This week, we finally managed to install our new (not new ) item of furniture - a mid-18th Century grandfather clock. It's not bright and shiny like more modern ones, but a dark oak with a warm patina which the beeswax polish is drawing out. In order to set it up, we had to do a certain amount of research - how to hang the pendulum, where the weight went on the endless chain - and it got me thinking... where and when did certain divisions of time come from? The time periods which I have written either had household clocks or didn't, I have not written novels from the time of their invention. Clocks have been around for a long time, and the obsession with measuring time in an ordered fashion dates back to at least the ancient Sumerians. It was they who established a circular reading of time and, I imagine, the sixty seconds/minutes came about as much because it was an easy way to divide a circle as anything else. But it wasn't until much later that the precision of seconds ...
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| One from my #Wordsworth250 celebrations |
Next Thursday (1st October) is National Poetry Day.
Many years ago, I offered to illustrate favourite poems for anyone who wanted me to. I had a few people who took me up on this. I'm not sure how I managed to do it in the space of a week, but I was young then!
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| This one was a fun commission! |
Poetry comes in all shapes and sizes. From tiny lines to grand epics. I have heard so many people telling me that they don't like poetry, but what they mean is that they don't like all poetry. There is always a poem which resonates with everyone whether because it carries nostalgia, inspiration, or wonder. It is fine not to like all poetry, in fact: it is right not to. We would never expect people to like all music, all films, all novels, or all artwork. You can appreciate the artistry within them without wanting to hear/see/read them!!
It will come as no surprise to anyone that I love Romantic poetry. In both Day's Dying Glory and Beneath Black Clouds and White poetry is an underlying current. "Day's Dying Glory" comes from Byron's Lachin y Gair and "Beneath Black Clouds and White" is from Blake's The Little Black Boy, and both the books have the essence of those poems running through them.
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| Inspired by Byron |
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| Inspired by Blake |
The language of the Romantic poets certainly gives me a sense of wonder. As with all poets, they wrote about what mattered most to them - sometimes these things seem recognisable to us, sometimes they have been lost in the folds of history. Poetry, more than any other creative writing, allows for something beautiful to rise from the ashes. The pens of the Romantic poets were governed solely by emotion and there is something very appealing about reading such rawness in the guise of beauty...
...You can disagree. In fact, there are those in Crowvus HQ who strongly disagree with me! But there will be one poem (or a hundred poems!) which resonate with you. This week, hunt them out. Find a poem which fills you with wonder, or which talks about a topic that fills you with wonder, or write a poem about what fills you with wonder.
And don't let your pen stop there.
This year, I'm going to try to illustrate a poem again.
I invite you to do the same.
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| It doesn't take many lines to make a memorable poem! |
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