Heres a virtual movie of Welsh poet and close friend of Dylan Thomas Vernon Watkins reading his much loved poem "The Heron" .
I couldnt find a suitable photograph of Vernon Watkins for this virtual movie so I have utilised the visual services of the 1949 portrait of Watkins
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kins painted by Alfred Janes.
The heron is described with calm and constant diction to seem removed from his surroundings. The environment is depicted as chaotic, fickle, uncontrolled, and uninhibited by the diction he uses. Like the heron, the poet is trying to focus on one task and is ignoring his society that surrounds him. The poets society, similar to the environment, is chaotic, strange, and overwhelming. Watkins uses these juxtapositions in The Heron to show his views of the conflict of society vs. individual. The main topic, the heron, uses tranquil diction, to emphasize his detached feeling towards the environment. He stands unfaltering while looking for fish (line 3). This strong bird is fix[ing] [his] eyes on stillness (7). The heron is unmoving to show he is not in a hurry for the seasons to pass (35). When asked, How long will he remain, the immediate rhetorical answer is, how long / Have the grey woods been green? (9-10). This quick, rough answer gives the ......
Watkins, Vernon, 190667, British poet, b. Maesteg, Wales, educated at Cambridge. Like his close friend Dylan Thomas, Watkins was profoundly influenced by his Welsh background. His poetry combines serious meditation with an ecstatic acceptance of the world. Among his volumes of poetry are The Ballad of Mari Lwyd and Other Poems (1941), Selected Poems (1948), The Death Bell and Other Poems (1954), Affinities (1962), and Uncollected Poems (1969).
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2009
Author: poetryanimations
Keywords: poem animation vernon watkins dylan thomas alun lewis yeats james joyce wilfred owen poetry wales poeme poesie
Added: April 8, 2009
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