In Pursuit of Spring
Three programmes on Radio 4 over the Easter Weekend
To mark the centenary of Edward Thomas's bicycle journey from London to the Somerset coast, on which he based In Pursuit of Spring (first published in 1914 by Thomas Nelson), a series of three programmes will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 next Friday, Saturday and Sunday (29th - 31st March at 3.30pm).
In Pursuit of Spring is the most important prose work of Thomas's, as it is nearer to the writing he wanted to do, shows a great deal of himself and was the work that Frost identified as showing that his friend could and should write poetry.
The BBC introduces them:
"Over Easter 2013, naturalist Matthew Oates pursues his own personal homage to Thomas by following in the literacy [sic] cycle tracks of the Edwardian writer one hundred years before. Throughout the series, academic and travel writer Robert MacFarlane, an admirer of Thomas himself, will read passages from Thomas's work which illustrate the man within. Rather than faithfully recreating the earlier journey, Matthew aims to recapture the spirit of self-discovery as he travels through southern England to meet people who can explain Thomas, the man behind the writing."
|
Edward Thomas begins with a chapter about the preceding weeks, leading up to Good Friday 1913 on what was also, like ours now, a March Easter. He has a good deal to say about the weather and clearly it was much more variable than our March with its almost unremitting cold.
In many of his prose works he begins with a leaving of London. Thomas's relationship with London is complex. As a small boy he was drawn to the areas most resembling true country, especially Wandsworth Common.
The Long Pond. |
Wandsworth Common, towards Bolingbroke Grove.
It is those areas he regrets when they have been tidied up or built on - in one case made into a football pitch. He regrets the gypsies who would settle, set up a small fair on holidays (it begins on Good Friday) and perhaps stay on or move elsewhere.
But Thomas needed London for work and friendships. He visited editors, stayed with his parents, lunched with Eleanor and others, worked for Harold Monro's Poetry Bookshop as a reviewer and of course met Robert Frost there at one of his regular literary gatherings.
In the second chapter, passing through London suburbs towards Epsom, I noticed most things that are gone - elms, quite prolific and important, often with rookeries. And hot-cross buns on Good Friday only. My daughter just remembers the baker delivering them to the small hamlet where we lived then - mid seventies - but we can't really remember when that changed.
The first day and first chapter travels from Wandsworth to Guildford.
Saxon/Norman Aldbury 'neglected old church ....too much like a shameless unburied corpse.' Maybe he didn't like the 19th cupola that replaced a spire.
Now listed, restored , preserved and protected from all sides.
The Hog's Back near Guildford |
Here is an extract from the novel:
'Robert read out sections concerning the
Other Man who reappeared time and again during Edward’s journey from London to
the Quantocks. Certainly there was something uncanny, an uneasiness, about the
contingency, re-occurring over and over, which might make a poem. Robert’s own
poetry, his ‘books of people’, could have accommodated such a character. But
had Robert seen further, seen what the Other Man was?
No, Robert was turning on. He read a
passage where Edward had almost despaired of finding a bed for the night on
Easter day.
‘Listen:
“I found a bed and a place to sit
and eat in, and to listen to the rain breaking over gutters and splashing on to
stones, and pipes swallowing rain to the best of their ability, and signboards
creaking in the wind; and to reflect on the imperfections of inns and life¾
You see?’
Edward smiled – weather was a prevailing
theme for him, like a descant accompanying his life. He remembered the rest of
the chapter – his long discourse on clay pipes and the Other Man’s obsession
with weather vanes. Unlikely that Robert would find much in them. No, he moved
on, commenting on the passage on George Herbert at Bemington.
When he came to the chapter on Somerset
he fell silent. Edward could hear the water murmuring below them under the
bridge again.
‘What are you reading?’ Edward asked
after a time.
‘I guess it’s everywhere, the poetry –
just listen.’ He read in his leisurely way, breaking the lines as though he
were reading blank verse.
‘I
went out into the village at about half-past nine in the dark, quiet evening. A
few stars penetrated the soft sky; a few lights shone on earth, from a distant
farm seen through a gap in the cottages. Single and in groups, separated by
gardens and bits of orchard, the cottages were vaguely discernible; here and
there a yellow window square gave out a feeling of home, tranquillity,
security. Nearly all were silent. Ordinary speech was not to be heard, but from
one house came the sounds of a harmonium being played and a voice singing a
hymn, both faintly. A dog barked far off. After an interval a gate fell-to
lightly. Nobody was on the road.”
‘And again – these images …see: “The
pollard willows fringing the green, which in the sunlight resemble mops, were
now very much like a procession of men, strange primeval beings, pausing to
meditate in the darkness.”
That’s great. The music and the drama in
it, working together. And the way it ends:
“I felt that I could walk on thus,
sipping the evening silence and solitude, endlessly.” '
Edward looked down from the footbridge
into the dark brook; he was both excited and impatient. If Robert would just
leave him alone for a while now, he thought. It was for him to evaluate his own
work. If there was a possibility of him trying poetry, well, then it was for
him to find his sources, his subjects.
‘Robert, I think I have to be getting
back to work. But thank you. Next time we meet, though, let’s talk about your poetry.’ '
------------------------------------------------
Laurel Books, £9.99
For another In Pursuit of Spring journey this Easter see too: http://ips2013.tumblr.com
Three of us set out on Thursday on our own Pursuit of Spring ride from Clapham. Following the spirit of Thomas if not quite the same road. As yet there are few signs of Spring. If any appear they will be added to http://ips2013.tumblr.com
ReplyDeleteOh well done - what a great idea!Have you been in touch with Matthew Oates about this? He reads my blog so he will get to hear of it. I'll be looking out for your account and do hope you have some signs of spring before too long. Good luck!
Delete