The Complete Poems by George Orwell
The words poetry and George Orwell are not ones that you could normally expect to hear in conjunction with each other. He’s an author much more known for his trenchant essay writing and deceptively straightforward prose style; so the fancies of verse aren’t what you’d expect to find. Yet scattered through all his works are examples of verse and he obviously had a great love of poetry. So Dione Venables, a founding member of the Orwell Society, came up with the wonderful idea of collecting together all of the examples of Orwell’s poetry in one book of Complete Poems. Needless to say, as an Orwell completist I had to have it, and fortunately the offspring were well trained enough to produce it for Christmas!
This slim little book is beautifully put together and collects all Orwell’s work, down to lost scraps and verse that featured in his great works like Nineteen Eighty Four. It’s a laudable thing to do, and gives the Orwell fan a chance to look at his poetry and see what they really think about it.
So was Orwell a great poet? That’s always going to be a subjective judgement, although I think it’s fair to say that some of this is juveline work and some of it probably counts as doggerel. But Owell had a great love of poetry, and there are times when his verse really takes flight and becomes something special. He wrote love poems, celebrations of lost heroes, evocative memorials to past times, limericks and a spirited defence of his right to fight for his country. The stand-out for me was “The Italian Soldier Shook My Hand” from 1942, which evokes his time in Spain fighting fascism and ends with these two moving verses:
Your name and your deeds were forgotten
Before your bones were dry,
And the lie that slew you is buried
Under a deeper lie.
But the thing I saw in your face
No power can disinherit:
No bomb that ever burst
Shatters the crystal spirit.
So George Orwell may be known as a wonderful prose writer (and that’s probably how I’d like to think of him); but on the evidence of this volume and in particular those verses above, he certainly had a talented leaning towards poetry – and I’m very glad I’ve read his complete verse.
May 01, 2016 @ 09:19:02
How interesting! I wouldn’t associate Orwell with poetry at all. Fascinating to see another side to him!
May 01, 2016 @ 10:07:18
It’s certainly not his biggest talent, I would say, but there are times when his verse becomes very, very good. Worth reading for the obsessives like me!
May 01, 2016 @ 12:37:55
I’ll be honest I had completely forgotten that Orwell produced poetry. I would never think of him as being especially poetic.
May 01, 2016 @ 12:56:34
Well of course the question is what would we think of the poetry if it wasn’t by Orwell. Some of it I think would still stand up on its own, but I do think I’ll remember him for his prose!
May 01, 2016 @ 12:44:37
I’d say this is interesting to read in conjunction with his prose and essays rather than on it’s own, although the poem you quote is lovely.
May 01, 2016 @ 12:56:58
It’s a particularly good example, though I think I will always return to his prose and essays more.
May 01, 2016 @ 15:57:08
I have to admit that I didn’t even know that Orwell wrote poetry. Great review!
May 01, 2016 @ 16:12:04
Thanks Melissa! It *is* a lesser known side of him, but one worth exploring!
May 01, 2016 @ 16:46:27
I have such a problem with poetry. I agree with Randall Jarrell’s comment that for a writer to create a great poem is about as likely as a person being struck by lightning, and it only happens at most a few times in a lifetime. I wish there would be an anthology that selected only the great poems of poets, but then we are dependent on the fickle taste of the anthologist and still have to deal with mediocre poems.
May 01, 2016 @ 17:06:02
Poetry *is* a tricky thing – just because we think one poem is great, doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll like the rest of that poet’s output. And I think that our response to poetry is on a different level to prose. You’ll just have to make up your own personal anthology! 🙂
May 02, 2016 @ 07:55:00
Wow, not only did I now know he wrote poetry, but I thought he’d pour his functional, journalistic scorn on it, but now I think of if, I could see him being partial to a haiku, and their required concision.
And he may have had similar ideas about alcohol as his fellow poets, but absolutely the wrong hair style 😉
May 02, 2016 @ 08:25:18
You’re right – haiku would be right up his street, and he doesn’t have the hair to be a wild poet! 😁
May 02, 2016 @ 09:23:42
Thanks for that Karen – before this I knew absolutely nothing about that side of his writing.
May 02, 2016 @ 10:10:02
Welcome! This book does do a wonderful job of putting his poetry in context.
May 02, 2016 @ 21:09:26
Very interesting, thanks for sharing. One for the completist, but I’m glad I know about it. Of course now I’ve got the poem from Aspidistra in my head – must re-read that book!
May 02, 2016 @ 21:12:19
It *is* for the completist, yes – but that’s me when it comes to Orwell! 🙂
May 04, 2016 @ 23:54:16
I had no idea he wrote poetry! What a great writer, and it sounds like a lovely book, even if it isn’t his best genre.
May 05, 2016 @ 06:38:49
It is! And as a completist I had to have it!