Source: File: Sarah
Bernhardt on the Western Front during WW1 with two companions and some French
officers. [online] See an original image at: <http://inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/sarah-bernhardt-1841-1923-french-actress.html>
[Accessed: 18 May 2016]
Born Paris Rosine
Bernardt
Flourished as an
actress,
Having changed
her name
To Sarah
Bernhardt
From 1862 - life
in Belgium
Developed
intrigue,
To include a
coffin as a bed,
Helping tragic
roles.
Over theatrical
years roles
Led to a part in
La Tosca -
In the final
scene, her jump
Off a parapet
injured
Her right knee and
without
Healing correctly, led
To gangrene and
complete
Amputation of the leg.
Despite this
tragedy, Sarah
Bernhardt
continued
To perform and
sometimes
Without her false
wooden
Leg - after a
1915 tour across
America, Bernhardt
Returned to
France - to include
Performing into
1916.
May 1916 and the
actress
Travelled on first visit
To the frontline
trenches
Based in Toul,
north
East France -
motoring out
To see the troops
Bernhardt stepped
onto six
Make shift stages.
Over three days
she spent
Time to learn
stories
Of brave deeds
with men,
Apt to blushing
as this
Actress heard
them - one
Aviator Bernhardt
Met with medals, whose
MC had 7 palm
branches.
The shared joke
was where
He would put the
eighth
Palm? little more
than a boy
He would have
them
Made smaller - honored
To read them
verses,
To add, to die in
their midst
Would be an
honour.
On visiting
wounded solders
About to be seen by
Doctors, they
insisted to wait
Until the actress
had
Finished her
entertainment -
These soldier
audiences
Bernhardt found more
inspiring
Than kings or
queens.
With insistence
to experience
Close quarters of
the front,
Bernhardt
persuaded a General
For a visit close
to town
Post a Mouton - where Germans
Often bombarded, after
Objections he
declared her worthy
To
visit the Danger Zone.
Ms Bernhardt confessed
being
Vexed, as that day
the
Enemy did not
fire - while good
For her party's
safety
The actress, only
six hundred
Yards away, would
Have been happy
to pick a gun
And shoot at the
Boche.
Declaring bad
luck Bernhardt
Stated how her travels
In England and Scotland
had
Never seen a
zeppelin
Raid - closest was
a few hours
After leaving one
hotel -
It was half
destroyed by bombs.
Sarah Bernhardt
confided
As witness to allied
determination.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916.
Mme. Sarah Bernhardt. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 May 1916. P.8. Col.6. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12210082/Daily-Telegraph-May-15-1916.html> [Accessed: 18 May 2016].
Source: File:
Sarah Bernhardt. Online. Available at:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Bernhardt>
Accessed 18 May 2016
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie
Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 18 May 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar
#WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1France
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