From English Idyll to Living Hell: a WW1 poem by Rachel Cochrane set to music
Written by Rachel Cochrane, read by Tom Raine with music by Rosie Cochrane
See words below
Podcast content
A poem set to music, inspired by the death of English pastoral composer George Butterworth, an Officer of the 13th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, who died in the battle of the Somme 5th August 1916. The catalyst for the poem was the discovery of a photograph of Butterworth and his fellow officers in the Battalion in the Durham Record Office Archives (see below). This recording formed part of Rachel’s multimedia exhibit for the collaborative exhibition ‘The Somme: Remembrance and Expression’ at Pod Gallery, Bishop Auckland curated by Daisy Arts.
George Butterworth was composer of such noted pieces as The Banks of Green Willow and set A.E.Houseman’s series of verses The Shropshire Lad to music. These tunes provided inspiration in writing both the poem and the accompanying music. The Banks of the Green Willow becomes distorted to reflect the state of Butterworth’s mind in the trenches. The line, ‘The lads in their hundreds’, is echoed in the verse (see words below). Before setting off to war, Butterworth burnt his unfinished compositions.
From English Idyll to Living Hell – words
You took up your pencil
To hang your notes
Upon the wires
As crows perch to prophesy
A death knell
From English Idyll to living hell
You left unfinished songs
An ember in the grate
Took up club and bayonet
Alongside rough hewn mining men
They dug you a trench
Named it in your honour
You wrote to their wives and mothers
The Durham Lads in their hundreds
That will never grow old
Head above the parapet
And as you fall
In Munster Alley
A final refrain
Your fingers twitch
Upon the mud
To play it out
In silence

Officers 13th Btn DLI March 1915 (George Butterworth circled) Reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the former DLI and Durham County Record Office DRO D/DLI 7/75/26