judgmentnight

The Locket

February 5, 2010

The Locket (2002) IMDB rating: 7.00 Plot: A young man taking care of his dying mother is distraught and grief-stricken when she finally passes away. On the advice of his doctor, he takes a job in an upscale nursing home, and is assigned to take care of an elderly woman named Esther. At first Esther is a bitter, angry woman and pushes him away, but as she gradually warms to him, he discovers that he and Esther have much more in common than he imagined.

The Locket

Actors: Willett Chad,O’Quinn Terry,Peters Brock,Appleton Bev,Bailey Chuck,Bennes John,Butler Al,Flippen Keith,Frappier Jonathan,Genevie Michael,Drama,

In 'Six Young Men', what does the writer mean when he says 'to regard this photograph might well dement'?
What does he mean by this? And what does it show about his feelings? It’s about World War 2 in Britain.

The celuloid of a photograph holds them well,-
Six young men, familiar to their friends.
Four decades that have faded and ochre-tinged
This photograph have not wrinkled the faces or the hands.
Though their ****** hats are not now fashionable,
Their shoes shine. One imparts an intimate smile,
One chews a grass, one lowers his eyes, bashful,
One is ridiculous with cocky pride-
Six months after this picture they were all dead.

All are trimmed for a Sunday jaunt. I know
That bilberried bank, that thick tree, that black wall,
Which are there yet and not changed. From where these sit
You hear the water of seven streams fall
To the roarer in the bottom, and through all
The leafy valley a rumouring of air go.
Pictured here, their expressions listen yet,
And still that valley has not changed its sound
Though their faces are four decades under the ground.

This one was shot in an attack and lay
Calling in the wire, then this one, his best friend,
Went out to bring him in and was shot too;
And this one, the very moment he was warned
From potting at tin cans in no-man’s land,
Fell back dead with his rifle sights shot away.
The rest nobody knows what they came to,
But come to the worst they must have done, and held it
Closer than their hope; all were killed.

Here see a man’s photograph,
The locket of a smile, turned overnight
Into the hospital of his mangled last
Agony and hours; see bundled in it
His mightier-than-a-man dead bulk and weight:
And on this one place that keeps him alive
(In his Sunday best) See fall war’s worst
Thinkable flash and rending, onto his smile
Forty years rotting into soil.

That man’s not more alive whom you confront
And shake by the hand, see hale, hear speak loud,
Than any of these six celluloid smiles are,
Nor prehistoric or fabulous beast more dead;
No thought more vivid than their smoking-blood:
To regard this photograph might well dement,
Smile from the single exposure and shoulder out
One’s own body from its instant and heat.

And what does it show about his feelings?

Thank you.

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You’ve left a line out. The actual verse is:

To regard this photograph might well dement,
Such contradictory permanent horrors here
Smile from the single exposure and shoulder out
One’s own body from its instant and heat.

Dement means to cause to lose one’s mind, or to make crazy. So I think he is saying that the juxtaposition of the men in the photograph, so alive, with their eventual fates is enough to make you lose your mind - perhaps because it is so tragic.

As far as his feelings, it seems to me that he is talking about the futility of war, not just how sad it is, but how awful it is for men at their most vital to be taken from their lives. It is sad and a bit angry, to me. But also a bit fatalistic, as viewing the photo forces confrontation with the mortality of us all.

senlin | Jan 30, 2010

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To dement someone means to make them insane. So the line means, "Looking at this photo might drive you mad.
classmate | Jan 30, 2010

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: 2002, Appleton Bev, Bailey Chuck, Bennes John, Butler Al, Drama, Flippen Keith, Frappier Jonathan, Genevie Michael, O'Quinn Terry, Peters Brock, Willett Chad.