Crowborough

The anthology "Poetry Please", (Roger McGough), is the mainstay from which we have chosen themes, or from which individual members have presented poets.

We read their works out loud, in true bardic tradition, then discuss Life, the Universe, and Everything.

We have ranged through classic poets such as Wordsworth, Hardy, and Yeats. We consider themes such as "New," encompassing old and new poets, or we just discuss poems we like - along with a bit of autobiographical detail about the poet, as researched by members of the group.

The aim of Poetry 1 is to enjoy poetry reading out loud and discuss the contents either randomly chosen from our anthologies or focused on a predetermined theme or poet. Our latest meeting centred around the works of the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti, a name familiar to many of us from childhood.

A lot of her poems have a gloomy, melancholy atmosphere often related to mourning such as the well known ‘Remember’ often read at funerals urging the listener to not only feel the sadness of bereavement but also remember the happy times that have been shared. ‘After Death’ is written from the viewpoint of a recently deceased being who reflects on the reaction of a mourner to their death.
A recurrent theme of lost love is also prevalent in such poems as ‘Many in aftertimes will say of you’ no doubt reflecting on the two suitors she turned down in favour of Divine Love rather than earthly. Her religious beliefs also gave rise to some Christmas poems becoming hymns we still sing together the most famous being ‘A Christmas Carol’ (In the Bleak Midwinter’) set to music by both Gustav Holst and Harold Darke. We found this a challenge to read aloud as we kept wanting to burst into song as the sound and rhythm are so ingrained in our brains.
Although much of Rossetti’s work can be depressing, we also found some poems celebrating Nature in ‘Golden Glories in praise of every conceivable yellow flower as well as ‘Bird Raptures’ comparing the merits of the nightingale to the lark. Needless to say the bird of the night wins for Rossetti!
Finally, we tackled her narrative poem ‘Goblin Market’ which tells the tale of two sisters who are tempted each day by the wonderful fruits sold by the goblin men in order to lead them astray. Her powerful imagery of the exotic, luscious sounding fruit reflect the sexual threat Victorian society believed women could be exposed to and the fear of foreign strangers is reflected in the animal like description of the goblin men. One sister saves the other from becoming a ‘ fallen woman’ and at the end of the epic work they tell the tale to their children as a moral warning!

We are fun and friendly.

If you are interested then please contact the group leader via the link on this page.