And so I get to the end of the first volume of the Penguin Modern Poets! I’ve been ruminating as I read about the best way to approach writing about the books, and I don’t really intend to get into heavy poetic analysis, as I’m not really qualified to do that. Instead, I think I’ll just give a personal response to each poet and pick out some of my favourites to give a flavour of the books. So here goes volume 1!
Penguin opened the series with some big-name poets: Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990) is of course known for his fictions and his books about Mediterranean islands, and I’m not actually sure if I knew he wrote poetry as well; Elizabeth Jennings (1926-2001) is a poet I *was* aware of – I think I studied her at school, though I can’t actually recall which poems; and finally R.S. Thomas (1913-2000), a Welsh bard whose work I’m very familiar with, as I already own many of his books and love his verse! All would have been well-known at the time of publication, though I suspect that Thomas is possibly the name that readers would know nowadays as a poet.
So, to start with Durrell. Not surprisingly, his poetic style is quite dense and allusive, much like his prose work, and the subject matter is often set around myths and legends and islands. If I’m honest I didn’t always pick up all the allusions (particularly the classical ones) but some poems were very powerful despite this – “J’Est un Autre” with its hints of strangers following you in Budapest was particularly memorable. However, some of the wordplay lost me, and I think I’d prefer to stick with Durrell as a prose stylist rather than a poet.
Jennings had a much more straightforward style, but I was surprised to find that I didn’t recognise any of her works at all – not even a glimmer of familiarity. Her style is more personal, dealing directly with subjects like death and old age, family heritage and fear. Perhaps this is more traditionally what would be thought to be a woman’s subject matter, although that argument would quickly be subverted by either Plath or Sexton. Jennings’ poems are also studded with religious imagery and pretty consistently downbeat. “Ghosts” was probably my favourite, a pithy little verse about how events left undone cause a house to be haunted.
And finally to R.S. Thomas – now, there was an intriguing man! Notoriously reclusive and difficult, particularly during the latter part of his lifetime, he was an Anglican priest who was also a poet. Brought up an English speaker, he taught himself Welsh and became quite a militant supporter of the tongue, though he learned the language too late to use it in his poetry. His works are in the main about Welsh people, landscape and nature and they’re remarkably powerful. He wasn’t afraid to say what he thought and to criticise his country and fellow countrymen and women if he felt it was justified. Towards the end of his life he allowed some personal influence into his poems, and some of those written after the death of his wife, Mildred “Elsi” Eldridge, are remarkably moving.
The personal poems came later than this volume, where the verse is mainly concerned with Wales and its fate. “An Old Man” and “The Village” were two of my favourites, but I think the one I liked best, and will share with you here, is “Welsh Landscape” – my favourite in the book, I think.
So my first reading of the Penguin Modern Poets has been stimulating and rewarding. All of the poets have their strengths, though Thomas is obviously my favourite, and I’m looking forward to volume 2 very much.
Welsh Landscape by R.S. Thomas
To live in Wales is to be conscious
At dusk of the spilled blood.
That went into the making of the wild sky,
Dyeing the immaculate rivers
In all their courses.
It is to be aware,
Above the noisy tractor
And hum of the machine
Of strife in the strung woods,
Vibrant with sped arrows.
You cannot live in the present,
At least not in Wales.
There is the language for instance,
The soft consonants
Strange to the ear.
There are cries in the dark at night
As owls answer the moon,
And thick ambush of shadows,
Hushed at the fields’ corners.
There is no present in Wales,
And no future;
There is only the past,
Brittle with relics,
Wind-bitten towers and castles
With sham ghosts;
Mouldering quarries and mines;
And an impotent people,
Sick with inbreeding,
Worrying the carcase of an old song.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 07:58:39
Lovely poem — RS Thomas is great. And how nice to see a review of some poetry! Glad you enjoyed it.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 11:29:41
Thanks – yes, I enjoyed this very much which bodes well for later volumes!
Sep 10, 2015 @ 08:26:31
Thank you for highlighting one of my fellow countrymen. What shocks me is that none of R.S Thomas work was presented in our literature classes in school; maybe his strong support of nationalism was considered too politically dangerous and we would have had our minds turned. Welsh Landscape is wonderful – did A Welsh Testament make it into the collection? It’s a good example of the contradictions in his work, on the one hand being scathing of the ‘English’ but also not letting the Welsh people escape his sarcasm. You can hear Thomas reading it here http://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/welsh-testament
Sep 10, 2015 @ 11:27:56
I love Thomas’ work – and I actually have a CD of him reading his poetry. He has such a wonderful voice. I will check about A Welsh Testament – it would depend when it was written as the collection is from the 1960s. He should most definitely be taught in school.
Sep 11, 2015 @ 08:03:51
That’s interesting, as I was brought up in South Wales and we studied a slew of Welsh poets for A level (1970). R S Thomas, Dylan Thomas, Vernon Watkins etc. Maybe you weren’t doing the Welsh Exam Board papers?
Sep 11, 2015 @ 09:01:43
I’ve heard that the teaching of all things Welsh (including the language) varied remarkably depending which part of Wales you were in – fascinating.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 17:23:47
I didn’t know Lawrence Durrell wrote poetry either. That is such a lovely poem. I had obviously heard of R S Thomas but can’t say I know his work at all.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 19:13:25
His work is very powerful (Thomas, that is) and definitely worth exploring.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 17:55:54
That is a lovely poem! I’m not familiar with the work of any of these poets, but I like the sound of Elizabeth Jennings work.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 19:12:49
This project is definitely going to be a voyage of discovering because I’ve realised I don’t know most of the poets. So it will be interesting to explore!
Sep 10, 2015 @ 18:17:25
I have to echo the comments of others. That poem is lovely – it’s simple yet very striking.
Sep 10, 2015 @ 19:12:02
It is – he’s what I’d call an effective poet!
Sep 11, 2015 @ 19:54:00
Lovely lovely lovely. I still remember a Jennings verse about a polished urn or vase or something in an antique shop from school. I like older poetry rather than the more modern variety, I find the quiet clear thoughtfulness attractive. Of course that exists in good modern poets too, I just find some of it impenetrable.
Sep 11, 2015 @ 20:30:34
I wish I could remember the Jennings I studied! Poetry is a difficult medium, and I find I either click straight away or I don’t. But I am enjoying this project so far!
Sep 13, 2015 @ 02:20:32
A lovely post! I love Durrell, and there are some poems in the back of the Alexandria Quartet, but I have never seen his poetry in any anthology. This sounds like an excellent series. I love anthologies.
Sep 13, 2015 @ 08:30:43
It’s a great series and I’m really enjoying discovering new poets! Just hope I can keep up the momentum!
Sep 13, 2015 @ 13:48:53
I love this project! I’ve one collection each of Durrell’s and Jennings’s work, and I love them both. Embarrassingly, I’ve never read any of R.S. Thomas’s work, although I know of him and he edited the Faber edition of George Herbert which I have. I enjoyed reading your thoughts about each of them, and obviously I must start reading R.S.T., that’s a marvellous poem you quote.
Sep 13, 2015 @ 13:49:45
Thanks! Yes, I’d highly recommend Thomas – a very powerful and individual poet!
Sep 14, 2015 @ 16:48:40
The Thomas is good. I didn’t know of him before. It’s good actually to see a blog covering some poetry – I’ve done a little myself but very little and so few of us do. I think it can seem daunting, but it’s not is it? Or at least it needn’t be.
Sep 14, 2015 @ 18:09:38
Thanks! I think it’s the thought of reviewing poetry that can be intimidating – it worried me a little but then I decided to just write about what I liked rather than analyse. Thomas was an excellent poet – his latter work is worth checking out too.
Sep 24, 2015 @ 13:17:46
Elizabeth Jennings is a lovely poet – I think her ‘Absence’ is my favourite: she captures things so simply and movingly.
Sep 24, 2015 @ 14:04:51
I wish I could recall which ones of hers I read when I was at school – I need to explore further!