A Writer's Moment: 'It's a search for order'

A Writer's Moment: 'It's a search for order':   “For me, poetry is always a search for order.”  – Elizabeth Jennings Jennings was born in England on this date in 1926 and was lauded f...

'It's a search for order'

 “For me, poetry is always a search for order.” – Elizabeth Jennings

Jennings was born in England on this date in 1926 and was lauded for her lyric poetry and mastery of form.  She started writing in her mid-20s after graduating from Queen Anne’s College and was published in such major journals as Oxford Poetry, New English Weekly, The Spectator and Poetry Review before her first book, Poems, – winner of the Arts Council of Great Britain’s award for “Best First Book of Poetry” – came out in 1953.

She followed it with A Way of Looking, winning the Somerset Maugham Award given to leading writers under the age of 35.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Jennings’,

Delay
The radiance of the star that leans on me
Was shining years ago. The light that now
Glitters up there my eyes may never see,
And so the time lag teases me with how

Love that loves now may not reach me until
Its first desire is spent. The star's impulse
Must wait for eyes to claim it beautiful
And love arrived may find us somewhere else.

A Writer's Moment: 'A most solitary occupation'

A Writer's Moment: 'A most solitary occupation':   “Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He or she must be alone, uninterrup...

'A most solitary occupation'

 

“Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends, and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He or she must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking." – Jessamyn West

 

Born in Indiana on this date in 1902, West wrote dozens of short stories and 20 novels, most notably her acclaimed The Friendly Persuasion – also made into an Academy Award “Best Movie” nominee – and its sequel, Except For Me and Thee, eventually made into a much-heralded television movie.

 

West started her adult life as an elementary teacher in California before contracting tuberculosis and being sent to a sanatorium for treatment.  While there, undergoing extensive treatment and rehabilitation, she began writing to pass the time and after regaining her health decided to continue pursuing writing as a career.

 

Her stories, loosely based on tales told to her by her mother and grandmother about their life in rural Indiana, often reflect West’s proclaimed love of bygone eras.

  

“The past,” she said, “is really almost as much a work of the imagination as the future.”

A Writer's Moment: Taking on 'the task of finding reality'

A Writer's Moment: Taking on 'the task of finding reality':   “Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck” – Iris Murdoch   Born in Irel...

Taking on 'the task of finding reality'

 

“Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one's luck” – Iris Murdoch

 

Born in Ireland on July 15, 1919 Murdoch grew up in London and first made her writing “commitment” with a series of philosophical essays and the blockbuster novel Under the Net that catapulted her onto the international literary scene in the early 1950s.  The novel ultimately was selected by both Time magazine and Modern Library as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.   

 

Murdoch went on to produce 25 more novels and many additional works of philosophy, poetry and drama, winning The Booker Prize for The Sea, The Sea, The Whitbread Literary Award for Fiction, and the James Tait Black Award for The Black Prince.  Shortly before her death in 1999, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature.”

 

Her literary life was further honored by two memoirs from her husband John Bayley -- the books serving as the basis for the movie Iris, featuring Kate Winslett and Judi Dench as the younger and older Murdoch.

 

“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion,” Murdoch wrote.   “The great task in life is to find reality”

A Writer's Moment: 'Lke arranging pieces of music'

A Writer's Moment: 'Lke arranging pieces of music':   “Ordering is difficult. It's like arranging pieces of music in a concert: What do you put first? What do you put after the intermissio...