Marking the centenary of the beginning of WWI

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » January 7th, 2014, 4:16 am

I intend to put together a collection marking the centenary of the start of the First World War, but have not yet decided quite how to go about it, save that I think I will get it ready for the actual anniversary on 28 July.

ETA I have now opened this collection at viewtopic.php?f=28&t=50329

In the meantime, I should like to draw your attention to a video made by Robbie Ellis on Youtube. Robbie contacted me last year to ask me if I should like to record the words of Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth, and his own poem The Window, to which I gladly agreed. The video, The Great War - Centenary, is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqzDclCZv0U

Ruth

Post by **Availle** » January 7th, 2014, 6:58 am

Thanks for sharing Ruth - nice video and great narration!

A question because it is not mentioned on the site: Where is the war footage from? Just curious...

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » January 7th, 2014, 7:15 am

Now that I don't know. A guess would be from http://www.britishpathe.com/. A warning: if you start looking at British Pathe's coverage of the last century or so, you will be there all day - it's nearly as addictive as LV

.

Ruth

barbara2 · Post by **barbara2** » January 7th, 2014, 2:17 pm

My goodness. Too sad a way to start the day. Maybe I'll be able to finish watching it tonight.

Best,

Barbara

Lucy_k_p · Post by **Lucy_k_p** » January 8th, 2014, 4:47 am

Excellent readings, and both poems are very moving. Mr Ellis is a skilled poet, and his video editing is good as well.

MaryinArkansas · Post by **MaryinArkansas** » January 15th, 2014, 12:14 am

This looks like a great project. A WWI story that may be interesting in the supernatural/ghost story/urban legend vein could be "The Angels of Mons" by Arthur Machen.

Post by **annise** » January 15th, 2014, 1:14 am

We have a vversion https://librivox.org/the-angels-of-mons-by-arthur-machen/

Anne

Mike001 · Post by **Mike001** » January 15th, 2014, 8:33 am

RuthieG wrote:I intend to put together a collection marking the centenary of the start of the First World War, but have not yet decided quite how to go about it ...

Not easy I suppose. There's such a lot of different material, isn't there?

I suppose as well as poetry you'll want to use short extracts from memoirs of the war.

Maybe it would be worth including some letters, too. This book, for example:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Soldiers-War-Through-Veterans/dp/0747598738/

has that kind of material in it. But as for what's public domain and available online, and how to locate it ...

There's an attempt of mine at Siegfried Sassoon's "The General" you could use -- if it's good enough:

https://librivox.org/short-poetry-collection-106-by-various/

(Librivox Short Poetry 106 is the one in which I also attempt a Scottish accent and try to sing, thereby doubtless providing much innocent amusement to both Scots and those with a musical ear.

)

I'd like to try to read some more of this Great War material, if I can get my microphone set-up problems fixed (which seems to mean buying and rigging a stand).

MaryinArkansas · Post by **MaryinArkansas** » January 15th, 2014, 2:04 pm

There are a couple of WWI related books by Flora Sandes that sound interesting: "The Autobiography of a Woman Soldier: A Brief Record of Adventures with the Serbian Army 1916-1919" and "An English Woman-Sergeant in the Serbian Army".

Following is a synopsis from Wikipedia about Ms. Sandes:

Flora Sandes (22 January 1876 – 24 November 1956) was the only British woman officially to serve as a soldier in World War I. Initially a St. John Ambulance volunteer, she travelled to Serbia, where, in the confusion of war, she was formally enrolled in the Serbian army. She was subsequently promoted to the rank of Sergeant major, and, after the war, to Captain.

Would either of those be good for this project, or are shorter works preferred?

Post by **annise** » January 15th, 2014, 2:13 pm

second book https://archive.org/details/englishwomanserg00sanduoft published 1916

Anne

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » January 15th, 2014, 2:20 pm

The first one was published in London in 1927, so would be too late to be PD in the US, but the second was published in 1916 so would be OK. Available on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/englishwomanserg00sanduoft. I should welcome a chapter in the collection, if you didn't want to record the whole book (which, as you rightly say, would be too long to be included in this collection). She died in 1956, so wouldn't be PD for European or Australian readers.

Ruth

MaryinArkansas · Post by **MaryinArkansas** » January 15th, 2014, 3:05 pm

RuthieG wrote:The first one was published in London in 1927, so would be too late to be PD in the US, but the second was published in 1916 so would be OK. Available on Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/englishwomanserg00sanduoft. I should welcome a chapter in the collection, if you didn't want to record the whole book (which, as you rightly say, would be too long to be included in this collection). She died in 1956, so wouldn't be PD for European or Australian readers.

Ruth

The chapters are around 20 pages. Would the introduction and one of the chapters be OK, so far as length is concerned?

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » January 15th, 2014, 3:16 pm

Oh, yes! It's only about 400 words. The chapters appear to average about 3500 words, so I should think you could fit in 2 chapters plus the intro if you feel so inclined

.

Ruth

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » January 15th, 2014, 3:23 pm

I keep finding fascinating books, and they all turn out not to be PD for me

. I shall make a post in the thread with these suggestions, in case anyone is interested.

Ruth

MaryinArkansas · Post by **MaryinArkansas** » January 21st, 2014, 9:55 pm

The Gutenberg site has an interesting book on WWI from 1915: Paths of Glory: Impressions of War Written at and Near the Front by Irvin S. Cobb I think this would be interesting, as it shows an American perspective during the early days prior to our (U.S.) direct involvement in the war.

Would it be all right if I recorded the introduction and 1st chapter for this project?

Thank you!