Aquest passat divendres es varen trobar alguns dels membres del club de Lectura en anglès. L'Anna Champeney ens ha fet arribat el resum de la sessió:
"In this session we discussed “Falling Awake”, by
prize-winning British poet, Alice Oswald. The session started with some
questions: What is poetry for? Why and how do we read poetry (if we
read poetry at all)? Is reading poetry any different to reading novels or
non-fiction? And how does reading poetry in a second language affect the
reader´s experience?
Oswald is one of Britain´s most renowned living poets and
she is often described as a “nature poet”. The group found her poems to
be far more complex and multi-faceted. We spoke at length about Oswald´s
innovative and sensorial use of language and how her poetry is intended to be
spoken out loud. Oswald´s use of rhythm in her poems is remarkable.
Online lectures and inverviews with Oswald show that she is inspired by
traditions of oral story-telling and poetry. In fact, she maintains that
her “references” go further back in time, proposing universal and timeless
parallels between poetry and the essential rythms and sounds of nature itself –
the rhythmic natural poetry of natural cycles – of the rain, the winds, of life
and death – in time.
Connecting to universal and timeless traditions of poetry
does not mean that Oswald does not respond to past poetic traditions,
however. She is clearly very erudite, and as an expert on the ancient
greek poet, Homer, many of her poems refer to ancient Roman and Greek myths and
poetic forms.
The group discussed at length Oswald´s keen observation of
nature and the way apparently “simple” observations of nature – from flies to a
dried-up river are transformed into profound, multi-layered reflections on
universal themes, using surgically-precise descriptions. Several members
mentioned how poems like “Swan” have left a lasting impression. The power
of Oswald´s poetry emerges drop by drop; perhaps multiple readings are
needed in order to understand the poems. We discovered in the session how
Oswald´s poetry style conforms, in part, to a “post-modern” poetry tradition
that includes unfinished sentences or “snippets” and blurring boundaries of
time and space.*
Oswald´s poems have a powerful sense of place – rural
England. For native readers it is pleasurable to read of once-familiar
landscapes, weather, or references to popular culture but native and non-native
group members alike shared in the pleasure of discussing words and terms like
“jumble sale”*. However, as there are phrases in Oswald´s poems
that defy full understanding by both native and non-native speakers – perhaps
all can hover in a state of pleasurable part-understanding, accept a wider
personal definition of “interpretation” or poetic “appreciation” – and enjoy
the conversations.
Oswald received a classical training at university and is an
expert in Homer. This led us to discuss her use of classical myth in her
poetry. But the main impression, shared by all members present at the
session, was of the acute observation of nature, the Post-modern poetry – use
of fragmented images, blurred boundaries of time and space. A very
enjoyable session which concluded with a general agreement that it would be
good to include poetry in future programming.
The Sant Gregori Book club is a local group run by its
members. “We come from different walks of life and different countries,
united simply by our love of reading books and discussing them with each
other”. New members are always welcome. Contact the Sant Marti i
Pol library in Sant Gregori for more details. The next meeting is on 21
November and is 21 Lessons for the 21st century, non-fiction by Yuval Noah
Harari."
