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10th December 2019
John, our leader, was absent (apologies sent ) on a tiger hunt and despite lacking his control and erudition, we managed an enjoyable evening based loosely on the theme ‘Seasons’. I think it’s fair to say that it was the most eclectic mix of poetry we have listened to thus far. There were the usual well-known poets such as Donne, Dylan and Edward Thomas (‘Snow’, ‘Thaw’), Yeats, Fanthorpe and Duffy, but these were supplemented by more obscure poets such as John Short (‘Carol’), Richard Wilbur, Gareth Owen, Murray Young, Michael Rosen and one of Tonia’s own poems. We even had two songs; a 15th Century carol, and lyrics from the Handsome Family. Two poets whom I hadn’t heard of, but worth following up, were Robin Robertson (‘Beyond Dubh-Chladach’) and Ken Rexroth.
12th November 2019
Another excellent range of poets was read with a strong American presence. Poems from Plath, Whitman (‘What think you I take my pen in my hand…’, Sandberg, Stevens and Dickinson were supplemented by Bronte, Clare, Mitchell and Williams plus some Aboriginal poetry and one by Brecht (‘The ballad of Paragraph 218’). The interpretation of our theme ‘Identity’ led to some fascinating readings in another stimulating meeting. Chris Short’s ‘Sometimes‘ can be read on this site.
15th October 2019
Taking ‘Weather’ as our theme, we managed to cover about 20 poems ranging from those writers more associated with prose such as Bierce, Meredith, Mackay Brown and Joyce to the humorous MacGonagall and Bilston. Less well-known poets such as Nesbitt, Alun Lewis and Helen Dunmore were well received as were some of our old favourites, Housman, Larkin, Hardy, Hughes (‘Wind’), Auden (‘Roman wall blues’) and Edward Thomas. Despite the challenge, we finished on the dot at nine o’clock.
24th September 2019
A continuation of last month’s topic which some doubted we’d ever finish but with faith in our leader John Forster we concluded the theme with a fine range of poetry. Henley (‘Invictus’), Hardy and Browning from the Victorian era were prominent but a range of centuries was covered featuring Titchborne, Donne, Larkin, RS Thomas and the popular Persian poet Rumi.
13th August 2019
Our theme was ‘Doubt and faith’. The age of doubt in Victorian times was well represented by poetry from Tennyson, Arnold and Clough in addition to Hopkins’s dark sonnets. Other poets included Brooke, Auden (‘As I walked out one evening’), Wordsworth and O’Driscoll. It was decided that with such a rich field we would keep the theme for another month. Chris Short’s ‘When the times comes‘ can be read on this site.
9th July 2019
Despite reduced numbers ( Yorkshire Show effect? ) we continued our ‘Free choice’ theme and heard some fine poems from the pens of Yeats (‘The lake isle of Innisfree’), Tennyson (‘Now sleeps the crimson petal’), Stevens, Longley, Armitage, the King James bible (the Magnificat), Blake and Vaughan among others. Voting then took place ( I bet you are all agog ) and the results – after much deliberation and horse-trading ( not really ) are; the poems we recommend to all our visitors are as follows;
1st ‘Futility’ by Wilfred Owen
2nd ‘Fern Hill’ by Dylan Thomas
3rd ‘The Emperor of Ice-cream’ by Wallace Stevens.
Please read or re-read them as they are superb poems.
6th June 2019
The ‘Free choice’ theme was very popular with an excellent range of poetry being read and discussed. We decided it would be good to continue next month and then have a Eurovision-style vote to choose three poems to recommend to visitors to this site. Poets who featured were as follows: Donne, Heaney, Mackay Brown, Owen, Enright, Harrison, Duffy, Sydney and Sassoon.
14th May 2019
16th April 2019
By common consent it was felt that this was one of the most enjoyable meetings we have had. It began with an attempt to define ‘Lyric’, referencing Aristotle and Ian McMillan (an unlikely pairing) before John ran through a selection of Shakespeare extracts featuring songs. We then went on to listen to a terrific selection of lyrics. It was quite an eclectic mix ranging from the humour of Tom Lehrer, Pam Ayres and Flanders and Swann’s ‘I’m a Gnu’ to marvellous lyrics from Dylan, Springsteen, Mazzy Star, Donovan, Simon & Garfunkel, Stone Roses, Yardbirds and Reverend and the Makers – Wow ! We were also treated to some live song by Chris with ‘Drink to me only with thine eyes’ and David with ‘Dirty Old Town’. It was such an excellent evening that we hope to re-visit the theme soon.
19 March 2019
Although the theme, (Other voices) at first sight seemed troublesome, we heard an excellent and varied range of poetry. Well-known poets such as Seamus Heaney, Tony Harrison, Wendy Cope, Les Murray (‘The cows’) and Wallace Stevens rubbed shoulders with West Indian and Yorkshire dialect poems. There were serious poems and light-hearted ones too so that all-in-all it was a most entertaining evening. Chris Short’s translation of ‘St Anthony and the fishes‘ can be read on this site.
12 February 2019
The theme of ‘Love’ proved popular and wide-ranging poems were read in a most appropriate setting in front of an open fire at Mother Shipton’s Inn. Shakespeare’s sonnets featured and discussions were had about his sexuality and about musical versions of his sonnets by David Gilmour and Rufus Wainwright. The idea of song lyrics as a possible theme for a future meeting was aired.
8th January 2019
We heard a wide range of poetry on the theme of ‘Beginnings’. There were a number of famous poets covered such as Hardy, Tennyson, Auden and Yeats but also some probably less familiar ones such as Bishop, MacCaig and Muir, plus Gary Snyder’s ‘Hay for horses’, Edward Lucie-Smith’s ‘The lesson’ and Helen Dunmore’s ‘All the things you are not yet’. The interpretation of ‘Beginnings’ was wide, covering the New Year, birth, refugees, animals, baptism and a post-nuclear world. We decided to recommend Wendy Cope’s poem ‘Bloody Men’.
