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Help Needed! Poetry in Spooks
Ok folks, it’s time to put your knowledge of Spooks to use and help a fellow fan out. Nicola is working on an MA and needs to find some “Classical poetry references in British TV series Spooks” for one of her projects. She has two so far, an Abu Nuwas quote by Ruth in S3.7 and Whitman for Colin’s funeral in S5.2. There must be plenty more! The reading in 9.1 is an obvious one. I have a vague recollection of Harry and Ruth exchanging a few poetic words at some point (?). If you can think of any more please comment below (please keep in mind that Nicola hasn’t seen season nine yet so try and keep your comments S9 spoiler free). Thank you!
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Two off the top of my head are Malcolm and his quoting of Measure for Measure in 5.4 and also Ruth quoting Henry IV in 2.5 – ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown’.
Thanks JHyde!
Also (and I couldn’t sleep until I posted this) Harry quotes Rupert Brooke’s poem The Old Vicarage, Grantchester in 5.2. ‘Now stands the clock at ten to three’.
Strictly speaking I suppose the Shakespeare quotes I provided aren’t poetry, but given that his plays are often treated as poetic content in university courses, I thought it was worth listing.
There’s an Oscar Wilde quote in 2.6 “More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn’t read.” It’s from Wilde’s hilarious play “The Importance of Being Earnest”. It’s not a poem, but it is a great line, don’t you think?
Thanks, Skully, JHyde & Shaijinx. I can definitely use the Shakespeare references if I can make out they are part of a poetic context. Probably not the Wilde, though it is a great quote. Given I only “need” 5-8 poems, I’m nearly there, but now my curiosity is whetted I want to know how many there actually are :)
PS I’m so hanging out for S9 – ordered my DVD ages ago, but the wait just seems to get harder the closer it gets …
I think you’re referring to 8.8, where Ruth tells Harry they have to save the talks, and Harry quotes Schiller “Alle Menschen werden Brüder,” which is quoted in the choral section of mvt 4 of Beethoven’s 9th symphony (the so called “Ode to Joy”)?
Also, speaking of unclear poetic references, in S7, when Harry and Qualtrough are discussing who the mole could be, they mention that it can’t be someone (Hugo Prince?) because he’s dead, and Qualtrough refers to the memorial service and there’s a discussion of “On the Ning Nang Nong.” This is a poem by Spike Milligan, but I’ve never understood why it would be relevant to a funeral service.
A lot of weddings and funerals now incorporate readings that aren’t necessarily from the gospels. Especially when the bride and groom/deceased aren’t religious. And sometimes even when they are.
Nice catch on the Milligan, I had totally forgotten that. That poem is also now a children’s song.
Sure, no question (as in the Pope poem in 9.1 that we’re not allowed to talk about yet, grin), but as far as I can tell “On the Ning Nang Nong” is basically doggerel. :) I can’t discern any deeper meaning. It’s used in the U.S. to teach kids to practice the pronunication of the letter “N.” No offense if you like Spike Milligan, just saying that it doesn’t immediately call to mind eternity, sacrifice, the sort of things people often think of at funerals.
sorry to spam you: another Shakespeare reference: in S8, when Lucas meets Sarah in the gazebo to complain that she’s been feeding the journalist the info about the gas negotiations with Tazbekistan, she responds sarcastically to a threat with lines from King Lear: “I will do such things–
What they are, yet I know not; but they shall be
The terrors of the earth.” Lear says them to Regan.
Ok, and I promise I’ll stop now because I assume you have this one: there’s the reading of “In Flanders Fields” in 7.1 at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony.
Vielen Dank, Servetus!
Please, keep spamming! You’re probably one of the most knowledgeable people in this area so the floor is yours.. :)
The episode titles are full of references to something (bible, history, movies etc), so some of them could be about poetry.
s3 ep. 4 title “A prayer for my daughter” is a poem my Yeats
IIRC in that episode Harry recites a chunk of that poem and mentions that his wife was teaching it to her students.
Thanks servetus and done for. This is fantastic! Really appreciate all your help.
Oh A Prayer for My Daughter, how could I have forgotten!
There’s also Coriolanus in 1.4 ‘There is a world elsewhere’ (one of my all time favourite plays and quotes). Also Zoe and Will riff on one of Shakespeare’s sonnets in the garden of the wedding they attend in 3.3. I can’t remember which, I’m afraid.
oh, excellent! Great job! I had forgotten that. Sonnet #138, When my love swears that she is made of truth
In #9 (episode ?) doesn’t the Indian scholar/translator quote a line of some Indian/Sanskrit poem and Lucas finishes it as he walks into the office?
Sorry, away from my dvd’s and can’t be more specific.
Thank you everyone for your great replies and helping a fellow fan out, I knew you’d come through with the goods!
Hardly classical, but I fell in love with this poem yesterday and thought I’d share: Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath – Ruth’s code-word on her return in 8.1
(:
In 2.3 (Spiders) Ruth references Homer’s Iliad with the line “The son of Kronos spoke and nodded with his darkish brow.” I looked it up. It’s Book One, verse 28.
I wouldn’t be surprised if The Iliad has made several appearances over the years.
Doesn’t Ruth also quote the Iliad to that Professor in Oxford in the Shining Dawn episode?
Go Nia – I came back to add those two!!
Bit of a tenuous link, but since Lucas is such an admirer of William Blake, there’s bound to be a Blake reference somewhere. Maybe among his tattoos or the paintings we see in his flat? =/
“Mercy falls like gentle rain from heaven” from The Merchant of Venice in 7.8.
Thanks again, everyone :)
I’ve been wondering how to fit in all the Blake references, as no specific poem is quoted/referred to. Problem is compounded by Blake being an artist as well as a poet and most of the Spooks refs are visual, apart from the conversation between Elizaveta & Kachimov, which was philosophical. Think I’ve had a bit of a breakthrough though!
The tatt on Lucas’ chest of ‘The Ancient of Days’ depicts Urizen, who appears in Blake’s epic poems (e.g. The First Book of Urizen), which are way too long for my purposes. But then I found this poem, ‘Earth’s Answer’, which both refers to Urizen indirectly AND is applicable to Lucas:
Earth rais’d up her head
From the darkness dread & drear.
Her light fled:
Stony dread!
And her locks cover’d with grey despair.
‘Prison’d on wat’ry shore
Starry Jealousy does keep my den
Cold and hoar
Weeping o’er
I hear the voice of the ancient men.
‘Selfish father of men!
Cruel, jealous, selfish fear!
Can delight,
Chain’ed in night,
The virgins of youth and morning bear?
‘Does spring hide its joy
When buds and blossoms grow?
Does the sower
Sow by night?
Or the plowman in darkness plow?
‘Break this heavy chain
That does freeze my bones around.
Selfish! vain!
Eternal bane!
That free Love with bondage bound.’
‘Father of men’ & ‘voice of ancient men’ = Urizen
And “The figure of ‘Earth’ here, might be loosely interpreted as the representative of Experience itself, but more widely as temporal physical existence.”
OK, I know the connection’s tenuous, but I really want to include a Blake poem!
PS sorry this is so long
Are we still doing this? 8.6 “He was a man on whom I built. An absolute trust” — Macbeth act IV
Oh, good one, servetus. The whole trust theme runs through from the beginning but seems to have been brought to the forefront more with Lucas. I can tie that one in nicely – thanks!
I’ll deposit this here in case you’re still reading: Spooks 7.5, when Lucas comes to tell Harry about his flashbacks regarding Sugarhorse, Harry says “When sorrows come” — presumably quoting Hamlet, Act IV, scene v.
Yep, keep em coming!
Just to say thanks to everyone that helped. Submitted assignment a few days ago – could have written far more in the end than the word limit allowed. Found it all very interesting and couldn’t have done it without all the help that was so generously offered. Thank you again and a special thanks to Skully for making the initial post and allowing my request for help to be posted here and for suggesting I try Spooks Forum. You rock, Officer Skully, ma’am *saluting*
You’re welcome Nixie! Glad we could help out :) So, do you have a definitive list of poetry in Spooks now? Would love to post it on the blog if you do!
Hi Skully and all,
Sorry for the delay, but here is my list – suspect it’s NOT definitive, but it is a start! Where I have the info, I’ve included the time code for the DVD (at least in the versions I have).
Poems
S3.3 “Who Guards the Guards?” Shakespeare ‘Sonnet #138’ by Will to Zoe (first and last couplets of sonnet)
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her though I know she lies.
…
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be. (56.37)
S3.4 “A Prayer for My Daughter” Yeats ‘A prayer for my daughter’ by Harry and Catherine. Harry looks at a handwritten versions of the poem at 23.46.
Once more the storm is howling, and half hid
Under this cradle-hood and coverlid
My child sleeps on. (Catherine 48.12)
Considering that, all hatred driven hence,
The soul recovers radical innocence (Harry 58.10)
S3.7 “Outsiders” Kahlil Gibran from The Prophet, Chapter 1 ‘The Coming of the Ship’ quoted by Ruth and Andrew and incorrectly attributed to Abu Nuwas.
Andrew: Ready am I to go, the sails of my eagerness await the wind.
…
Ruth: And then I will come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean. (43.18)
S5.2 “Gas and Oil (Part 2)” Rupert Brooke from ‘The Old Vicarage, Grantchester’ by Harry.
‘And stands the clock at ten to three?’ (24.00), a variation on Brooke’s line ‘Yet stands the Church clock at ten to three?’ (l.140)
S5.2 “Gas and Oil (Part 2)” Walt Whitman ‘When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed’ by Harry to be read at Colin’s funeral.
Comrades mine, and I in the midst, and their memory ever I keep — for the dead I loved so well (l. 205) (57.35)
S7.1 “New Allegiances” John McCrae ‘In Flanders Fields’, read by young boy at Remembrance Day Service.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
…
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; … (50.00)
S7.? Spike Milligan ‘On the Ning Nang Nong’ discussed by Harry & Qualtrough
S8.8 Schiller ‘Ode to Joy’ Harry & Ruth
Ruth: Sounds as if Nightingale has bought into the concept of controlled holocaust. (pause) We must save the talks.
Harry: Do you still sing? In your choir?
Ruth: Ah, yes, we’re doing Beethoven’s Ninth ‘Ode to Joy’.
Harry: ‘Alle Menschen werden Brüdern’ – ‘all men will be brothers …
Ruth: … under gentle wings.’ Harry …[Harry cries] Harry, all men are brothers. That’s why we shed tears for people we don’t know.
Harry: It’s just the wind, Ruth. (39.20-40.04)
S9.1 Alexander Pope ‘Ode on Solitude’ read by Ruth at Ros’ memorial service.
Blest! who can unconcern’dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix’d; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lye (at very beginning 1.00)
Homer
S2.3 Ruth references Homer’s Iliad with the line “The son of Kronos spoke and nodded with his darkish brow.” Book One, verse 28.
S4.1 or 2 Ruth quoted the Iliad to the Professor in Oxford?
Shakespeare – plays
S1.4 Shakespeare (Coriolanus) ‘There is a world elsewhere’
S2.5 Shakespeare (Henry IV) by Ruth
S3.4 Shakespeare (King Lear) ‘My poor fool is hanged’ quoted by Adam (23.16)
S5.4 Shakespeare (Measure for Measure) by Malcolm
S5.5 Shakespeare (Macbeth) by Ruth – Lady MacBeth?
S.7.8 Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice ) “Mercy falls like gentle rain from heaven”
S8.? Shakespeare (King Lear) by Sarah Caulfield
S8.6 Shakespeare (Macbeth) “He was a man on whom I built. An absolute trust” Act IV
Miscellaneous
S7 Blake’s depiction of Urizen in watercolour etching ‘The Ancient of Days’ – poem ‘Earth’s answer’ indirect ref to Urizen & applicable to LN
S8.1 Sylvia Plath ‘Lady Lazarus’ – Ruth’s code-word on her return
Thanks so much Nixie! I’ll repost this to a single blog post.
[...] might remember a few months ago that I asked for your assistance in helping a fellow fan find all the poetry references in Spooks for a school project. Thanks to [...]