For our theme of Couples, ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ and ‘Tweedledum and Tweedledee’ came immediately to mind but were displaced by other choices on the night, in which Hardy and Duffy were well represented.
Philip Larkin’s ‘An Arundel tomb’ notes how a medieval couple remain tenderly united down the changing centuries.
The image of a double effigy also occurs in George Meredith’s 16-line sonnet ‘Modern Love – I’, about a married couple’s sleepless night side by side in bed. We also heard another such sonnet ‘Modern Love – XVII’ in which the couple congratulate each other on hiding their problems from their dinner guests.
In Elizabeth Jennings’ moving ‘One flesh’, the couple also lie side by side, but in separate beds.
In Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Ann Hathaway’ the marriage bed is a place of enchantment. We also heard two more from Duffy’s “The World’s Wife” – ‘Mrs Midas’, ‘Mrs Icarus’, with their foolish husbands, and one from her collection “Love Poems” – ‘Twinned’, with its story of a failed affair told in sustained half-rhymes.
Thomas Hardy’s ‘In the room of the bride-elect’ and ‘At a watering place’ are little tragi-comedies, while his ‘At tea’ evokes a wry smile and ‘The walk’ is melancholy or, as John summed it up, plangent. They have interesting structures.
The mood was lightened by two very funny poems; Wendy Cope’s ‘Archers and Adultery’, and Eve Merriam’s ‘TeeVee’ about Mr and Mrs Spouse.
‘A marriage’ by Rumi (translated by the Sufi Kabir Kelminski) is apparently a popular reading at weddings, and has been set simply to music by the popular American choral composer Eric Whitacre.
The traditional ballad ‘Frankie and Johnnie’ concerns the sensational fall-out from their falling out.
Ernest Dowson’s ‘Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae’ tells of the poet’s obsession for his former love, ‘gone with the wind’.
Tony Harrison and his father are the ‘Bookends’ separated by ‘books, book, books’. A second 16-line sonnet ‘Bookends II’ again stresses the distance between the literacy of father and son.
Ken Gambles’ ‘The old priest’ once cared for his flock, but is now dependent on the care of his wife. This poem is in Ken’s recent collection ‘Overtime’. We also heard his early poem ‘Cold snap’ in which the young poet seems ill at ease in the metropolis. You can read it on this site.
Robert Frost’s ‘Two look at two’ recounts an enchanting encounter with nature.
The speaker in Monica Youn’s ‘Venice, unaccompanied’ needs to be reassured that she is still part of a couple.
An extract from Book 4 of John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ introduces Adam and Eve. You wouldn’t call John ‘woke’.
Christina Rossetti’s sonnet ‘I loved you first…’, insists that if love is true, two become one.
David Aldred’s ‘Couplets’ packs many a pun, and a punch. You will find it on this site.
Further reading: Henry S Leigh’s ‘The twins’ is a Victorian nonsense poem. Plus, a member unable to attend suggested Louis MacNeice’s ‘Meeting point’.
Brilliant summary as always Chris!
I should add that a feature of many poems, to move from description to aphoristic or gnomic conclusions in the final lines, was noted; e.g. in this month’s readings ‘An Arundel tomb’ and ‘Two look at two’.