Corridors of light
Rosalind Smith reviews a book of poems of hope and consolation
A while ago I heard someone on the radio use the expression ‘mental furniture’. She was referring to those comforting thoughts and ideas that come to the forefront at times of trouble, anxiety, illness or perhaps even danger. They are the thoughts that we turn to in order to give us courage to face adversity and to cope with whatever situation is confronting us, or giving rise to fear or despair. When I came across Through Corridors of Light: Poems of Consolation in Time of Illness it seemed that the contents of the book would certainly constitute just such mental furniture.
The editor, John Andrew Denny, was a musician and publisher’s editor before he fell ill with ME/chronic fatigue syndrome more than twenty years ago.
However, the subtitle of the book, Poems of Consolation, might just be bordering on a misnomer: I would have preferred it to have been ‘poems of hope and consolation’ because, reading through, it seems that this is the main thrust of the choices made by the editor. Even though the reader may be facing long-term illness, and possibly even death, there is plenty within the richness of our poetic literature that can sustain and uplift our spirits.
Poetry can, indeed, be a ‘corridor of light’ if we allow ourselves to enter and explore it. The contents of this book have been carefully chosen so that there must, surely, be sufficient mental furniture to support most people. Some of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ excitingly joyful verses: ‘I walk, I lift up, I lift up heart, eyes,/ Down all that glory in the heavens to glean our Saviour’ are followed in further, quieter sections with D H Lawrence: ‘then I must know that still/I am in the hands of the unknown God,/he is breaking me down to his own oblivion/ to send me forth on a new morning, a new man.’
There is an eclectic mixture of poets, some quite new to me, others well-known and loved. There are even songs that have proved themselves meaningful to many, such as ‘When you walk through a storm,/hold your head up high/and don’t be afraid of the dark’ a powerful exhortation to courage by Oscar Hammerstein; and from William Barclay: ‘Loving Father, help me to live one day at a time,/Not to be thinking of what might have been,/Not to be worrying about what may be.’ What wonderful advice that is!
This anthology is a treasure. It is published at a very reasonable price. All royalties from the book will be donated to ME Research UK and, ultimately, those who have to experience that debilitating condition.
Through Corridors of Light: Poems of Consolation in Time of Illness edited by John Andrew Denny. Published by Lion Hudson Plc. 2011. ISBN: 978 0 7459 5547 6. £9.99
