Carol Rumens's poem of the weekWilliam WordsworthPoem of the week: Lines Written in Early Spring by William WordsworthThe meditative sombreness of this 'Tintern Abbey' precursor reflects the growing authority of Wordsworth's early maturityThis week's poem, "Lines Written in Early Spring", has all the simplicity of diction advocated by the two radical young poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge, when they collaborated on Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth's poem is a pastoral, with some distinctly rustic qualities. Read More...
FashionPretty in Pink 30 years on: a class war built with clothesFrom Princess Diana hair to the Tories-at-the-weekend look, John Hughes’ film used fashion to illustrate the divisions between the characters “Nice dress. Where did you get it: at the five and dime store?” goes a pivotal line in Pretty in Pink, which is 30 years old this spring.
It’s a diss born out of the class conflict at the film’s centre, where clothes express the class interplay between characters. Read More...
MoviesInterviewVictor Belmondo: ‘I wanted to be an actor – I never said to myself, yes, but that’s what Papi does too’Phil HoadAt his grandfather’s funeral in 2021, Victor Belmondo described the legendary nouvelle vague star as an ‘eternal sun’. Now beginning to light up the screen himself, he talks about trying to capture his predecessor’s famous insouciance
It can be both a head start and a burden to bear the name of an illustrious predecessor – but what if you look like him, too? Read More...