It's rare that Carol Rumens's excellent Poem of the Week feature has involved old favourites of mine, but this week proved the exception, with a belter from Dr Johnson. I think I first read his elegy On The Death of Dr Robert Levet when I was at university and it struck me then as a poignantly powerful exemplar of the genre. Robustly traditional yet so obviously personal as to be super-charged with emotion without displaying the slightest hint of sentimentality. Very English in its way.
I've now re-read it some four or five times over the last week. And somehow it has got better each time. Actually, I can account for the 'somehow' with some confidence. Ms Rumen's introductory reflection is typically illuminating. One of her best - especially on the qualities of the rhythmic force of the verses. And the BTL commentary has been helpful in any number of ways, especially in helping me to a deeper grasp of the practicalities of the practice of medicine in Johnson's time.
So, yet again, I'm left to ponder on the strangeness of poetry. The capacity of the genuinely great stuff to grow and surprise and delight afresh over time.
No comments:
Post a Comment