Lewes, Landscape of Imagination

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

This poem is the direct result of a visit to the historic Sussex town of Lewes. As always, my friend Graham Collett shot and edited the video and I wrote a poem to accompany it. I have posted the video/poem on my You Tube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/rogerNtaber

or access direct at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6LfIGu7gd4

or see below

It was during the latter days of last summer that Graham  and I visited Lewes. We only had time to visit the castle and Anne of Cleves’ House, and we thought you might enjoy sharing the experience.

The town is the location of several significant historic buildings, including Lewes Castle and a sixteenth-century timber-framed Wealden hall house known as Anne of Cleves House because it was given to her as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII; although there is no historical evidence to show that she never lived there, she may well have visited from time to time.  

Both Anne of Cleves' House and the Castle are owned and maintained by the Sussex Archaeological Society.

LEWES, LANDSCAPE OF IMAGINATION

Looking for creative therapy?

Visit the landscape of imagination,

take a journey into history;

Lewes, spoils of Norman invasion,

Courtesy of William, Conqueror

to William de Warenne and spouse

on overcoming Saxon resistance,

a castle there to build on the Ouse,

dedicated to St Pancras,

in remembrance of a child martyr,

executed for his faith

Pass through the Barbican Gate,

get a feel for olde England surrounds;

a Motte and Bailey castle,

later fortified with stone, the better

to defend against invasion;

few richer spoils of time to be found,

firing the imagination,

filling inner eye and ear with sights 

and sounds of generations

ghosting a courtyard dominated

by all-seeing towers

Climb, climb, a winding stair

of stone, labour of love, chiselled

out of the history

of olde England, witness to battles

and executions,

as well as celebrations, successes

and failures of its tenants

over centuries of war and peace;

echoes of laughter and tears

haunting East Sussex surrounds

for a thousand years

Lewes, meeting its past head-on,

where Anne of Cleves, and entourage

loyal to a discarded queen

may well have sought out the peace

of Tudor England’s green

but troubled land, under a fickle king

so desperate for a son

he wed unwisely (six times, no less)

letting ego-led lust have its head,

while Anne kept hers, even acquired

a house in Lewes

Time, though, will wait for nothing

and no one, least of all a poem passing

through its eternal passages

of fame and fortune, secrets and lies,

honourable deaths, executions

history may well attempt to justify

and scholars make excuses

while poets love to visit time and again,

bring to the landscapes

of imagination, inner eye and ear,

open to whatever…

Day done, history’s curtain drawn

across the windows of minds anxious

to chew on history’s bones,

reach their own conclusions as to how

past into present excavations

of various ruins and other testaments

to history’s own, for better or worse,

invest ghosts the ilk of Anne of Cleves

and such tenants as its castle

once let live, love, make merry and die,

with a singular peace…

Lewes

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016

Note: I had problems uploading the video to You Tube so you may need to watch it again if your first attempt resulted in any distorted images.

A Poet's Shrewsbury

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

A poetry reading in 2007 took me to Shrewsbury where I engaged with a lovely audience in a local bookshop. I did not get around to including my poem in a collection until this year and have to say I feel more than a shade self-conscious about posting a poem of mine alongside mention of such a fine poet as Wilfred Owen.

Wilfred Owen (1883-1918)

Owen, a homosexual (the word ‘gay’ was not used in this context in those days) is probably one of the best known of the World War 1 poets. His name appears on the Great War Memorial tablet inside Shrewsbury Abbey.

Photo: Shrewsbury Abbey

‘Symmetry’ in the grounds of the abbey is sculpture, by Paul de Monchaux commissioned by the Wilfred Owen Association (Owen went to school in Shrewsbury) to commemorate the poet’s life and work; it was unveiled in June 1993. The line "I am the enemy you killed" engraved on one side is from Owen’s poem, ‘Strange Meeting’ The design is meant to convey the symmetries in Owen’s poem as well as the trenches of 1917 and the Sambre-Oise canal in 1918.

Photo: ‘Symmetry’

On 4th November 1918, the British 32nd Division crossed the Sambre-Oise canal at Ors, in the face of strong opposition. Wilfred Owen was killed on the towpath on this side of the canal about one kilometre to the north of the bridge.

Photo: Western Front Association plaque for Wilfred Owen by the Sambre Canal, Ors, France. 

Regarding my poem, I should mention that Laura's Tower is a folly built on the summit of Shrewsbury Castle motte around 1790 by Thomas Telford for Laura, the daughter of Sir William Pulteney, as a summerhouse. It is of an octagonal design in red sandstone with conical copper roof. The river Severn flows by

…Photo: Laura’s Tower

Mount House, birthplace of Charles Darwin

A POET'S SHREWSBURY

Follow the market trader’s cry

across old Shrewsbury town

where the fickle Severn flows by

Discern in history’s cloudy eye

scenes of Parliament v Crown;

follow the market trader’s cry

At Laura’s tower, dare lift high

the hem of Nature’s gown

where the fickle Severn flows by

Swans over the English Bridge fly

with dive-bombing precision,

follow the market trader’s cry

See sunset’s flames lick at the sky

as if the grand abbey burning down

where the fickle Severn flows by

Ponder a war poet casting the die,

Darwin giving heaven cause to frown;

follow the market trader’s cry

where the fickle Severn flows by

[Shrewsbury, August 2007]

[From: Tracking the Torchbearer by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2012]