Literary references in Stanley Kurbick's "Paths of Glory"

Two literary references caught my attention in the film "Paths of Glory" directed by Stanley Kubrick (1957).

Quote by Samuel Johnson that underscores many aspects of the film:
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."


Except from "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray which contains the films title:

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,

         Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;

Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile

         The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,

         And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,

Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.

         The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Link to poem by Thomas Gray:  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173564

Sources for Poetry: Le Guin, Endrezze

April is National Poetry Month.

Two poem recently caught my attention because they came from unique sources.

The first is "Anonymous Is Coyote Girl" (2000) by Anita Endrezze.  It uses a newspaper article to provide the background for her poem.

(Excerpt)
From a newspaper photo and article about my godfather, James Moreno, East Los Angeles, 1950. 

 (Three police officers took a brutal beating in a wild free-for-all with a family, including three young girls.
 From left, James, 19, and Alex, 22, in jail after the fracas 
on the porch of their home at 3307 Hunter.) 

    Jimmy is staring off the page, hands in his pockets. 
    A four-button dark shirt. No bruises, 
    but he looks dazed. 
   Alex wears a leather coat and a polka-dot shirt, 
   which is in itself a crime. 
   Nowhere is there a photo of a young girl 
   with a face carved like a racetrack saint, 
   eyes with all bets called off, 
   grinning like a coyote.


The second is "The Hill Yoncalla" (1999) by Ursula K. Le Guin.  It uses letters from a pioneer who was on the trail to Oregon in 1843.  The footnote for the poem states:  "All word of this poem are take from 'The Letters of Roselle Putnam,' edited by Sheba Hargreave, Oregon Historical Quarterly 24, no. 3 (1928)."

(Excerpt)
   Yoncalla is not a town nor a place of man's creation
   nor of white man's naming
   but it is a hill round and high and beautiful

   I can get five pounds of dried peaches
   for one pound of butter

   the nearest neighbor is three miles off

   our little cabin quite a comfortable little place


Link to "Anonymous Is Coyote Girl":  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/238976

Reference for "The Hill Yoncalla":   Ursula K. Le Guin, Sixty Odd:  New Poems (Boston, Shambhalal Publications, 1999), pp. 39-41.

Poem: Verlaine for Birthday

For my wife's birthday card, I included the following poem excerpt from "In Muted Tone" by Paul Verlaine.

Gently, let us steep our love

In the silence deep, as thus,

Branches arching high above

Twine their shadows over us.

Let us blend our souls as one,

Hearts’ and senses’ ecstasies,

Evergreen, in unison

With the pines’ vague lethargies.

The full poem can be found at the Poetry Foundation website.