- Such love I cannot analyse;
- It does not rest in lips or eyes,
- Neither in kisses nor caress.
- Partly I know it's gentleness
- And understanding in one word
- Or in brief letters. It's preserved
- By trust and by respect and awe.
- These are the words I'm searching for.
- Two people, yes, two lasting friends.
- The giving comes, the taking ends.
- There is no measure for such things.
- For this all Nature slows and sings.
I love the sense of awe in this, the idea that everything in nature is impressed by the simple qualities of a strong friendship. I also like the characteristic EJ way of appearing to grasp for exactly what her ideas are and their best expression (these are the words I'm searching for). Part of her charm to me is that she is always so precise and clear in her poetry, but here she gives me a glimpse of the drafting process that she laboured over in her work.
I guess it's obvious that I post this poem to honour all the lovely friendships that enhance my life. There is no measure for such things.
This next one is less straightforward. In studying this with students it has often proved tricky to tease out the levels of observation on relationships that she compresses into this wonderful piece.
Beyond Possession
Our images withdraw, the rose returns
To what it was before we looked at it.
We lift our looks from where the water runs
And its pure river once again, we write
No emblems in the trees. A way begins
Of living where we have no need to beat
The petals down to get the scent of rose
Or sign our features where the water goes.
All is itself. Each man himself entire,
Not even plucking out his thought, not even
Bringing a tutored wilfulness to bear
Upon the rose, the water. Each has given
Essense of water back to itself, essence of flower,
Till he is yoked to his own heart and driven
Inward to find a private kind of peace
And not a mind reflecting his own face.
Yet must go deeper still, must move to love
Where thought is free to let the water ride,
Is liberal to therose giving it life
And setting even its own shadow aside;
Till flower and water blend with freedom of
Passion that does not close them in and hide
Their deepest natures; but the heart is strong
To beat with rose and river in one song.
I find this poem an inspiration for how to be in love with someone, someone as beautiful (and yet ephemeral) as a flowing river or a rose. As the title suggest we should aim not to be possessive, not to impose our selves on our lover, to have enough self-confidence to be what WE are without seeking validation and reflection from another.
Living like this we don't need to try to dominte the beauty: "no need to beat the petals down to get the scent of rose .." Here, Jennings suggests that such efforts to control, even in a bid to get the best (essence) out of something, is ultimately destructive with the verbs "plucking" and "beat". Even the less aggressive "sign our features" is dismissed. We should make no effort to impose ourselves on the nature of others.
Then we can be ourselves. We can find our own internal peace and then move beyond that to the satisfaction of sharing freedoms that culminate in a marvellous vision of passion. Both parties are able to show their deepest natures and beat together "in one song".
*sigh*
14 comments:
Friendship
Something I really like about this is that there lacks the element of poetry for poetry's sake, which lets be honest, can crop up in a goodly portion of the stuff out there.
This is a truly wonderful poem. So simple and yet so pure. We are privy to EJ's chain of thought, a very personal thing. She says that she cannot analyse friendship, but then goes on to try to quantify it in her own mind. This is such a natural human tendency, essentially a brain-storming process if you will, and is part of what makes this poem so sincere.
We follow EJ's initial thought from outset. We hear her internal dialogue as if we too are seeking to quantify friendship. The poem seems so genuine because she does not have the difinitive words to describe friendship. She runs through a list of what it may or may not be, before finally locating the words that perfectly encapsulate the fundamental elements of what it is to her.
"Trust", "Respect" and "Awe".
Just perfect. I don't think I could suggest a better combination of words here myself. "These are the words I'm searching for" adds extra potency to the line above, and allows the reader to really take in the very framework of real friendship. How powerful a combination of feelings to have towards one person.
'There is no measure for such things.
For this all Nature slows and sings.'
What an incredible vision. The whole of nature slowing down, taking stock and singing its chorus. Nature - such a majestic and dominant force - coming to a virtual standstill as it stands in 'awe' of friendship.
That is how good true friendship is.
That humbles me.
lovely comment, Sam .. that is exactly what the charm of this poem is for me, too ..
now "do" the next one!
LOL
xx
I'm on it. Hard to know what to expand on when you put it so perfectly yourself.
Nevertheless, I am of course working on it. The holiday packing can wait another half hour.
xx
I like the idea of 'doing' a poem! ('doing over' 'do to death' 'do justice to)
I love these EJ poems too - so fantastic to see them here, and v moving as they call up many memories of teaching together, working on EJ and debating in the staff room.
It is very striking that in one way she seems to reject metaphor, any idea of comparing one thing to another, or marking one thing with another's imprint. She seems to refer to Keat's ephitaph ('here lies one whose name is writ on water') but refuses even the attempt - 'we write no emblems in the trees'....... as though it is possible to come to a kind of 'freedom' or 'purity' that does not rely on naming,or enscribing the world.
But then...... the whole turn of the poem relies on the use of water and flower as metaphors for love/passion/union, so the water 'is liberal to the rose giving it life and setting even its own shadow aside'. Perfect union. Or perfect sacrifice - a sacrifice that isnt a sacrifice at all, but a strong heart beating.
This is what poetry can do - hold an ambiguity as fragile as a rose petal, without breaking it.
Lx
ooh - Liz - you're such a great commentator.. thank-you for these observations...
of course my most abiding memory of studying EJ's poems is meeting her ourselves, thanks to your good offices an organisation .. she sat with us in the staff-room and her flibberty-butterfly mind dotted around from topic to topic in a way that was totally at odds with the highly structured and organised poems she produced.
I also loved it that when she did her reading and asked for comments she was very gracious and accepting of what our students (and we) had to say ...
Beyond Possession
This poem seems to dwell on a somewhat more vulnerable engagement with the world. Perhaps the cracks are beginning to show in the perfection of friendship. For me, the rose partly comes to represent fragility. We are all subject to fragility, whether as the possessed or the possessor. I think it's important to note here that possession and control is not necessarily always to the detriment of the beauty, ('..beat the petals down to get the scent of rose') nevertheless Jennings is keen to point out that whatever the reasons, one cannot forcefully subject themselves on others.
I particularly like the way that, in the first stanza, possession is represented as the human hand brandishing its mark on the delicacy of nature. ('Our images withdrawn', 'Lift our looks', 'Write no emblems', 'Sign our features') This juxtapositioning of dominance alongside the free-flowing, softer, natural state of flowers, rivers and trees leaves no doubt as to the damaging effects of possession. One is reminded of the damning sights of wilted flowers, dying trees and polluted streams.
Despite the very real representation of possession, this poem does not seem to me to be devoutly negative, merely a suggestion that natural beauty cannot co-exist along side dominance and control. The beauty of the untainted rose and free-flowing water, to me, rises far above the effects of possession. The poem explains why the rose must be given space to grow, the rivers allowed to run free, and highlights that in this state, one will find a stronger sense of love returned. Passion does not have to dominate, ('Passion that does not close them in and hide'.) but rather beat in unison with the very object of that passion. In this state, one gives the very 'essence' of that passion back to the rose, back to the water and as a consequence will find his/her own 'private kind of peace.'
ooh -- this is good fun!
I notice that this poem has en eco-feel now, as you suggest Sam with your reminder of the damage humans can / do wreak on nature (dying trees, polluted streams) and I hadn't noticed the repetition of a manual activity either (tho Liz took that further into a universal poet's theme ... the process / validity of writing itself!)
Trust you to start up Poetry club! Although I have to agree, this is fun.
Just an aside, where does this fit into the Literature-Language debate? ;o)
"This is what poetry can do - hold an ambiguity as fragile as a rose petal, without breaking it."
I love that. That is exactly what poetry can do. I'd not thought of it like that before.
I really enjoyed Sam's discussion of the 'eco' elements - there is a thread that poses the river and the rose as embodiments of freedom and beauty.
That thought has made me look again at the second stanza 'Each has given/Essence of water back to itself, essence of flower/Till he is yoked to his own heart'
The argument here seems to be that allowing other things/lives (is a river a living thing?) to be without interference enables us to become more human.
And then to move into a union that sets 'its own shadow aside' - setting aside identity then, and entering a oneness that is mystical, and interestingly enough for such a Catholic writer, almost pantheistic.
This poem really does go far beyond the idea of 'possession'. It ends with the idea of identity being fully expressed in connection and acceptance.
Do you think that sometimes EJ's sytax goes a bit awry? Or is it just that I am too stupid to folow her elegant sentences? Why the 'but' in the penultimate line? I cant quite follow that sentance - is it a repetition 'yet'/'but' or a completion of the 'till' thought.
I think maybe the second - 'Till flower and water blend..... but the heart is strong'
Yes, I think the second now I look at it more - there is a semi colon at the end of line 4....... EJ works so strongly through logic and connection to produce an argument that is all about instinct and merging!
Erm.... Sam all literature is language. Is there a debate? Lx
LOL re lang-lit debate!
I'll have to print off the poem and your comments Liz - to fuly grasp what you are saying ..
she certainly in VERY precise in her grammar usually .. typing these out made me see .. in Friendship - "partly I know it's gentleness" I did a double take on the apostrophe -- cos in an audotory way it sounds like the gentlesness OF frienship, but SEEING it I realise friendship IS gentleness .. well of course she the give us the "two for the price of one" effect that no great lit critic has yet claimed .. so I will, the BOGOF theory has my name on it!
YBOGOF as a critical trope - you will go down in literary history my dear! Lx
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