“For me, poetry is always a search for order.” Elizabeth Jennings
The more I delve into writing poems, the more shocked I am at how little poetry I know of some of our best published poets. Browsing in a second-hand book store, I picked out “Consequently I Rejoice” (1977). Nice title, appealing book, but Elizabeth Jennings? Who?
She had only published 26 books (!) and been associated with the post-war anti-heroic “Movement” but long before I delved into Jennings’ biography (1926-2001) it was her style of writing that left its impressions on me. This “For Edward Thomas” was one of the first to catch my attention:
“I have looked about for you many times,
Mostly in woods or down quiet roads,
Often in birds whose question-times
Sound like the echo of your moods
When sombre. I’ve not found you yet
In day sounds or dream-threaded night
You watched through, tired-eyed. I set
Such places by, finding no sight
of you in this strange hunt. I turn…
I liked the clarity and directness of her voice, the relative lack of ambiguity – a criticism levelled at her as leaving little or no room for the reader to interpret. This is her “Answers”:
“I keep my answers small and keep them near;
Big questions bruised my mind but still I let
Small answers be a bulwark to my fear.
The huge abstractions I keep from the light;
Small things I handled and caressed and loved.
I let the stars assume the whole of night.”
Only after reading her poems, again and again, did I begin to appreciate Jennings’ use of formal rhyme patterns which she employs with such a light touch, that at first, I barely recognised they were there. And in so many of her poems, the orderly framework is evident.
“As a writer, she exalted formalism, striving to maintain a sense of tradition through regular meter and order…” *
“What the poem discovers – and this is its chief function – is order amid chaos, meaning in the middle of confusion, and affirmation at the heart of despair.” (Jennings) **
That word ‘Order’ appears many times in reference to Jennings’ work, influenced by events in her personal life as well as an attachment to that even older order: Catholicism. It is a word she uses quite often too. Here is her poem “Ariels’ Song”:
“Air is my element. Now he has thrown
His wand away, I can fly anywhere.
Liberty oddly makes me feel along,
I cannot take the air.
As birds do with a gusto of sheer height.
I want an order. Who will give it to me?
I need his gaze as I sport with the light.
I’m lost now I am free”.
True, she had a tumultuous interior life, with several suicide attempts and stays in mental hospitals, and perhaps this a clue to her attachment to formalism. After all, where there is chaos, order brings structure. But I do not want to stray too far into analysis, suffice it to say that Jennings’ parental relationships were evidently attributable – she lived with them right up until her father’s retirement and move away from Oxford. Listen to her ambivalence though about the order in ‘The Garden” – she even breaks from quatrains into tercets halfway through: –
“When the gardener has gone this garden
Looks wistful and seems waiting an event.
It is so spruce, a metaphor of Eden
And even more so since the gardener went,
Quietly godlike, but of course, he had
Not made me promise anything and I
Had no one tempting me to make the bad
Choice. Yet I still felt lost and wonder why.
Even the beech tree from next door which shares
Its shadow with me, seemed a kind of threat.
Everything was too neat, and someone cares
In the wrong way. I need not have stood long
Mocked by the smell of a mown lawn, and yet
I did. Sickness for Eden was so strong”.
By now you will have guessed that today’s prompt is ORDER – the NOUN not the verb:
“the arrangement or disposition of people or things in relation to each other according to a particular sequence, pattern, or method.”
– Write a poem that expresses, directly or indirectly, 1st or 3rd person, your relationship with order – do you like it, want it, need it or resist it?
– Think of the way order turns up in our lives: e.g.the order of the seasons, of ceremony.
– Use the word in your title or in the body of your poem if you like
– For an extra challenge, put your poem into the order of formal poetic patterning.
Once you have published your poem, add it to the Linky widget and leave a comment below. Then go visiting, reading and sharing your thoughts with other contributors which is half the fun of our dVerse gatherings.
Further Reading:
** The Elizabeth Jennings Project
* The Life and Mystery of Poet Elizabeth Jennings
Roman Holiday – the life & structures of the Catholic poet Elizabeth Jennings
[Jennings has only been featured once at dVerse by Kim in October 2017 with “The smell of Chrysanthemums“]
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Good evening everyone – today’s prompt has connotations of the bar so place your orders and I hope you can find some inspiration
Good evening all, and thank you, Laura, for introducing me to Elizabeth Jennings. I won’t be staying at the pub for long as I was diagnosed by telephone triage with shingles today and I’m feeling very tender. I will, however, be back in the morning to read and comment.
Oh Kim…..I am so so sorry. That is really a tough thing to get through. Stay comfortable…take care of yourself. That’s most important!
that is painful! So sorry to hear this – hope you manage to find some paracetamol! Wishing you better
Thank you, Laura. Luckily, my husband bough a large pack of paracetamol a few weeks ago – I’m so glad he did.
phew!
I completely forgot I’d used an Elizabeth Jennings poem in a prompt!
and one I did not know after reading many of hers!
Oh, ouch, Kim. Having had shingles, I understand … Take good care of yourself!
Thank you, Na’ama. I’m up late this morning after a restless night. I might even go back to bed in a bit.
Yeah. Rest, rest, rest. The pain is an outside manifestation of the fight raging within you. That virus is to be taken seriously. I’m so sorry you are suffering with this now …
Thanks so much. I did go back to bed and managed to size for a while. Thank goodness for paracetamol.
Yep. People have used willow bark and many other things to alleviate pain for centuries. We might as well make use of medications that can help, as long as we do so carefully. 🙂
Hello… I have tried hiding my inner order, but today it just wanted to come out.
you took to the parade ground so well!
Thanks for hosting, Laura! I feel like I should have a gavel and a podium on which to strike it saying, “Order! Order! Order in the Pub!” But instead, I’ll just place my order. I’d love a gin and tonic please 🙂
Hahaha!
I’ve noted your call to the bar Lilian 😉
Thanks for hosting, Laura! I feel like I should have a gavel and pound it on the bar shouting out “Order! Order! Order in the pub!” But instead I’ll just order a nice refreshing gin and tonic please 🙂
grrrr…having trouble here so I’m posted twice…..twice as nice???
twice is twice as good as none
Hello Laura and All. I saw dots of snow in the grass this morning but this afternoon the sun is shining here and there. I love the poetry and the prompt. If you have Carolan’s on the shelf, I’ll take a shot for my coffee please!
I think there is some at the back gathering dust – sounds like you need a warm toddy. Glad that Jenning’s gave you some joy!
Cheers!
Hi, Laura, and thanks for introducing me to Elizabeth Jennings. She sounds, so far, like a kindred spirit to me. 🙂 I would like to order an Earl Grey tea today.
piping hot with Bergamot! Those links on Jennings will tell you more and there are some more of her poems in EJ Project
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I like Jenning’s poem “The Garden” and based my poem on it. That’s for bringing her to our attention.
a very nice rendition Frank
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I love the extracts you have taken. Another poet I need to explore. I never feel like I read enough poetry. Interesting prompt. I’ve gone for a form – I feel like I need some structure tonight.
Will be over to read in the morning Sarah – my bed is calling
Goodnight all – “time and the bell have buried the day” as Eliot so aptly put it- back tomorrow for more ordes
hey all! i’ll have a manhatten please. my dad used to drink those. My offering is a bit obtuse, or wordplayish. i hate being told what to do, follow orders. interesting to explore how that makes me feel (which i did by not doing).
order brings out the rebel in some I see!
Hi Laura, I guess you’ll see this tomorrow, and that is fine … I hope I can still place an order for some soda and lime. 🙂
Na’ama
https://naamayehuda.com/2020/04/14/the-order/
hope you got your order – coffee time here and I enjoyed reading your ‘mantra’ poem
Yeah, I did. And I literally just poured myself another cup of coffee! 🙂
Good evening everyone!
This prompt kept me writing late. I am really grateful for the way dVerse has show me I can do feet’s and meters even in English. ❤️ Never written a ballad before.
inspiration in the small hours! Well you certainly managed to order your poem rhyme and structure ❤
I like her style very much. Thanks for sharing some of her work Laura. 🙂
Always good to find a new poet’s voice – am glad she resonated
Wonderful prompt Laura, Thanks. As for critics of Jennings – read her 3 poems on Lazarus, written at different points in her life – the last one of her last – powerful writing, deep ambivalence beating against the form on the page…marvellous stuff.
thank you Peter – and for the pointer to her Lazarus poems – she came out of such episodes herself so they must be powerful – will go and find
Enjoyed reading your inspiring prompt, Laura! I just couldn’t conform to form of meter or rhyme today…only time for quick list poem 🙂
nothing more ordered than a list Lynn!
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Thanks Laura.
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Order is what we all crave right now, Laura, so thank you for an excellent and uplifting prompt! I seem like someone who doesn’t like order (ask anyone who knows me) but in fact I want to know as much as anyone what to expect. And in Chicago that’s snow on the damn daffodils. But they’ll be fine, so I wrote about it.
beautifully observed poem as literal and analogous of these times
This pushed a big red button 🙂 I enjoyed the opportunity to drag my inner self out.
your red button response was such a buzz!
Lol, thank you Laura, and too – for the work of Jennings, a great evening.
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Serendipity smiled on me tonight – I was just about to post a poem about missing the order of my previous scheduled life when I saw that your prompt asked for just this topic. Crashing the party! Thank you also for the education on Elizabeth Jennings – I haven’t read much of her but now will definitely seek her out.
you ran with this prompt! thank you
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