As we reassembled after a 5 week month, we welcomed 2 new participants to the group and the discussion during the afternoon was as diverse and lively as usual. Our topic was Geography and we found many approaches to it.
Starting very sensibly we heard Caroline Bird’s short and somewhat pessimistic ‘Geography Lessons’. This was followed by Keat’s ‘On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer’ – what a contrast as the poet presents his excitement at intellectual discovery in terms of geographical exploration. My poem was the last part of Shelley’s ‘Mont Blanc’, and after this, came Ian McKay’s ‘Volcanoes’. It was remarked that the first 4 poems all contained references to mountains of one kind or another – but all very differently handled.
We had a complete change of location with Seamus Heaney’s ‘The Peninsula’ and Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’. Following their engagement with psychology and to some extent even with epistemology, Edward Thomas’s profoundly melancholy ‘Rain’ provoked a good deal of comment.
The emerging poet Miriam Gamble’s ‘On Fancying American Film Stars’ generated some discussion on one of our perpetual themes: ‘what makes a poem a poem and what makes a good poem?’
We finished gently with Frances Thomson’s ‘Arab Song’.
In September we have Free Choice again.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
June Poems
Our topic this month was France and anything connected with it. This gave us plenty of scope and produced not only the usual wide range of poetry but confronted us with some problems of translation. Among the poems presented were ‘Last Post’ by Carol Ann Duffy, about WW1, ‘Maison d’Aujourd’Hiu’ by Donald Hall, stanzas from ‘The Grande Chartreuse’, by Matthew Arnold, 2 versions of ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, 2 poems by Baudelaire ‘The Erotic Perfume’, and ‘The Albatross’ – this one caused problems because various translations are available, but not all of the same quality. The mood was lightened by a humorous poem called ‘Do a project’, and was changed again to perplexity by 2 short poems by the modern French poet Jacques Vert: ‘ For you my love’, which began like a traditional folk song or rhyme but developed to become rather dark and troubling* and ‘Breakfast’ which seemed inexplicably banal - which was probably the point! Our difficulty did not lie so much with the translations of the last 2 poems as with the style of these modern works. The fifteenth-century ‘Carol for Agincourt’ did not require much thought, but was gently entertaining. Our poems next month will be free choice.
* As in previous sessions, we notice a generational split at time as those of us who remember the original feminist struggle take a more rigorous and bleak view of some poems, while your younger female colleagues seem unperturbed by insights into the inequalities of gender and depictions of patriarchal oppression that some mid-20thC poets include in their works.
* As in previous sessions, we notice a generational split at time as those of us who remember the original feminist struggle take a more rigorous and bleak view of some poems, while your younger female colleagues seem unperturbed by insights into the inequalities of gender and depictions of patriarchal oppression that some mid-20thC poets include in their works.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
May Poems
This month we had a free choice and the usual wide variety of poems gave us plenty to discuss. We were much exercised by D.H. Lawrence’s enigmatic poem ‘The Man of Tyre’, and debated the significance of its reference to ‘maidenhair’. Gillian Allnutt’s ‘Alien’ created more debate with its high-feminist agenda. Tatamkhula Afrika’s ‘Nothing Changed’ continued the political theme from another perspective and introduced most of us to bunny chows – an interesting-sounding snack of hollowed bread with curry filling.
Still being political, 2 members of the group brought poems by Kipling. One, the hymn-like ‘Recessional’ was full of war-like imagery of the high days of Empire, the other, an apt satire in 6 lines on corrupt politicians under the title ‘A Dead Statesman.’
In a shift away from politics of all kinds Roger McGough’s ‘P.C. Plod versus the Park Road Rapist’ was initially taken as light-hearted mockery of the stereotypical ‘thick’ policeman of earlier times, but on further reading most of us were disturbed by the potential consequences implicit beneath the humour, and the poem took on its own bleakly satirical edge.
Less controversial was ‘Musee des Beaux Artes’, about the Brueghel painting of the fall of Icarus. We were treated to a copy of the painting in order to get some idea of the context. The disjunction between ordinary and extraordinary was remarked upon. Philip Larkin’s ‘An Arundel Tomb’ found general approval for its atmosphere of enduring love.
Everyone seemed to relax and enjoy the beautiful extract from Shakespeare’s A Merchant of Venice. It was Lorenzo’s short speech to Jessica that begins ‘How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!’ No wonder Ralph Vaughan Williams set it to music.
Our topic for June will be FRANCE.
Still being political, 2 members of the group brought poems by Kipling. One, the hymn-like ‘Recessional’ was full of war-like imagery of the high days of Empire, the other, an apt satire in 6 lines on corrupt politicians under the title ‘A Dead Statesman.’
In a shift away from politics of all kinds Roger McGough’s ‘P.C. Plod versus the Park Road Rapist’ was initially taken as light-hearted mockery of the stereotypical ‘thick’ policeman of earlier times, but on further reading most of us were disturbed by the potential consequences implicit beneath the humour, and the poem took on its own bleakly satirical edge.
Less controversial was ‘Musee des Beaux Artes’, about the Brueghel painting of the fall of Icarus. We were treated to a copy of the painting in order to get some idea of the context. The disjunction between ordinary and extraordinary was remarked upon. Philip Larkin’s ‘An Arundel Tomb’ found general approval for its atmosphere of enduring love.
Everyone seemed to relax and enjoy the beautiful extract from Shakespeare’s A Merchant of Venice. It was Lorenzo’s short speech to Jessica that begins ‘How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!’ No wonder Ralph Vaughan Williams set it to music.
Our topic for June will be FRANCE.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April, with it's showers sweet ...
Our topic for the month was Eroticism, and the poems chosen ranged from the subtle to the almost obscene, and many provoked strenuous debate. Polarised views of the poetry on offer opened up 'fault-lines' defined probably by generational differences, but the range of poems revealed how important the expression of human sexuality has been in every age - from the Old Testament to the present day. The mode of expression mirrors the age and culture in which the poems are produced, as we would expect, but the representation of delight, anxiety, and revulsion, gave us plenty to consider.
Among the poems read were and extract from The Song of Songs, John Donne's 'Unruly Sun', Yeats's 'Leda and the Swan', John Updike's 'No More Access to her Underpants', Herrick's 'Upon Julia's Clothes', an extract from Milton's Paradise Lost, D.H. Lawrence's, 'Figs', Donald Hall's 'Villanelle', Kim Addonizio's 'For Desire'.
Next month is a free choice of favourite poems again.
Among the poems read were and extract from The Song of Songs, John Donne's 'Unruly Sun', Yeats's 'Leda and the Swan', John Updike's 'No More Access to her Underpants', Herrick's 'Upon Julia's Clothes', an extract from Milton's Paradise Lost, D.H. Lawrence's, 'Figs', Donald Hall's 'Villanelle', Kim Addonizio's 'For Desire'.
Next month is a free choice of favourite poems again.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Bright but Chilly March
The Poetry group met in an alternative venue this month. The Library had been taken over by numerous educational events and displays, so we move across the Junction to The Art House, and we were made very welcome and comfortable (I can recommend the coffee!)
It was a different kind of meeting because we started with a free selection of short poems which were followed by a group discussion on T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. We only got through Part I 'Burial of the Dead', and that gave us a great deal to discuss. Among the short poems that preceeded this were Jenny Joseph's thought-provoking 'Dead of Night'; U.A. Fanthorpe's insightful 'Deer in Gowbarrow Park'; Thomas Hardy's charming poem 'The Weather'; Sonnet 64 from Edmund Spenser's 'Amoretti' - was he parodying convention? Spike Milligan's brilliantly daft 'Rain', and the wonderfully named Sir Aston Cokaine's 'To Plautia'. I took along Robert Herrick's surruptitiously subversive 'Cavalier' poem 'Delight in Disorder'.
Having unintentionally covered all sorts of clothing this month, next month we will probably be considering the lack of it as the topic for April is Eroticism.
It was a different kind of meeting because we started with a free selection of short poems which were followed by a group discussion on T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. We only got through Part I 'Burial of the Dead', and that gave us a great deal to discuss. Among the short poems that preceeded this were Jenny Joseph's thought-provoking 'Dead of Night'; U.A. Fanthorpe's insightful 'Deer in Gowbarrow Park'; Thomas Hardy's charming poem 'The Weather'; Sonnet 64 from Edmund Spenser's 'Amoretti' - was he parodying convention? Spike Milligan's brilliantly daft 'Rain', and the wonderfully named Sir Aston Cokaine's 'To Plautia'. I took along Robert Herrick's surruptitiously subversive 'Cavalier' poem 'Delight in Disorder'.
Having unintentionally covered all sorts of clothing this month, next month we will probably be considering the lack of it as the topic for April is Eroticism.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
February 6th
February's Free Choice
On a fine and much milder afternoon we met to discuss both our chosen poems and the 'way forward'. It has often been suggested that we should take on a single poem or poet as a group project. After some debate about who, and how, it was agreed that at our next meeting we would all look at T.S. Eliot's THE WASTE LAND, but we will not necessarily devote the whole meeting to it, so we have agreed to bring along SHORT poems of our own choice to counterbalance the intensity of Eliot's work.
We have been alerted to the liklihood of a change of venue in March, from the Library, to the ART HOUSE, a cafe opposite the Junction, owing to a large educational event taking over the Library. The Art House has an upstairs room that the library staff are negotiating for on our behalf. Confirmation of the move will be emailed or telephoned to all members of the group by Sandy later in the month.
Yesterday's meeting produced the usual stimulating selection of poems which included Sylvia Plath's 'Daddy',
Dylan Thomas's 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion', G.K. Chesterton's 'The Donkey', Charles Cotton (1630-87) 'Winter's Invasion'; Seamus Heaney's 'Docker', and Jenny Joseph's 'Dead of Night'. Oddly, in view of our opening discussion, I had brought along 'Death by Water', section IV of The Waste Land!
On a fine and much milder afternoon we met to discuss both our chosen poems and the 'way forward'. It has often been suggested that we should take on a single poem or poet as a group project. After some debate about who, and how, it was agreed that at our next meeting we would all look at T.S. Eliot's THE WASTE LAND, but we will not necessarily devote the whole meeting to it, so we have agreed to bring along SHORT poems of our own choice to counterbalance the intensity of Eliot's work.
We have been alerted to the liklihood of a change of venue in March, from the Library, to the ART HOUSE, a cafe opposite the Junction, owing to a large educational event taking over the Library. The Art House has an upstairs room that the library staff are negotiating for on our behalf. Confirmation of the move will be emailed or telephoned to all members of the group by Sandy later in the month.
Yesterday's meeting produced the usual stimulating selection of poems which included Sylvia Plath's 'Daddy',
Dylan Thomas's 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion', G.K. Chesterton's 'The Donkey', Charles Cotton (1630-87) 'Winter's Invasion'; Seamus Heaney's 'Docker', and Jenny Joseph's 'Dead of Night'. Oddly, in view of our opening discussion, I had brought along 'Death by Water', section IV of The Waste Land!
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