The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by JRR Tolkien
was published earlier this week. The 500-stanza poem which has never before seen the light of day was loosely based on a collection of Norse myths. These were named Elder Edda and were preserved in a 13th-century manuscript which he had cherished.
The epic poem tells of the love, magic, jealousy and tragedy that surrounds the story of Sigurd the Völsung and the fall of the Niflungs. The character Valkyrie Brynhild is rescued by the hero Sigurd after he kills the dragon Fafnir. Experts believe this storyline might have influenced Bilbo’s encounter with Smaug in The Hobbit. Unfortunately Sigurd is later murdered and Brynhild commits suicide.
JRR Tolkien’s son has recently expressed concerns that his father’s many fans might be “put off” by the book’s verse form. Most people know the great writer for The Lord of the Rings and not for poetry. Christopher Tolkien 84, who lives in France, recently completed another un-seen manuscript of his father’s and had it posthumously published. Middle-Earth The Children of Húrin went on to see more than one million copies worldwide.
When asked about the publication of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún earlier in the week, Christopher Tolkien replied:
“I dare say that a good many will be instantly put off by the very idea of ‘long narrative poems in verse’ and pursue it no further. It is equally possible that their form will lend them an unexpected impact.”
During his childhood, young Tolkien’s father would pay him two pence for every mistake found in his rough drafts. Ever after, the great writer would ask his son for ideas and inspiration, even when Christopher was an RAF pilot during World War 2. For the last 36 years he has been the chief literary executor of his father’s work. Amongst the titles to have come from this dedicated hard work was The Silmarillion which was published in 1977.
When asked further about the most recent publication of JRR Tolkien’s epic poetry, he said:
“My hope is that some of those who appreciate and admire the works of my father will find it illuminating in respect of Old Norse poetry in general, in his own treatment of the fierce, passionate and mysterious legend, and in this further and little known aspect of him as both philologist and poet. Above all I hope they will take pleasure in this poetry.”
The book is available to buy here and has so far received glowing customer reviews: The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun by JRR Tolkien
You can read the full interview here: Christopher Tolkien answers questions about Sigurd and Gudrún
Carol Ann Duffy will become the new British Poet Laureate. The Scottish poet originally from Glasgow will be the first female laureate in the post’s 341-year history. She beat off competition from Simon Armitage, Roger McGough and Benjamin Zephaniah to the £5,000-a-year position.
The 53-year-old openly lesbian poet will join the ranks of great literary masters including John Dryden (the first to hold the post), William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and John Betjeman. Her work will include penning poems for major state occasions and events involving the Royal Family.
An official announcement will be made by the Culture Secretary Andy Burnham in the coming hours or days informing the public of the new Poet Laureate. Having missed out on the position before due to Tony Blair’s concern over Middle England’s views of a lesbian holding the post, the news will be greeted warmly by gay rights groups.
She succeeds Andrew Motion who stated earlier in the week that he was “relieved” to be leaving the job. The announcement will be made at Manchester University’s John Rylands Library.
You can read an earlier post of mine on this subject here: Carol Ann Duffy to be First Female Poet Laureate.
One of her most well known poetry books is Rapture
which is a T.S. Eliot Prize winning collection. It’s a book-length love-poem and a moving act of personal testimony through the human emotions of infatuation, longing, passion, commitment, rancour, separation, and grief. With poems that will find deep resonance in the experience of most readers, it is a collection that can and does speak for us all.
Pashto poetry is increasingly becoming a means for young people in Afghanistan to express the daily horrors they often face. The destruction caused by Islamic terrorists and the Arab import of suicide bombings, has led to the expansion of the Pashto lexicon. Violence has fuelled not only more violence but also poems regarding the “ill fate” of their nation and homeland.
“Poets are inspired by what is happening in the outside world. Their imagination absorbs it,” says veteran Pashto poet in the city of Peshawar, Rahmat Shah Sael. “That is why Pashto poets are writing about violence in one way or another.”
Poetry has a long history in the region and has often be used as an expression of cultural pride and indeed of identity. Regular poetry gatherings are arranged, despite the many dangers and threats from the Taliban. Large crowds gather to listen to poets recite their work and that of the historical figures.
Khushhal Khan Khattak, who was a warrior poet in the 17th Century is still greatly revered as is the mystic poet Rahman Baba (pictured) who died in the year 1711. They are both considered giants of Pashto poetry and literature.
“It is not the poets’ choice to write about war and violence, they are compelled to do so – to express their reaction and hatred to bloodshed,” says Darwesh Durrani, a popular Pashto poet and professor of literature in Quetta.
Young poets from across the country have written poems describing events they have witnessed with their own eyes, including the deaths of parents, children and whole villages. Some address their poems directly to the suicide bombers who sow so much destruction and pain.
Zarlasht Hafeez, a female Pashto poet has managed to publish a collection of poetry about the events in her homeland. The collection is called “Waiting for Peace” and here is a brief extract:
“The sorrow and grief, these black evenings,
Eyes full of tears and times full of sadness,
These burnt hearts, the killing of youths,
These unfulfilled expectations and unmet hopes of brides,
With a hatred for war, I call time and again,
I wait for peace for the grief-stricken Pashtuns”
If you want to read some Pashto poetry then the book below will be of particular interest to you.
Songs of Love and War: Afghan Women’s Poetry
The active voice of the Afghan woman affirms simple pleasures and bemoans widespread suffering. The poems celebrate nature, mountains, rivers, dawn, and night’s magnetic space. They are songs of war and honor, shame and love, death and beauty.
Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy is being tipped as the next British Poet Laureate. If appointed, she would become the first female to be installed into the historic post. Ms Duffy, who is openly lesbian, was chosen by the British government but has to wait for the final say from the Queen, which is mere a formality.
This is not the first time she has been put forward for the position. In 1999, after the death of the then incumbent Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, she narrowly lost out to Andrew Motion. Many critics claim her loss was because of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s concern with how her homosexuality would fare with Middle England.
A rather bitter Duffy said retorted: “I will not write a poem for Edward and Sophie (Earl and Countess of Wessex). No self-respecting poet should have to.”
Carol Ann Duffy was born in the Scottish city of Glasgow in 1955. At the age of 4, she and her family moved to Staffordshire in England. She went on to be educated at Saint Austin Roman Catholic Primary School, St. Joseph’s Convent School and Stafford Girls’ High School before studying philosophy from Liverpool University in 1977.
Her first collection of poetry Standing Female Nude
was published in 1985. Ten years later, in 1995 she was awarded an OBE and then in 2001, a CBE. Duffy’s popularity has soared over the last couple of decades and she has even become part of the school syllabus in England and Wales.
Journalist Katharine Viner said of Ms Duffy:
“Her poems are accessible and entertaining, yet her form is classical, her technique razor-sharp. She is read by people who don’t really read poetry, yet she maintains the respect of her peers. Reviewers praise her touching, sensitive, witty evocations of love, loss, dislocation, nostalgia; fans talk of greeting her at readings ‘with claps and cheers that would not sound out of place at a pop concert’”.
An announcement on whether she will become Britain’s next Poet Laureate is expected in the coming week after the Queen’s approval. If she is promoted to the position she can expect to earn an annual salary of £5,000 in place of the ancient stipend of a “butt of sack”. She’s also be expected to write poems for the Royal Family and attend major literary events.
See: Carol Ann Duffy is the New British Poet Laureate.
Oxford University’s Professor of Poetry position is up for grabs this coming May. The Indian poet and teacher A.K. Mehrotra is the front runner to take over from the present incumbent, the literary critic Christopher Ricks.
For over 300 years, the post has been a most respected and admired position for any poet worth his salt. Famous previous occupants include the Anglo-American poet W.H. Auden who wrote ‘Funeral Blues”; Matthew Arnold writer of “Dover Beach”; and the Irish poet Seamus Heaney famed for his poems “Digging” and “Blackberry Picking”.
The position is described as the most high profile poetry position behind that of the National Poet Laureate. Nominations for the post will continue until the 29th of April and then around three weeks later, on the 16th of May, Oxford graduates will vote for their favourite choice.
A.K. Mehrotra is professor of English at the University of Allahabad in the Uttar Pradesh state of northern India. He is a prize-winning poet and literary critic with fans and supporters including writers Tariq Ali, Amit Chaudhuri and Toby Litt. The Oxford English lecturer Peter D. McDonald has described him as ‘one of the finest poets working in any language’, and ‘a poet-critic of an exceptionally high order’.
“Mehrotra has much to say of value – of urgency – on the matter of multilingualism, creative practice, and translation (in both its literal and figurative sense), issues that are pressingly important in today’s world.” said McDonald in a recent interview.
As well as teaching, the incumbent in the position of Oxford University’s Professor of Poetry will be expected to give a number of speeches and lectures over the year. Also in the mix for the post are Caribbean poet Derek Walcott and British classical scholar Ruth Padel.
William Blake is known today as a truly wonderful poet, artist and printmaker. However, in 1809 when Blake put up his own solo art exhibition of his work, it went on to receive terribly negative reviews from the media of the day. The small 16-picture show was held above Blake’s brother’s hosiery shop in Soho, central London.
A curator by the name of Martin Myrone said of the experience:
“The 1809 exhibition was Blake’s most significant attempt to present himself as a public artist. But he was damned as an idiot, as a madman, a fool.”
This was highlighted by a newspaper review from shortly after the art show by Robert Hunt of The Examiner:
“The poor man fancies himself a great master and has painted a few wretched pictures, some of which are unintelligible allegory, others an attempt at sober character by caricature representation and the whole blotted and blurred and very badly drawn. These he calls an Exhibition of which he has published a Catalogue, or rather a farrago of nonsense, unintelligibleness and egregious vanity, the wild effusions of a distempered brain.”
William Blake didn’t take kindly to such bitter criticism and increasingly withdrew into himself. His disgust at the state of British Art at the beginning of the 19th Century grew further.
A key figure of the romantic movement, in both the poetry and art, Blake died in 1827. Now 200 years after that one-off attempt to gain recognition for his art work, the Tate Britain gallery in London has recreated the solo exhibition. This time it’s hoped and expected many thousands more people will attend and admire the exhibition of one of England’s greatest cultural figures.
See also: The Stranger from Paradise: A Biography of William Blake (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
Poetry in Bangladesh has been given a thumbs up by the Minister for Information and Cultural Affairs Abul Kalam Azad. Over the weekend, he attended an International Poetry Festival and Conference in the Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka. Held inside the Sufia Kamal Auditorium, the minister told assembled guests:
“Poetry also nurture the spirit of non-communalism, show the path of dreams and consolidate brotherhood and empathy among the people,”
A nationally known scholar Professor Kabir Chowdhury was on hand to inaugurate the conference and festival along with the poet Somresh Devnath, who was in the chair.
Abul Kalam Azad made particular note of Bangla poetry which is the name for poems written by natives of Bangladesh. He went on to say proudly:
“The standard of Bangla poetry equals with the poems of other languages in the world literature as our poets have made the best use of their talent in giving them creative forms,”
The minister also mentioned how poetry had played an important role during the War of Liberation, when West Pakistan fought East Pakistan, resulting in the founding of Bangladesh in 1971.
“Poems of Tagore, Nazrul, Sukanto and Shamsur Rahman, infused revolutionary spirit into the minds of our brave brothers in the war field and the freedom-loving people to drive away the heinous Pakistani occupation forces from our soil in 1971,” said Azad.
An important figure in Bangladeshi history was then remembered. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of the country and the ‘Father of the Nation’, who went on to become both President and Prime Minister before his assassination in 1975. His importance to the Bangladeshi people is shown by the title he was given, namely that of Bangabandhu which translates as “friend of Bengal”.
Azad said: “The poets as the voice of conscience came forward to protest the brutal killing of Bangabandhu and composition of innumerable poems by them to commemorate this great emancipator is rare in the world history,”
Professor Kabir Chowdhury later expressed hope that poetry can play an important role in fighting extremism and terrorism in Bangladesh.
The troubled British singer Amy Winehouse has apparently taken up writing poetry. Inspired by her on-off lover Pete Doherty, lead rocker of the Babyshambles, she hopes her writings will put inspiration into the mind’s of children. 
The Academy of American Poets recently held an event to kick of April’s National Poetry Month in the United States. “Poetry & the Creative Mind” which was held at the Lincoln Center in New York city was attended by a whole host of celebrities and well known figures. These included the actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis who recited Sterling A. Brown’s “Riverbank Blues”. 
