We have all of us sobbed so piteously, standing with tiny bare legs above our little socks, when we lost sight of our mother or nurse in some strange place; but we can no longer recall the poignancy of that moment and weep over it, as we do over the remembered sufferings of five or ten years ago.
The absurdity that clung to everything connected with Dirk Stroeve gave it a curious note, like an unresolved discord, but made it somehow more modern, more human; like a rough joke thrown into a serious scene, it heightened the poignancy which all beauty has.
But Barney Snaith had a way of saying things that gave them poignancy.
When we are scared, or frustrated, when we see injustice, when we are deeply touched by the poignancy of humanity, we cry.
Not since Zhang Yimou played the male lead in 1986's Old Well has an ace director trumped actors of his profession with such on-screen and off-screen poignancy.
" For many Singaporeans, the coincidence of Lee's death with the 50th anniversary of the country's separation from the former Malayan Federation has added extra poignancy.
