“Inside the Wave” by Helen Dunmore Nine of us (3 via zoom) met at Ruth Benson’s house to discuss this book of poems. We heard some background details about Helen Dunmore including the fact that she attended the same high school as our presenter herself. She said that the school had an excellent Latin teacher, and she thought this explained the presence of poems with a classical influence. Helen Dunmore later moved to Cornwall and we found many references to the sea. We had found some You tube clips of Helen Dunmore, her daughter and, rather surprisingly, a Buddhist man reading selected poems. These were very interesting, but it rather stretched our collective IT ability bringing them to the screen. The Zoom users had to leave us for a while and view the clips independently. When they rejoined us, we had a varied and stimulating discussion interspersed with people reading their chosen poems. It was a pleasure to listen to the poems being read out loud. We agreed that many of the poems were rather difficult to understand. One had a foot note written by the author and it was suggested that more of these would have been helpful. One dissenting voice was heard to say it would be better for Dunmore to write more intelligibly in the first place. We had all realised that this was the author’s last book of poems and she was actually terminally ill when she wrote them. This led to a high proportion of the poems being about death which some people found rather depressing. We were amazed that she had kept on writing for so long. To quote her daughter – “You worry so much when someone you love is dying – that they’re frightened, or you just worry that it’s a horrible thing for them. But she showed us all that it was OK. Although her world got smaller and she couldn’t go out so far afield, she continued to just see the beauty in everything – which I find very inspiring. She just made the most of every single day until she died. She continued to comfort everyone about her.” Most people enjoyed the language and imagery in the poems, and it was suggested that we read more poems in book group. Most people enjoyed the language and imagery in the poems, and it was suggested that we read more poems in book group. |
