Brisbane Poetry Presentation Part 2

Rosemary Nilsson

These three poems span perspectives over time, generations, and continents. William an English poet was born in Soho London in 1757 and the poem, “A poison Tree” was written in 1797. Emily Dickenson was born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts and created, “After a great pain, a formal feeling comes” in 1862 at the time of the American Civil war. David Malouf is an Australian poet and author whose poem, “Blenheim Park,” is an imaginative reflection on the inner and outer landscapes following a visit to this world heritage site, which was named after the Battle of Blenheim held in 1772 in Germany. The three poems are linked by their capacity to imaginatively create the divergent forces within the individual. We enter a diverse inner landscape where the language of feeling exposes our deepest fears, our capacity for destructive rage, and our extraordinary suffering whilst offering the space for contemplation, insight and restoration.

A Poison Tree By (1757-1827)

I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears, and morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night. Till it bore an apple bright; And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew it was mine.

And into my garden stole, When the night had veil’d the pole; In the morning glad I see My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

2

William Blake’s poem on the surface appears to be about the individual, but it is relevant to the broader context of societal conflict and war. To what is extent is war about the fear of difference, a fear of a depletion of internal resources, and an unresolved destructive rage a projected outwards on a group? The speaker in the poem reveals he was angry with his friend, told him and thus ended the conflict. However, he holds onto his anger with his enemy, and his wrath grows as shown in the stanza, “And I watered it in fears”. The poem gives cause to reflect on the destructiveness of suppressed anger, held aloft from scrutiny and elucidatory words, resulting in the final, brutal image of the murdered man, “My foe outstretched beneath a tree”. Here the individual is positioned as responsible for another’s death. There are world leaders who eschew diplomacy, mutating language into slick, dehumanising images of the imagined “foe”.

After a great a pain, a formal feeling comes. Emily Dickenson (1830-1886)

After great pain, a formal feeling comes: The nerves sit ceremonious, like tombs. The stiff heart questions, was it he that bore, And yesterday, or centuries before?

The feet, mechanical, go round- Of ground, or air, or ought- A wooden way Regardless grown, A quartz contentment, like a stone.

This is our hour of lead- Remembered if outlived, As freezing persons recollect the snow: First chill, then stupor, then letting go...

The poem evokes the sufferer’s private inner world shuttered, mindless, muted by the death of a family member or friend. Their anguish so unbearable, “...a formal feeling comes”, and “The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs.” The formality of mourning rituals, an internal stone like numbness, and deadness like that of lead protects from experiencing the pain of loss. Consciousness is numbed to the extent actions are experienced as being “wooden” and “The feet, mechanical...” suggesting movement is aimless, reflecting a loss of agency. Time is distorted, seemingly passing more slowly with yesterday and “centuries before” merging. Finally, there is ambiguity, one is alive yet numb. There is a fight against letting go, to feel the pain. Grief is like a death by “freezing” and a stupor like state persists until a “letting go”. It is suggested that overcoming the experience of profound grief may only be possible by letting go of the memory or by death itself. However, this only serves to heighten awareness of unbearable sorrow, being alive yet numb to life, and thereby it is possible to draw a link to the experience of returned soldiers and their families.

Blenheim Park David Malouf

Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire was built in 1705 -22 as a reward for John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough for his military triumphs against the French and the Bavarians in the war of Spanish succession, culminating in the Battle of Blenheim in Germany. It was a huge victory over the French on the 13/8/1704. The nation wanted a monument to reflect the power and civilization of the English. It is Winston Churchill’s birthplace.

This green park might be nature as We dream it; a stand Of shade trees, level grass, cattle grazing Peacefully as shadows Enter the slow mouths Of centuries this still untroubled forenoon.

In fact a battle plan Is laid out here. Thousands Of dead under the topsoil Of High Germany Stand upright still in lines as in the rising ground fog of dawn.

The entire battle-order as it formed In the Duke’s head plainly visible But still at this distance; The first musket not yet smoking, the breath Of whole battalions held In a green pause as the commanders raised hand

Freezes. No one Squeezes an index finger, no one falls. Cattle tow Their shadows through the lines, birds Dip in and out, flies tumble. The dead, dismissed From history, go over To nature, striding tall over the lawn.

4. Paradoxes of human experience are subtly explored in this poem by David Malouf, such as mortality and continuity, peace and destructiveness and imagination contrasted with reality. The visitor to the park contemplates a peaceful vista, of green grass, cattle quietly grazing, and considers the tranquil view as one might dream about, now brought to life as he wanders the landscape. The bucolic scene appears untroubled by the past, however, there are “shadows” entering, as the visitor recollects its history about its first owner the Duke of Marlborough, who led the Battle of Blenheim, thereby unleashing a carefully planned attack, his “battle-order” to violently end the lives of thousands of young men in the wheat fields in Blenheim. The “Thousands of dead under topsoil”, refer to the English losses who were later commemorated by an avenue of elm trees planted to replicate the position of his troops on the battle ground. The stillness gives way with the image of the commander’s hand raised to signal the final attack, thereby maiming and killing the trapped, young soldiers, the perceived foe. The Duke’s signal gives life to his murderous plan seeded and nurtured in his imagination, thus orchestrating his significance in English history, and providing the wealth to build his monumental palace in the park. The dead are dismissed from history, yet conversely remembered in the poem, a foreshadowing of everyone’s mortality and return to the earth. The park offers a space for a new vision of the past, a place of entry to find new meaning, to contemplate beauty, death and possibly a settling with a troubled past.