Ben Whishaw - Dulce et Decorum Est
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" read by Ben Whishaw
Music: Beethoven - Symphony no 7, 2nd movement (excerpt)
From the album "Words for You"
Photo: img.poptower.co...
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Dulce et Decorum Est
by Wilfred Owen
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
This is such a moving, subtle reading. He really understands how to read poetry and his voice is just right you can hear him having the memory of war.
A very fine reading by Ben. His diction is perfect. The emotional intensity is finely calibrated, appropriate and moving. Ben Whishaw also speaks 'English English' without the slightest accent associated with class or region (even though he comes from Hertfordshire). This is a new generation of top acting to come out of England. He demonstrates that a British actor doesn't have to speak 'posh' (Judy Dench, Geoffrey Palmer etc.) to speak exquisite modern English. He demonstrates that the English language may actually be safe with this generation. What a relief!
he is a BIT post, mate! cor blimey!
Asif Khan Not really - just correct. It's a nice change in today's UK.
+Asif Khan ... The masses that died had many accents !!!
Meaning?
I was wrong. I believe Ben grew up in Bedfordshire, not far from Hitchin. There is a local accent - as with every part of England and Ben may retain a trace of it. I am not sure.
Subtle intensity. A dragging pain of war. - The 'movement' behind his 'pitch' is in such perfect fit, you barely hear it's there.
I haven't ever been very familiar w/ classic poetry. It's beautiful.
the hideous truth and sacrifice behind war. Love his voice
When I was growing up the greats were Lawrence Olivier, Richard Burton and just coming up, Peter O'Toole. Never Harris!
Then there were Kenneth Branagh and Derrick Jacobi!
Now I would add to these Michael Sheen, Tom Huddleston and Ben Whishaw! Just brilliant!
*I love Wilfred Owen's poetry--and this is probably his most well-known work.*
I love this reading, simply beautiful
Listened to this today, November 4th 2018- the 100th anniversary of Owen's death. Very moving.
Once had the misfortune of getting a lung full of chlorine gas. Jesus christ, it burned my insides, I choked and scrambled to get clear frantically out of the house. It was bloody terrifying.
thank you
His voice sends shivers!
Exquisite precision, matched perfectly to the relentless pace of the Beethoven. I should have preferred more emphasis on the Latin punchline, but perhaps nowadays despair takes precedence over rage.
Beautiful narration of such a powerful and devastating poem
The reading is very fine, and all everyone has written about W hishaw's voice as a young man i s true. I would not have put the Beethoven behind it, the musical meaning is too strong and distracting, and even the rhythm and pacing is wrong for Owens prosody. A great work with its own towering life has to be used with great care as a sound track to some other artistic form and prrformance, or probabl y not at all.
Exactly so.
Astonishing
Superbly read 📚 😢
Best version.
it really is
This poem was never meant to be about peace. From WWI, by Wifred Owen, it's about the futility, horror, and misery of war. 'Dulce et Decorum est..." is only half of the quote, a rhetoric pounded into the minds of Roman soldiers. The entire dictum reads "Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori"- "It is sweet and becoming to die for one's country". Wilfred Owen uses the main body of the poem to illustrate what it is actually like to die for one's country, therefore, "that old lie".
Very moving
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.-
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
The perfect voice for this poem, a young man's voice (Owen died at 25); educated without being posh, to suit Owen's own middle-class background.
Beautifully read for the most part, but I'd have liked a bit more animation in the section beginning "if in some smothering dreams..."
The background music is perfectly chosen.
The music is from Beethoven's 7th Symphony, 2nd movement (Allegretto)
Yes, I knew that.
Good reading.
never forget
Best version x
I’m literally learning about this at school.
the poem has been sullied by not reading its original words-tired outstripped five nines. it's a type of artillery shell and it doesn't need to be replaced with an updated phrase. it's like buying a new car and running a key along the paintwork. shame on you, man.
Excellent reading. I felt that the background music is a little too distracting toward the end, taking away from the message toward the latter part of the poem.
omfg
On my God wilfred owe n the brokenness poet please listen to the greatest harrowing line the devil has become of sick of sin
The poem is supposed to sound scary, violent, etc... this is calming and peaceful lol. I like wilfred owen's reading better
I find it scariest and more violent saying like that, with this calm.
i think it is uncanny and discomforting, the calm can be interpreted as restraint from insanity or numbness to the suffering
What do you mean by Wilfred owen’s reading? He is the poet, he died in 1917. I don’t think the poem is supposed to sound violent, it is about the horrors of war, the only scary section is the gas attack, and it describes the ugliness of the terrible death by gas. It is Owen’s deflation of the myth of noble combat.
Dulce et decorum est is from bed knobs and broomsticks!! He has such a sexy beautiful calming voice love him xx I want him to read the story I wrote would make me soo proud!! :'( xoxo
CAN'T FUCKING DEAL!
Dulce Et Decorum Est is from the roman poet Horace. This poem is the opposite of calming, it's about young men having the life choked out of them by poison gas.
Another lazy reading from an actor who has not taken the time to learn that in Latin all pronunciation of 'C' is hard . 'Dulce ' is pronounced '"dul ' kay'" not " dul' chay".
I think we found it, ladies and gentlemen - The most annoying RUclips comment ever! Congrats!
Yes, but the way Latin was taught in schools in Wilfred Owen's days it no doubt he would have been pronounced it dulchay.
let us not forget those who fought for us
BTW! He has such a pleasant face ! And no, I am not gay!
Ben Whishaw came out as gay; many English actors such as Jacobi, Mc Kellen, Callow are and they are superb! I Wonder why?
Yet many are not, and are also superb. I wonder why? Is it, perhaps, because they are all great actors?
You missed Gielgud (not that he ever "came out" because you didn't in his day, but everybody knew).
As Alee Bee points out, many great actors have not been gay. I think the answer to your conundrum is that some great actors are gay and some aren't - "like plumbers", to quote the late great John Thaw.
Wilfred Owen was gay too, not that this makes the slightest difference to who reads his poems well or badly.
No emotion. Watch Christopher ecclestons version
Ben Whishaw's reading conveys a wearied acceptance that suits this poem so well. I prefer it to CE's, myself.
Yes, I like that one very well