National Poetry Month: To appreciate verse, You must hear and feel its rhythms. A Tribute to Wallace Stevens' "The Idea of Order at Key West"

Wallace Stevens 

In his review of Paul Mariani's recently published biography ("The Whole Harmonium" Simon and Schuster, 2016)  of Wallace Stevens (1879-1955),  New Yorker Magazine critic Peter Schjeldahl exudes awe and admiration for "The Idea of Order at Key West": 

"It may the finest American modern poem....(It gets my vote, with perfectly paced beauty that routinely squeezes tears from me.)"  

Schjledahl could not have said it better.

I dedicated my Columbia University  master's thesis on John Milton's Samson Agonistes with these concluding lines from the poem: 

Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,

The maker's rage to order words of the sea,

Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred, 

And of ourselves and of our origins,

In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds. 

You must hear Stevens recite the poem in its entirety!!!

Celebrating National Poetry Month: Shakespeare at 400

Title page of First Folio, 1623

Copper engraving of Shakespeare by 

Martin Droeshout (from Wikipedia)

In celebration of the 400 anniversary of the death of  William Shakespeare (April 23, 1616), I salute the Bard of Avon with some of his more memorable quotes: 

"Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
 (Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 2:  Spoken by Cassius to Brutus)

                                   "All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."
(As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII: Spoken by Jaques)

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although is height be taken."
(From Sonnet 116)

"What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason,
how infinite in faculties, in form, and moving how express
and admirable, in action, how like an angel, in apprehension
how like
a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals-
and yet,
to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not
me-nor woman neither..."
(Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2, Hamlet speaking to Rosencrantz)

For my prior articles celebrating  National Poetry Month, click here.

The best way to appreciate poetry is to listen to you tube readings of famous actors reciting their favorite poems. 

Continuing Accolades for Stephen Spielberg who directed and produced Bridge of Spies

Continuing accolades for Stephen Spielberg who produced and directed Bridge of Spies-- a captivating movie that depicts the tense, oppressive and bellicose spirit of the Cold War Era with excellent acting and cinematography. (click here for first-hand reporting of my 1962 visit to East Berlin during the Cold War)

U-2 Pilot Gary Powers held in custody

being grilled by Soviet interrogators

The hero of the movie, lawyer James Donovan ( Tom Hanks), recruited by the CIA, is on a (personal) mission to secure the release of two American citizens/hostages held behind the Iron Curtain: Gary Powers--a U-2 surveillance pilot-- was shot down by a Soviet missile at 70,000 feet while filming enemy defense sites and held in a Russian prison; US citizen Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers) an economics graduate student is in an East German prison on trumped up charges that he is a spy.

The CIA is adamant that Donovan seek the release of only Powers in return for convicted Russian spy Rudolph Abel apprehended and convicted in the US.

Donovan, seemingly acting on his own, is hell bent to secure the release of both Americans in an unequal exchange for Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance) imprisoned on American soil. (a TWO FOR ONE deal!!!)

The climax of the film-- in my opinion-- occurs just after the East German Attorney General, Herr Herman Ott turns down Donovan's request that Pryor be released (Donovan just cut a deal with the Soviets to exchange Abel for Powers).

The East Germans insist the the deal be a unilateral one with them: Abel for Pryor only--no Powers!

Deal or no deal??? How does Donovan play his cold war 'hand'?

Ott gets an urgent phone call and Donovan is asked to leave the AG's office and await continuation of negotiations in the hallway outside the office.

A young aide comes to inform him that his boss is no longer available.

Here is the brilliant dialog that ensues.

Aide: I'm very sorry sir. The attorney general regrets that he had to leave on some urgent business.
Donovan: He left?
Aide: Yes, many apologies.
Donovan: I've been waiting for over an hour!
Aide: Very sorry, sir. (HE WALKS QUICKLY BACK TO HIS OFFICE)
Donovan: Young man. Come here (the aide turns around). Come here, it's all right.
(THE AIDE RETURNS TO DONOVAN WHO IS SEATED) Uh, Take a seat. (THE AIDE HESITATES) Oh, c'mon...
c'mon, sit down.(THE AIDE HESITATINGLY SITS)
Do you like your job here?
Aide: It's a very good job, sir.
Donovan: It must be interesting.
Aide: Oh, yes sir.
Donovan: And important, too.
And your English is.....is good.
Aide: Yes, I hesitate to say. But, it's excellent.
Donovan: Good, good, good. See, I just lost my negotiating partner and I need somebody to talk to and you seem like a reasonable young man.....Can I talk to you?
Aide: (HESITATES TO ANSWER)...Uh....
Donovan: It's all right. (CHUCKLES) It's all right. I just need you to give this message to your boss and it has to be very, very very clear. You understand?
Aide: Yes. sir. But perhaps you should wait until he......
Donovan: No, no. the thing is. I have this cold and I wanna get home.
And get in bed. (BLOWS NOSE AND CLEARS THROAT)
Can you give him the message?
Aide: Certainly.
Donovan: Well, this is the message. There is no deal for Abel unless we get Powers and Pryor.
Do you understand?
Aide: Yes sir.
Donovan: It's arranged for tomorrow morning. It will not happen unless we get two men.
Those two men. Two, two, two.
Aide: Yes, sir.
Donovan: If there is no deal, your boss must tell the Soviets. He must tell the Soviets that they are not getting Rudolf Abel.
Aide: Yes, sir.
Donovan: Oh, and tell him this. (DONOVAN STANDS AND PEERS AT THE AIDE STILL SITTING) Thus far Abel has been a good soldier, but he thinks he's going home. (COUGHS) If we had to tell him that he's not going home, that the Soviets don't even want him...that he's never going home.... Well, I imagine his behavior might change. And who will be held responsible for that? (CHUCKLES)
That's a long message. Uh, did you get it all?
Aide: Yes, sir. Got it.
Donovan: Good. You're a good man.....Oh....And also tell him no deal unless we hear before the end of this business day. He has the number.... If the exchange isn't gonna happen, there's no reason for anyone to get up first thing in the morning.
Aide: (CHUCKLES) No....sir. That would be pointless.

Congratulations to the author Gelles Whittell for his non-fiction book Bridge of Spies upon which the movie is based; to co-writers Joel and Ethan Coen along with Matt Charman; to Janusz Kaminski for his riveting cinematography and to Stephen Spielberg, director and co-producer.

Kudos to Mark Rylance who won an academy award for Best Supporting Actor.

Here is the link to the official movie trailer: