Comments on: Why Poetry Matters Now

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:10:17 +0000

Thanks, Jess. The film opens by asserting that the Stasi’s “stated goal” was “to know everything.” So clearly the “laws of that time” involved widespread wiretapping, the service of over 200,000 informants and the strict regulation of all literature – all in service to state-sanctioned goals which became law. And each law must have began somewhere, with people acquiescing liberty for the illusion of security and humanity for a sense of control.

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:53:26 +0000

Hi Robert. Thanks for sharing what sounds like a very compelling film. I’m def. going to have to watch it. In an effort to learn more about it, I searched and found this interesting article: “In a peculiar coincidence, the release of the film has come just as former Stasi officers are waging an aggressive campaign to shed their image as brainwashing torturers who infiltrated every aspect of East German life. [...] “We harmed no one,” said Gotthold Schramm, 74, a former Stasi colonel who has authored recent books asserting that the secret police have been unfairly demonized. “The GDR was not a criminal state. With good conscience, I can say the Stasi only served the people and obeyed the laws that were the laws of that time.

Article here: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/05/29/german_film_prompts_open_debate_on_stasi/

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:32:40 +0000

A friend emailed me this piece about Auden in response to what I wrote above:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-hitchens4mar04,1,6135495.story?coll=la-news-comment&ctrack=1&cset=true

I found it compelling.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 20:57:26 +0000

Thanks very much, Lee. It was a profound film. More significant even, to me, than “Wings of Desire” (“Die Himmel Ã¼ber Berlin”). I look forward to hearing what you think.

By: Lee

Lee — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 20:35:36 +0000

I’ve come to your blog via John Baker and am very glad that I have. A good post, and I will definitely see the film (in the original, since I live in Germany) though I don’t often go to the cinema. And I’ll be back here as well.

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:04:07 +0000

Glad you liked this. Go see the film.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 08:17:55 +0000

Robert,

Brilliant comments. You cut right to the point. “It can turn us back into men and women, save lives, stop wars.” The “it” you refer to here can be poetry, art, creativity, spirituality, compassion, empathy, etc., etc… The point is that beauty & humanity are inextricably woven. That is where the power lies.