resources of words (meaning
association, rhythm, music, order, etc.) in establish­
ing a total complex of significant expression.
lOnicoll, Allardyce, Film and Theatre, p. 176
11
’Dalchea, David, "Poetry,n p. 159 In The Enjoy­
ment of the Arts, edited by Max Schoen*
18Ibid^ pp* 160-161*
These definitions do not run counter to such earlier
definitions as Wordsworth*s ” • • * poetry is spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings; It takes its origin from
emotion recollected in tranquillity"^ or Coleridge’s
Good sense is the Body of poetic genius, Fancy
Its Drapery, Motion Its Life, and Imagination the Soul
that Is everywhere and in each; and forms all into one
graceful and intelligent whole,14
hut they do make such textbook definitions as "Poetry is
discourse that has regular rhythm"-*-® seem completely in­
adequate— definitions that might not make clear distinction
between poetry of Edgar Guest and John Milton or, in this
study, between Happy Valley and La Rose et je Reseda.
In considering Interrelationships of film and poetry,
there must of necessity be definite delimitations* This
study has completely ignored all references to Shakespeare’s
plays and the motion picture, In part because Robert II* Hall
of Queens College and many other film critics have written
on Shakespeare and the film. Little special attention, more­
over, has been given In this study to the whole problem
of poetic drama on film or, for that matter, even to poetic
1Wordsworth, William, "Preface to the Second Edition
of Lyrical Ballads,” The Complete Poetical Works of Wordsworth,
p.797. ' ’ ’ '
14
Coleridge, Samuel T., "Biographla LIteraria,11 Chapter
.XIV, p. 178 in Hie Best of Coleridge, edited by E.L. Griggs.
15Clippinger, Erie F.., Written and Spoken English,
p. 406. --------------------