The Poem, Film, Song, Painting Series
Monday, October 21, 2024
Issue No. 7
POEM
Willow
Translated by Jennifer Reeser
...and a decrepit handful of trees.
—Aleksandr Pushkin
And I matured in peace born of command,
in the nursery of the infant century,
and the voice of man was never dear to me,
but the breeze’s voice—that I could understand.
The burdock and the nettle I preferred,
but best of all the silver willow tree.
Its weeping limbs fanned my unrest with dreams;
it lived here all my life, obligingly.
I have outlived it now, and with surprise.
There stands the stump; with foreign voices other
willows converse, beneath our, beneath those skies,
and I am hushed, as if I’d lost a brother.
Copyright Credit: Anna Akhmatova, “Willow”
Source: Poetry (2005)
FILM
Wild Strawberries (1957)
On the journey to accept an honorary degree, Professor Isak Borg—masterfully portrayed by Victor Sjöström—is suddenly forced to face his past, come to terms with his faults, and accept the inevitability of his approaching death. Across reminiscences, dreams, nightmares, and fantasies, Wild Strawberries dramatically tells of one man’s astonishing voyage of self-discovery.
With a nostalgic cinematography by Gunnar Fischer, unmatched performances by Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Anderson, and Gunnar Björnstrand, Bergman’s Wild Strawberries is yet another masterpiece in the world of cinema.
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Language: Swedish
Cinematography: Gunnar Fischer
Music: Erik Nordgren
PAINTING
Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura)
also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei)
PERIOD: Edo period (1615–1868)
DATE: ca. 1830–32
CULTURE: Japan
MEDIUM: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
DIMENSIONS: 10 1/8 x 14 15/16 in. (25.7 x 37.9 cm)