September Meeting

Among the poems read were the short but atmospheric 'Night and the House' by Sophia de Mello Breyer, 'In My Craft or Sullen Art' by Dylan Thomas, a poem that caused some debate over the significance of adjectives, and one that seems heavily influenced by Shakespeare's Prospero. Of particular interest was Carol Ann Duffy's poem 'Prayer', not simply because it is the work of our first female Poet Laureate, but because it came with a printout of an analysis of the work. How much faith should be placed in http://www.squidoo.com/ is a matter of personal judgement, but the analysis is sufficient to help readers new to poetry and to Duffy's work, although it skims the surface rather too often, and simply observing that 'Duffy has included plenty of metaphor and imagery...to evoke a plethora of contrasting emotion' is really avoiding saying anything!

In October the group is looking forward to the visit of local poet Joan McGavin, who will be talking to us about her work, including the poingant 'Salt', and 'One use of a Painting'.