Poetry
Observations on the poetry
of John Bradburne by "Professor David Crystal, the eminent
author; lecturer, and broadcaster on language who edited and
selected the poems
for SONGS OF THE VAGABOND - the first volume of Bradburne's
poetic works
published in 1996.
As I say in my introduction to Songs of the Vagabond, John
Bradbtarne breathed poetry.
The climax of a remarkable poetic life, which began in his
schooldays, was the decade
from 1969 until his death, when he wrote some 6 000 poems -
sometimes a dozen or
more in a day. Length varies from simple couplets to (in the case
of one of his earlier
works, 'Greensleaves') a verse poem nearly 10 000 lines long. I
do not yet know exactly
how many poems he wrote: there are several gaps of time for which
poems are missing
(we know this because he liked to date his poems with precision,
giving date, feastday
(if applicable), and often time of day (or night) at which the
poem was written). I have
yet to see what material has been stored in Harare, but based on
what I have been sent
so far, the oeuvre may contain some 9 000 works.
John at his typewriter in his tin hut
That is a remarkable total, by
any standards. Let us put it in perspective. My complete
edition of Wordsworth, one of the most prolific poets in English,
lists some 850 poerns,
and his longest ('The Prelude') is less than 5 000 lines. I am
not for one moment trying to
make a comparison of quality - but Bradburne certalnly gives us a
fresh perspective on what the word 'prolific' means. And even if
only, say, 5% of his work is eventually judged to be of
reasonable poetic quality, this more than qualifies him to be
taken seriously as a poet.
But he is more than just 'a poet'; he is a devotional poet; and
his work falls into a
tradition of English versification which can be traced back to
the Middie Ages. What he
is saying, in terms of its theological message, is as important
as how he says it. Even
poetically banale work can be spiritually insightful. And it is
in this devotional context
that the sheer quantity of the writing makes most of its impact.
His writing focuses
obsessively on a core set of devotional themes. In its cumulative
effect, it sometlines
resembles a litany, especially when he plays with a word's form
and meaning. The name
of Mary fascinates him: Maria, mare, au mer, mere, Miriam, Admire
I Am, Eve, Eva,
Ave, and thus back to Maria again.
He really has only one theme, and it is the most profound of
themes: the nature of the
triune God, as manifested in Jesus, as born of Mary. From this
theme come all others -
God's plan in human history, salvation, love, mission...
Bradburne gets as close as he
can to the godhead, through the figure of Mary. He sees himself
existing in the most
daring and intimate of relationships to her, as one 'married to
the Queen of Queens'. In
his vision, all insights and images come directly from her: 'This
day thy Queen
conceived God's word by Me'.
The editor's lot
You will, I hope, have some sympathy for me. Faced with this vast
outpourrng, an
editor's lot is not a happy one. What can be represented in a
mere 96 pages? How to choose?
My first principle was to represent as many aspects of John
Bradburne's life and work
as possible. I identified nine major themes in his work, and
looked for typical but
important examples within each - important in the sense that they
seem to sum up a
central feature of his thought or life.
My second principle was to go for coverage rather than treatment,
in order to include
as many poems as possible, and thus display his range. Most of
the poems in the
selection are therefore short - no more than a page. I have
induded just one ('Paradise
tossed aside') which is over 100 lines.
My third principle was to find
examples which show him off well as a poet. I have
looked for poems which I feel would hold their own in literary
terms - poems which
show his ability to work with images and to play with words. I
especially looked out
for vivid and original theological images ('The Thought of God is
written in the air...') or
evocative nature images ('The night-sound of a hive is like the
fall / Of fairy raindrops
on the tops of time...') And I tried to show his delight in words
as sound:
Take tower, turrets, copper-beeches, aisles
And roses, rows of reverential yews
And lilac and laburnum and the smiles
Of Maytime married to the chiming views
Of swallowdom and cuckoomerry mews...
As one reads page after page of
this poetry, much of it in manuscript, it is the fluency of
the man which is so breath-taking. There is very little sign of
self-correction. As the
thought came to mind, so he put it down, at speed and without
hesitation, in usually
impeccable verse. And he knew it. He says at one point:
We never stop to wonder what to say,
The impetus of our cominitting muse
Imprisons us in fairy-spells that sway
whichever rhyme and rhythm she may choose...
With such an inspiration, there was no need for revision - and
anyway, there was no
time, for the next poem had to be written.
The next step
So what is the next step? It is difficult to say. I cannot
anticipate what kind of interest
might develop in John Bradburne the poet; but my boy-scout
training makes me feel that
we should be prepared for all eventualities. I therefore want to
get the whole of the
Bradburne corpus onto electronic disk, catalogue it, and edit it,
so that it becomes easy
to find a particular poem, bring together works on related
themes, and so on. I want to
make sure that anyone who wishes to study his work, from whatever
point of view, will
be able to do so with a minimum of fuss. I also hope that it will
be possible to make
other selections of the poetry, for other books - a task which
will become much easier if
everything is logged in an electronic database. But that is some
way ahead. In the
meantime, it is my pleasure to present to you a small selection
of the writing of Someone
whose single-minded enthusiasm and clarity of vision is both
endearing in its humanity
and compelling in its intensity.