July 3rd 2010 Free Choice

After our excursion into France and all things French in June, we were back to free choice in July. This produced the usual eclectic mix and intense discussions, so much so that at least one poem had to be held over until August.

Among our July poems were the troubling and fascinating ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ by Roddy Lumsden which is a reaction to and elaboration of the Beatles song of the same title. Ben Jonson’s Epigram XLII – ‘On Giles and Joan’ was a much merrier and wittier insight into the relationship of a married couple at a time when it was virtually impossible to get out of a marriage no matter how bad it was. We stayed in the early modern period with the Dirge from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline that begins ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun’. The importance of renown was not appreciated by everyone, but the poem met with general approval. Seamus Heaney’s grim ‘Mid-Term Break’ continued the theme of mortality, relating the funeral rites for his little dead brother. The phrase ‘wearing a poppy bruise’ was particularly noted. ‘Hamnavoe’ had to be left over till August as we ran out of time. It was fortunate then that our August topic was to be Geography.