Such was the cultural impact of TS Eliot's masterpiece The Waste Land following its publication in 1922, that during The Second World War the lionized writer was invited to Windsor Castle for a recital of his opus – during which Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother famously succumbed to a fit of giggles.

Part of a series by The Poetry Movement, which seeks to bring poetry to a new generation by asking innovators from different disciplines to reinterpret classic works (previous episodes include playwright Harold Pinter reading the poetry of Philip Larkin), today’s striking animated film by Icecream features lines from “The Burial of the Dead” section of The Waste Land, read by poet and artist Robert Montgomery.

“Robert sees this part of The Waste Land as a reflection on the mundanity of Eliot’s day job as a bank clerk, witnessing commuters walking across London Bridge,” says The Poetry Movement's creative director John Paul Pryor, “whereas the Icecream team wanted to reflect a particular interpretation of the section, which purports that Eliot was talking about war and how it is a virus that infects mankind. It's the melding of both ideas that created the film.”

The Poetry Movement is created for The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation.