{"id":3165,"date":"2012-09-16T09:43:55","date_gmt":"2012-09-16T09:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=3165"},"modified":"2020-12-09T14:36:57","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T14:36:57","slug":"fiona-sinclair-reviews-the-radiance-by-bethany-w-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/fiona-sinclair-reviews-the-radiance-by-bethany-w-pope\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiona Sinclair reviews ‘A Radiance’ by Bethany W Pope"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Part of this collection\u2019s skill lies in the maintenance of a coherent narrative throughout the poems.\u00a0 The story is that of a remarkable family. Whilst each individual work is long, the poems are not baggy and every detail furthers some aspect of the story. Moreover each poem is itself a complete vignette and may be read separately.<\/p>\n

The seminal relationship in the family history is that of the narrator\u2019s grandparents. Theirs was a marriage across a class divide which affected the lives of two generations. As so often happens, it falls upon the grand-daughter, with the benefit of hindsight to interpret these events. Indeed the narrator herself enters the collection part way through thereby reinforcing the strong sense of continuity thought-out the collection.<\/p>\n

There is something of the oral tradition about A Radiance<\/em>. It is this that keeps the lengthy works poetic at all times avoiding the pitfall of straying into prose. This oral feel is achieved by repetition for example in the poem \u2018 White Wedding \u2018 which describes \u00a0grandmother\u2019s hushed up wedding to the lower class grandfather \u201d You were married in December\u201d \u201c You dropped out of school\u201d \u201c You were always his favourite \u201c, \u00a0the short phrases \u00a0also helping the to maintain a\u00a0 consistent rhythm.<\/p>\n

As the narrative unfolds it is clear that this family has an unusual history. Whilst many of the poems deal with moving and affecting events it is to her credit that Pope is neither maudlin nor sentimental.\u00a0 Indeed there is a matter-of-factness about the writing which copies the way her grandmother finding herself in reduced circumstances simply knuckled down to her lot. Another tactic deployed throughout the work is to hint rather than expand on darker events. Thus the narrator throws in \u201cIn one week my father shall send me to an orphanage in South Carolina.\u201d\u00a0 This arresting information is never given flesh suggesting perhaps that some things are too painful to be divulged.<\/p>\n

There are rich characters studies in the collection. Pope much like a novelist concentrates on building and then developing the characters throughout the work as they respond to the various events of their lives. Thus in \u2018What We Know\u2019 we encounter first her grandfather \u201cDaniel Bell the farmers\u2019 son\u201d who \u00a0initially appears romantic \u201cHe had been a sharp shooter in Japan before trading guns for desk\u2019\u2019\u00a0 and who sweeps the higher class grandmother off her feet. However by \u2018Last Calls\u2019 he has become a drunk who “staggers in, dark haired; and waltzing in a liquored broken rhythm \u2018\u2019 his twelve year old son waiting up to fulfil the \u2018\u2019eldest son\u2019s job\u2019\u2019 as he offers his \u201dshoulder as brace for his father to rise\u2019\u2019, \u00a0whilst the querulous dad explains away his drinking with \u00a0\u00a0\u2018\u2019It\u2019s just the jobs, boy. That awful luck.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The second poem \u2018White Wedding\u2019 introduces grandmother. Whilst subsequent works detail the poverty \u00a0she found herself in after her marriage, this poems hints that she married to escape the \u201c grip of your parents\u2019\u2019, the mother whose\u00a0 \u201d strong hands left red marks on your bicep as you tore free\u201d.<\/p>\n

Throughout the narrative, there is an admiration for grandmother that is lacking for grandfather. For she is resilient, crossing the country by train with a sick child to find the best hospital to treat him.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Daddy said to get him here\u201d. \u00a0Who Masters housekeeping that she was not born to do, the poem \u2018Ruth\u2019 an homage to her excellent domestic skills \u201cI watch my grandmother dismember a chicken\u201d.<\/p>\n

Yet the poem \u2018Mirrors\u2019 is perhaps the most touching,\u00a0 after years of struggle when \u201cDan has made it at last\u201d the middle aged grandmother takes stock of her lost looks before a looking glass. Although she \u201ccould afford a beautician now\u2019\u2019 she prides herself on still cutting her own hair out of a habit that \u201cgives her triumph, a hard satisfaction\u201d She is preparing herself for her husband\u2019s return in the evening to a house where \u201c The no-longer children are out now:\u201d\u00a0 The poem hints at love that is still alive despite the hardships the two have been through , the excitement evident in \u201c He\u2019ll be coming soon\u201d ending with the subtle consummation in the\u00a0 lines \u201cThere is time now, and the space to take a long unstifled breath.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was particularly interested when the narrative switched to the second generation, that of the narrator\u2019s own father and uncle who receiving an education where able to go into the professions. The poems focussing on her father who \u201cinterned as a junior Pasteur in the Georgia Retardation Center\u2019\u00a0 are\u00a0 vivid. Although probably set only some 30 years ago, the very title of the institution \u2018Retardation Center\u2019 seems archaic now. The poems themselves show the shocking\u00a0\u00a0 lack of nurture, social interaction or intellectual stimulation within the place. \u00a0Here Pope sees through her father\u2019s eyes and makes good use of specific details:<\/p>\n

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a forest of linoleum<\/p>\n

corridors, a \u00a0rats nest of mazes, overlaying smells of old sweat ,<\/p>\n

fresh urine, strong clear pine.<\/p>\n

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Smell is well used here and will resonate with any reader who has visited \u00a0loved ones \u00a0in an institution even if it be a care home.\u00a0 The horror of this particular place is summed up in the understated \u201cThis is where we keep the children.\u2019\u2019 The use of direct speech marks indicating a statement remembered gives the words a chilling authenticity. \u00a0The ensuing description of the children\u2019s ward blends imagery with fact to set a grim scene;<\/p>\n

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Stunted bodies, drool, a few heads<\/p>\n

as soft and conical as remedial<\/p>\n

dunce caps.<\/p>\n

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A teenager in diapers sat slumped in his chair<\/p>\n

blowing spit bubbles<\/p>\n

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the detail copying well the impact on the father as he views the scene for the fist time.<\/p>\n

A Radiance<\/em> is a remarkable collection which presents us with a family who encountered extraordinary events. Yet the\u00a0 predominate tone of the narrator is pride at relations who suffered \u00a0but were strong as pioneers and by the end of their lives had been rewarded for their pains.<\/p>\n

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Bethany W. Pope’s <\/strong>A Radiance<\/em> is from Cultured Llama Publishing. 2012, priced at \u00a38.\u00a0 Buy your copy <\/strong>here<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>or here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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                      Part of this collection\u2019s skill lies in the maintenance of a coherent narrative throughout the poems.\u00a0 The story is that of a remarkable family. Whilst each individual work is long, the poems are not baggy and every detail furthers some aspect of the story. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3165"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23743,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3165\/revisions\/23743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}