tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post2627310973052253269..comments2024-01-23T12:27:05.258+00:00Comments on The Stone and the Star: Alun Lewis's 'Raider's Dawn' By Way of Hardy's 'In Time of "The Breaking of Nations"'Clarissa Aykroydhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-23475689815884028532013-06-23T23:32:42.313+01:002013-06-23T23:32:42.313+01:00I personally like the word "startled" he...I personally like the word "startled" here because it doesn't overstate it. Yes, I realise it probably understates it! But it seems in keeping with that overall dreamlike atmosphere which seems to exist in both poems and especially Lewis's. It's not a harsh word. Yes, I think it does suggest the initial reaction, the moment before the full horror hits you. <br /><br />The world changed irrevocably in 1914, even if in 1916 Hardy was still optimistic enough to suggest that not so much had changed. Some things, even many things have improved (for some people...), but too many things have stayed the same or got worse. I remember being very struck by the fact that in the twentieth century, reportedly more died in wars than in all the previous centuries of recorded human history put together.Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-45832008258839560122013-06-23T23:10:41.729+01:002013-06-23T23:10:41.729+01:00I was thinking about Lewis's ending, "Bea...I was thinking about Lewis's ending, "Beauty[/]Was startled there." Do you think the choice of "startled" is mild in the context of soldiers bursting in or an atomic bomb exploding? I found this definition:<br />"startle (transitive verb): to frighten or surprise suddenly and usually not seriously" (merriam-webster on-line)<br />It sounds like a very genteel understatement of the terror one would feel in the circumstances. Is he suggesting that the owner of the necklace was so used to her elegant lifestyle that she had no idea of her fate and was initially just "startled" by the door bursting open? Maybe it's a reminder that no matter how secure you feel your life can be turned upside down by terrible events. I remember the shock of 9/11 and the realisation that this could happen in downtown Manhattan (brilliantly alluded to in Heaney's 'Anything can happen'); you have also referred to the tense atmosphere on the London Underground following 7/7. I think there was a feeling in the early 20th century that technology was bringing the world closer to lasting peace and plenty: the reality is war after war and millions in poverty. David J McDonaghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16909505738468707485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-83332723406602221852013-06-22T12:47:33.868+01:002013-06-22T12:47:33.868+01:00Thanks for pointing out those further parallels, D...Thanks for pointing out those further parallels, David. I think that it can be a journey of self-discovery to find which works of art remind you of which other works of art. Different people will draw different parallels. I'm going to look up the Dickinson poem, which I don't know (I don't think). Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-61628444641295789922013-06-22T00:41:01.114+01:002013-06-22T00:41:01.114+01:00The Hardy poem reminds me of Gray's Elegy with...The Hardy poem reminds me of Gray's Elegy with its pastoral references; the Lewis poem has an echo of 'Safe in their Alabaster Chambers' by Emily Dickinson: Lewis's lines, "Tells that Beauty[/]Was startled there." immediately reminded me of "Ah, what sagacity perished here!" from the 1859 version of Dickinson's poem. Both Lewis and Dickinson use a personal quality (beauty/sagacity) to refer to a person or persons. All four poems reflect in different ways on the relentless march of history and the victims it leaves in its wake: Dickinson and Gray both reflect on nature's indifference to the fate of the dead who thought themselves immortal. Hardy's line, "War's annals will fade into night", seems to sum up the innocent notion of the time that WW1 was 'the war to end all wars' while, as you point out, Lewis's darker vision points towards a future where wars, cold and hot, are continually played out as an ironic means to preserve 'peace'. (The use of the term 'peacetime' in the UK and US to describe the period after WW2 must have seemed strange to people in Vietnam and other war-torn countries!) I imagine your hunch about Lewis is right: after all, the best poets always read other poets over and over... <br />David J McDonaghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16909505738468707485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-70659200560110222252013-06-21T15:50:14.914+01:002013-06-21T15:50:14.914+01:00I think I know what you mean about enjoying the in...I think I know what you mean about enjoying the intuition, even if there's no time for extended research. So many things in life are like that, of course. They don't need to be actually embarked upon or made concrete for the contemplation of them to be well worth their figurative weight in gold. I also imagine that both Lewis and Hardy would have us concentrate upon the poems themselves first of all, and perhaps exclusively. All the evidence we need for a connection might well be contained within their lines, with no need to look elsewhere. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-67477814676700721522013-06-21T14:58:10.049+01:002013-06-21T14:58:10.049+01:00Ah, to have the time! I think I must start by gett...Ah, to have the time! I think I must start by getting Lewis's collected poems. So far, out of the Big Three of the World War II poets, and despite the family connection, he appeals to me considerably less than Keith Douglas and Sidney Keyes, both of whom I adore - I had an especially visceral and almost instantaneous reaction to Keith Douglas. But then I really haven't read enough Lewis. I would be surprised if no one else has had the same "gut feeling" about these two poems as I have, at least. A verifiable link would be lovely. But it's interesting just to have an intuition about it, too! <br /><br />Despite the lack of time, if I were to do some sort of major project on 20th-century poetry, I think the World War II poets would be a likely choice for me.Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-52941006758716095142013-06-21T14:50:24.450+01:002013-06-21T14:50:24.450+01:00Now I'm really curious too. There are the Alun...Now I'm really curious too. There are the Alun Lewis papers at the National Library of Wales, if you've got the time and inclination, and some published collections of letters which are no doubt full of interesting things. And of course there may simply be a footnote in one of the poetry collections someplace which could resolve the whole issue--I'm sure you've thought of all of this long ago. By the way, I found your account of your family connection to Lewis to be fascinating. It's this kind of writing about writing which really brings a literary work to life for me. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-18379966462065616892013-06-21T14:35:03.092+01:002013-06-21T14:35:03.092+01:00I think my sensations when reading the poems are v...I think my sensations when reading the poems are very similar to yours - also the evening moods. The Hardy poem is a little more concrete. 'Raider's Dawn' seems exceptionally dreamlike, even nightmarish, though a low-key nightmare. <br /><br />'Raider's Dawn' was apparently published in 1942, and I'm not sure how much outside-world knowledge of the concentration camps there was then, yet. Obviously, my reference to the atomic bomb is totally historically off because that was 1945, after Lewis died. And yet the poem does seem to look forward to those events or similar events, or the images can certainly be interpreted that way. It's very eerie and feels almost prophetic.<br /><br />It is possible to draw distinct parallels between the two poems, but there are also a lot of differences. Still, I have a really intense gut feeling that a concrete link between them exists. I have just "known" for some time that they were related. I would love to somehow have this hunch confirmed. At the least, it is probably time for me to read Lewis in more depth, something I've hardly done yet.Clarissa Aykroydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08571136118573329263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-607719101484462692.post-13594835410277352512013-06-21T14:18:37.449+01:002013-06-21T14:18:37.449+01:00I get the odd sensation of drifting through interm...I get the odd sensation of drifting through intermittent states of time and consciousness while reading and comparing these poems. Both also seem distinctly set at evening in mood, though the texts don't exactly say this. Sleep seems to reign: perhaps they are dreams. I am struck by the slightly disjointed rhythms of the lines: I can't manage to quite read them (except for Lewis' first stanza, which I think very fine) in an even manner to harmonize with the whole. Oddly, Hardy's horse-drawn plough is about to pass into history even as he writes the poem, though he thinks the practice will outlive the era. Also: Lewis' blue necklace on charred chair, which to me too speaks of pogrom, seems also very Trakl. Or perhaps I'm just thinking Expressionism and 'Der Blaue Reiter'. The 'fall of small faces in pits of lime' is pure concentration camp. These poems are oddly serene and disturbing at the same time. Yes, they must have some sequentiality to them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com