John Stammers

In the introduction to this Anthology, the poet and editor John Stammers states "The poetry of love is unlike any other". He goes on to say that "no other poetry has it's singularity of focus" and that it is "the dominant theme of most western poetry since the renaissance" and where English poetry finds it's most characteristic and celebrated expression, whether in the sonnets of Shakespeare or the poets of the the present day. One individuals love for another is typified, if not defined by Eros, following all it's myriad journeys, travails, its false starts & failed endings.

"Since feeling is first"

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph
And death i think no parenthesis

E.E. Cummings

What makes this particular anthology different from the rest, is the way the award winning poet John Stammers has compiled the chosen poetry. Instead of just arranging them in some arbitrary fashion, he has sort to arrange them into pairs, placing some of the greatest love poems of the past with their modern counterparts, creating a dialogue between the poems, which in turn reflects the two-way nature of love itself. Also, by pairing them in this particular way, poets such as Spenser, Herrick and Donne brush up against contemporary poets such as Duffy, Neruda and Hughes, throwing new and interesting light on an age old subject, reflecting the many ways love can be expressed in all it's ambiguous, concrete, obscure and distinct nature. To be honest, like relationships themselves, not all the pairings work, some sit harmoniously together, others jar and argue, whilst others appear to have nothing in common, yet the majority create a dialogue that leads to more than the individual pieces alone, as Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." one of my favourite pairings is the two shown here.

First Love.

I ne'er was struck before that hour
With love so sudden and so sweet,
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
and stole my heart away complete.
My face turned pale as deadly pale
My legs refused to walk away,
And when she looked, what could I ail?
My life and all seemed turned to clay.

And then my blood rushed to my face
And took my eyesight quite away,
The trees and bush round the place
seemed midnight at noonday.
I could not see a single thing,
Words from eyes did start -
They spoke as chords do from the string,
And blood burnt round my heart.

Are flowers the winter's choice?
Is love's bed always snow?
She seemed to hear my silent voice,
Not love's appeals to know.
I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before.
My heart has left its dwelling-place
And can return no more.

John Clare… (plus d'informations)