Fiction Adaptation: 'Summer In England' Brief Analysis

As mentioned in my latest post, we are given the choice to choose from a small number of poems to use for our adaptation film. Below are the poems which we can choose from:

Alice Meynnell

At first I began reading the poems briefly, to try to gain the intentions and themes which each of the poems may provoke, as well as thinking how I could adapt this and show it visually.  Nonetheless, the last poem, 'Summer In England, 1914' by Alice Meynnell (1914) is the poem which gained my most interest straight away.

Why did this poem catch my attention? Immediately I could sense a sarcastic and emotive feel for the poem which is given away suddenly from the title. As the theme of these poems are based around World War One, its obvious that this 'summer in England' isn't exactly going to be a positive and 'exciting' summer, as this is war we are talking about. This to me is a helpful sign as it shows that I can adapt to this sarcasm by intensify the drama (or even decreasing it). So I began by analysing the poem bit by bit to search for the poet's style and to find out exactly what her intentions are for creating this poem.

Below are some key points which I picked out from the poem:

Meynnell's sarcastic/patronising tone.

Not only just from the poem's title, the first paragraph alone to me has created a sense of sarcasm. For example, Meynnell explores the initial destruction which the war has created i.e. quoting "the 'long unloved street'" and "houses transfigured one by one". You can tell straight away she is being patronising - she didn't even introduce the poem, she just dived straight into her feelings. This immediately tells us how the war makes her feel distraught and aggressive. She also carries this sarcasm straight into the second paragraph with the short exclamative sentence 'Most happy year!' Which of course reiterates her sarcasm and aggression due to the short length of the sentence. This tone of voice is maintained throughout the poem which generally dramatises the poem and more importantly can be adapted and interpreted in different ways. 

The battle between peace and war

One of the main reoccurrence within this poem is conventional within most war poems - the frequent battle between war and peace. However Alice shows this in an interesting way. She frequently jumps from aspects of nature to the gruesome truth and violence of war. For example, she quotes "Moon after moon was heavenly-sweet" which juxtaposes against "Yonder area men shot through the eyes". Once again, this reinforces the idea of her emotions constantly changing from sadness to angry.

Religious connotations

Likewise conventional in war poems, Meynnell also entices religion within the poem. This is bought in mainly on the last line of the poem, quoting "The very kiss of Christ". As well as this being a dramatic ending for the poem, it shows how religion is almost used as a sheer desperation for forgiveness or even help for the war to stop. This too emphasises how compelling the war is plus showing how it not only just effects those in the war, but provides consequences for relatives/friends as well.
Asking for forgiveness, going to the last resort (desperation)

The symbolic reoccurrence of the colour red and use of flowers

One of the main points of this poem which I have picked up whilst reading this poem is the relation to the colour red, for example the "roses", "love" and "kiss". This works in a clever symbiotic way as not only is it symbolic to love, but it can also relate to the violence of the war as well (therefore reinforcing my point about the battle between peace and war). For example, roses are commonly known to symbolise love, however they are also apparent for death as well (black roses, see post about 'roses'). This therefore can play a huge part for my film as it can appear for both love and death.

Adapting these points into my film

So after gaining a better understanding of the poem and finding its key points, I will now try to adapt these for my film so that it helps me to gain a better understanding on exactly what I want to do for my film and the story. These are only brief points and probably will change - it's only a brainstorm!

- The main theme will consist of showing the battle between war and peace. I also would like to dramatise the story more by adding in personal elements. For example, as if the poet is written about one of her relatives/friends/husband going into war - to add more emotion into the film and making it more relatable for the audience.

- Linking on, I'm aiming on focusing more on the consequences which the war creates on someone whom isn't at war instead. This way the audience won't expect your usual POV from the soldier, and instead will be from a relative/friend.

- Continuing from my point about the use of red, I'm aiming to include this idea of a recurring rose throughout the narrative to constantly symbolise this battle between peace and war. At one point of my film the rose should switch from being used for love to eventually being symbolic for the death of the soldier of whom the character is related/friends to. For example, the soldier could give a rose to his wife before he leaves for war, which then she leaves on his grave after he has been killed. It has to be something to which the audience can relate to making it emotive!

- Flashbacks could also be used to help explain the narrative better. For example, to show how the soldier and the other character may be related, or to help speed up/slow down the narrative pace.

- The film must be based in the present tense, meaning that because the poem was made in 1914, it should consist of the character writing about it as if the relative/friend has only recently just gone to war. The reasons why I've chosen to do this is so that the film can then include footage of the person as if she/he is writing the poem throughout the film - allowing the audience to learn directly about her aggression and paranoia. However, I also aim to film it as if someone is watching her write the poem (like a stalker POV) as well as the same for any war footage which I may include. This makes it easier for the audience to understand whats happening as it will literally be as if someone is watching the characters and what they are experiencing.

Conclusion

After eventually choosing which poem I want and evaluating it, I feel pretty confident about my decision and can feel this being explored in detail with ease. My next post will be my ideas for the story, as well as similar posts such as the biography of Alice Meynell, exploring the use of the rose and any extra research!