Dead Poet's Society

[Francis]

BBC2 tonight. I love all that American sentimental sh!t. Anyways. Walt Whitman got a lot of name-checks. Which got me a thinking. Now I don't claim to be a literary man, but I've heard of Byron, Tennyson and Shakespeare. And Donne cos my mate was tops in English at school. But I'd never heard of Whitman til I stumbled across 1959 and all that a few years ago. So how did Eldritch get to Whitman? Was it on the syllabus in England? Or is there a Bowie connection? Or did he follow Kafka to America? And how did he come across Cohen? From what I've gleaned, his parents sound more like Glenn Miller fans. And what do we know about his pre-University schooling? I've read his Dad was in the army. So I guess they sent him to private school to give him some stability? So many questions. I know you good people have studied the man far more than me. I daren't even go and find the address on Reptile House at the time cos it would have seemed like paying more attention than was seemly.

All contributions welcome. I'm in an enquiring sort of mood.

[Loki]

1959

Definately one of his better songs and in my top five and even mentioned on summer top ten thread.

Eldritch/Whitman/Bowie/Kafka/Cohen/Glenn Miller

Umm, because he'd discovered life?

I'm an RAF brat. I'm normal.

[Francis]

Definately

I'm an RAF brat

It shows.

But I bet you can march smarter than the army boys.

And Pam's just handed me the leftovers of her kebab.

(She thought you'd be too posh for that.)

[markfiend]

IIRC Mrs fiend did some stuff on Whitman as part of her Leeds Uni English degree. Part of an American Lit elective maybe? So if Von had friends doing English degrees...

[Francis]

Cheers Mark. A definite possibility. And guess what? He's now on the GCSE English Literature syllabus for pre-1914 poetry:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesi ... iterature/

[Esoterica]

Ah, he’s a dead poet! Whitman, that is. Yes, Americans can be very sentimental, until reality shakes ‘em down. Just like everybody else. Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” is a staple in most schools, secondary through university. American schools offer English Lit and English schools offer American Lit. Seems fair, when you consider that I was once asked about “life in the colonies” when I was in London. Still, DPS has quite a dedicated little following for an older film. People do shout during the scenes where the dip-ass father treats his son so poorly. Despite the surge in STEM studies, though, as long as there’s angst, there’s poetry. After all, aren’t the lyrics of songs actually poetic? I just love Led Zep. Their lyrics fit so well with their melodies.

[paint it black]

Whitman was a mentor to that other poet Von likes to copy. Easy really. I think he's even cited in Waste land.