Keifer script excerpt

‘The Second Coming’: dialogue transformed from Kiefer and Yeats
Source Text 1: ‘Urd Werdande Skuld (The Norns’) – Anselm Kiefer
Source Text 2: ‘The Second Coming’ (poem) – W. B. Yeats
1 Source Text 1: ‘Urd Werdande Skuld (The Norns’) – Anselm Kiefer
2 Source Text 2: ‘The Second Coming’ – W. B. Yeats
3 Draft 1: Handwritten
4 Draft 1: Typed
As twilight falls – the silhouette of a falcon is displayed across the sky; its long low
shriek resonates through the empty air. Two soldiers are sat at the edge of a rock,
hands clasped; helmets half-off. Their eyes follow the silhouette across the breadth
of the horizon; their faces are blank with perplexity. A bellowing gun-shot muffles the
falcon’s cry – for a moment it is suspended in the air; it stops, twirls in convulsions
before falling to the ground. The soldiers stare blankly at a dead carcass at their feet,
the remains of an unidentifiable animal.
SOLDIER 1: Turning and turning in the widening gyre; the falcon cannot hear the
falconer.
[stage direction]
SOLDIER 2: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon
the world. The blood dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of
innocence is drowned.
SOLDIER 1: The best lack all conviction, while the worst (pause) are full of
passionate intensity.
[stage direction]
SOLDIER 2: Surely some revelation is at hand; surely the Second Coming is at han–
[SOLDIER 1 interjects]
SOLDIER 1: The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out, when a vast image
out of spiritus mundi troubles my sight.
SOLDIER 2: Ah, the dream –
SOLDIER 1: Somewhere in the sands of the desert, a shape with lion body and the
head of a man; a gaze as pitiless as the sun, is moving its slow thighs, while all
about it reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
[stage direction]
SOLDIER 2: The darkness drops again; but now I know that twenty years of stony
sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle.
[stage direction]
SOLDIER 1: And what rough beast, its hour come at last, slouches towards
Bethlehem to be born?
SOLDIER 2 remains seated, but SOLDIER 1 stands up, agitated, lighting a cigarette.
He walks to the edge of a river and washes his hands. SOLDIER 2 remains, still,
stiff, silent.
5 Draft 2
As twilight falls – the silhouette of a falcon is displayed across the sky; its long low
shriek resonates through the empty air. Two soldiers are sat at the edge of a rock,
hands clasped; helmets half-off. Their eyes follow the silhouette across the breadth
of the horizon; their faces are blank with perplexity. A bellowing gun-shot muffles the
falcon’s cry – for a moment it is suspended in the air; it stops, twirls in convulsions
before falling to the ground.
SOLDIER 1: Turning and turning in the widening gyre; the falcon cannot hear the
falconer.
The soldiers stare blankly at a dead carcass at their feet, the remains of an
unidentifiable animal. After a few moments of silence, SOLDIER 2 interrupts –
SOLDIER 2: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold – mere anarchy is loosed upon
the world. The blood dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of
innocence is drowned.
SOLDIER 1: (looking at his face, knowingly) The best lack all conviction, while the
worst (pauses) are full of passionate intensity.
Both of them resume looking at the carcass; a deathly silence rings throughout.
SOLDIER 2: Surely some revelation is at hand; surely the Second Coming is at han–
SOLDIER 1: (interrupting him, exasperated) The Second Coming! Hardly are those
words out, when a vast image out of spiritus mundi troubles my sight.
SOLDIER 2: Ah, the dream –
SOLDIER 1: (increasingly embittered) Somewhere in the sands of the desert, a
shape with lion body and the head of a man; a gaze as pitiless as the sun, is moving
its slow thighs, while all about it reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
Both are silent.
SOLDIER 2: The darkness drops again; but now I know that twenty years of stony
sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle.
Silence resumes.
SOLDIER 1: And what rough beast, its hour come at last, slouches towards
Bethlehem to be born?
SOLDIER 2 remains seated, but SOLDIER 1 stands up, agitated, lighting a cigarette.
He walks to the edge of a river and washes his hands. SOLDIER 2 remains, still,
stiff, silent.
6 Top Copy
As twilight falls – the silhouette of a falcon is displayed across the sky; its long low
shriek resonates through the empty air. Two soldiers are sat at the edge of a rock,
hands clasped; helmets half-off. Their eyes follow the silhouette across the breadth
of the horizon; their faces are blank with perplexity. A bellowing gun-shot muffles the
falcon’s cry – for a moment it is suspended in the air; it stops, twirls in convulsions
before falling to the ground.
SOLDIER 1: Turning and turning in the widening gyre; the falcon cannot hear the
falconer.
The soldiers stare blankly at a dead carcass at their feet, the remains of an
unidentifiable animal. After a few moments of silence, SOLDIER 2 interrupts –
SOLDIER 2: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold – mere anarchy is loosed upon
the world. The blood dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of
innocence is drowned.
SOLDIER 1: (looking at his face, knowingly) The best lack all conviction, while the
worst (pauses) are full of passionate intensity.
Both of them resume looking at the carcass; a deathly silence rings throughout.
SOLDIER 2: Surely some revelation is at hand; surely the Second Coming is at han–
SOLDIER 1: (interrupting him, exasperated) The Second Coming! Hardly are those
words out, when a vast image out of spiritus mundi troubles my sight.
SOLDIER 2: Ah, the dream –
7 SOLDIER 1: (increasingly embittered) Somewhere in the sands of the desert, a
shape with lion body and the head of a man; a gaze as pitiless as the sun, is moving
its slow thighs, while all about it reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
Both are silent.
SOLDIER 2: The darkness drops again; but now I know that twenty years of stony
sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle.
Silence resumes.
SOLDIER 1: And what rough beast, its hour come at last, slouches towards
Bethlehem to be born?
SOLDIER 2 remains seated, but SOLDIER 1 stands up, agitated, lighting a cigarette.
He walks to the edge of a river and washes his hands. SOLDIER 2 remains, still,
stiff, silent.
8 Commentary
Developing the idea of using art as a source text, I viewed an Anselm Kiefer
exhibition; work ‘Urd Werdande Skuld (The Norns)’1 appealed to me as ‘figures and
events from mythology, as well as Old Testament subjects were depicted in repeated
variations’2: considering modern literature, I noted mythological symbolism is an
element intrinsic to writers such as Yeats. I questioned the possibility of transforming
image and text, as Kiefer often includes text in his images; his ‘preoccupation with
the spirit and forms of Nazi rule in Germany’3 provided interesting scope to explore
content in sight of writing back against it. Focusing on the aspect of symbolism and
myth, I decided use Kiefer’s ‘Urd Werdande Skuld (The Norns)’ and Yeats’ ‘The
Second Coming’4 as source texts.
In the writing workshops, I had not yet explored the genre of the script or
screenplay; choosing to explore this genre, I investigated texts. In Scriptwriter
magazine, an article recalls an interview with scriptwriter Matt Greenhalgh, who
claims that writing a script must be started through ‘in depth plotting’. He states that
‘there is nothing worse than meandering when you have a great idea;’5 in reading
this I experimented with the possibility of transforming the two texts into a script. To
do this I explored the content of Yeats’ work; adopting the topic of Nazi Germany I
concluded I would write a script that confronts the Second World War. In
experimenting with ideas I chose to use Yeats’ symbolism of the falcon in the
opening stage directions: in writing ‘the silhouette of a falcon is displayed across the
sky; its long low shriek resonates through the empty air’ I intended to convey a sense
Anselm Kiefer, Tate/ National Galleries Scotland, 1983 Stephan Mann, “Anselm Kiefer: Biography,” Grove Art Online (New York: Oxford University Press) Web. 13 Jan. 2011. Mann. Web. 3 Jan. 2011. 4
Yeats, “The Second Coming” W. B. Yeats: Selected Poetry, ed. Norman Jeffares (London: Pan Books Ltd, 1976) 99-100. 5
Marianne Grey, “Matt Greenhalgh in Control” Scriptwriter Magazine, 37 (2007) 15. 1
2
3
9 of dismay, building up tension to precede the dialogue. I experimented with plot
ideas, concluding that I would portray Yeats’ mythological symbolism through a
dream described by a soldier in the war; Yeats’ visual language ‘the blood-dimmed
tide is loose’6 would be appropriate to exploring the War as its content, similar to the
language used by embittered soldier poets like that of Wilfred Owen who describes
the ‘stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle,’7 depicting the horrific atmosphere through
references to colour (‘blood’ is associated with red) and onomatopoeia.
In another article from Scriptwriter, filmmaker Stanislavski builds upon the
idea of using ‘memory and sensory memory, which is used to deepen exploration
into the character’s personality and emotional and physical responses.’8 Reading
this, I indented to use the idea of memory projected through character; through the
use of stage directions I intended to depict SOLDIER 1’s recollection of a symbolic
dream, extracting Yeats’ symbolic second verse: ‘a shape with lion body and the
head of a man; a gaze as pitiless as the sun, is moving its slow thighs’9 depicts
SOLDIER 1’s dream. Matt Greenhalgh states it is important ‘not to get hung up on
stage directions’10; however, in only writing a short scene as an extract from a longer
script, I relied avidly on stage directions to reveal the situation to the reader and
increase tension. As I did not add any of my own dialogues other than SOLDIER 2’s
response ‘Ah, the dream,’ it was difficult to write a longer piece.
Transforming both Yeats’ ‘The Second Coming’ and Kiefer’s ‘Urd Werdande
Skuld (The Norns)’ into dialogue was an interesting experiment in the sense that it
Yeats 99. Wilfred Owen, “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” Poems of Remembrance, ed. Michael Rosen (Ebury: Woodlands Books Ltd,
2003) 129. 8
Stanislavski, “Drama from Life,” Scriptwriter Magazine, 37 (2007) 49. 9
Yeats 100. 10
Grey 15. 6
7
10 developed both the mediums of image and text; however the outcome relied heavily
on Yeats and only subtly alluded to Kiefer’s work through its narrative.
11 Primary Sources
Kiefer, Anselm. Tate/ National Galleries Scotland, 1983.
Yeats, W. B. “The Second Coming,” W. B. Yeats: Selected Poetry, ed. Norman
Jeffares. London: Pan Books Ltd, 1976.
Secondary Sources
Mann, Stephan. “Anselm Kiefer: Biography,” Grove Art Online. New York: Oxford
University Press. < www.groveart.com> Web. 13 Jan. 2011.
Grey, Marianne. “Matt Greenhalgh in Control,” Scriptwriter Magazine. 37 (2007).
Owen, Wilfred. “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” Poems of Remembrance, ed. Michael
Rosen. Ebury: Woodlands Books Ltd, 2003.
Stanislavski, “Drama from Life,” Scriptwriter Magazine, 37 (2007).
12