Hearing the heartbeat of words

Old people do indeed tend to shrink in stature, which then provides Abse with a deft piece of symbolism: the older the poet, the more conscious he is of the contrast between his own fragility and the daunting magnitude of the world around him, signified by those relentless trees. There's an aff...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2013-10, Vol.382 (9899), p.1168-1169
Main Author: Eagleton, Terry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Internal Medicine
Older people
Poetry
Poets
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Old people do indeed tend to shrink in stature, which then provides Abse with a deft piece of symbolism: the older the poet, the more conscious he is of the contrast between his own fragility and the daunting magnitude of the world around him, signified by those relentless trees. There's an affectionate poem here to the memory of Abse's dead brother Leo, Labour Member of Parliament and another man with a dash of the flamboyant Celt about him, and a splendid piece of poetic cursing on the part of a character whose sister has been made pregnant by a local villain: I shall appropriatehis jaspers and his ivorieshis goats and his guinea-fowl,slaughter his six sons,but spare his elder women-folk.As for my disgraced sisterI shall slit her throat cleanlyrather than she be stoned.Storm-god, would you beas merciful?
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62048-6