Book: Elegies
Author: Douglas Dunn
Written after the death of his wife from cancer, Douglas
Dunn’s Elegies are a collection of
poems about grief, love, and the struggle to keep going after profound loss.
Perhaps the first thing I should say about this wonderful, wonderful book, is
that it is the first – and only at the date of writing – set of poems that have
made me cry. Dunn’s grief is smeared across every page for the world to see, in
a way that is so raw and ragged that it takes your breath away.
One of the things I found most heart-wrenching was the way
Dunn interspersed the grief of the present with memories of their life before
her diagnosis, when he and his wife were happy and in love without the shadow
of death hanging over them. I have been told that one of the best ways to write
tragedy is to give the reader something happy to hold onto – the hope that
something good will happen and change the ending and let us close the book with
a smile on our faces. Whether Dunn’s inclusion of these brief, shining moments
of joy were intended to cause this effect is perhaps unclear, but nonetheless,
they certainly help you understand exactly what Dunn has lost, and how helpless
he felt watching his wife’s health slowly decline, knowing there was nothing he
could do to stop it.
The most famous poem from Elegies is probably The
Kaleidoscope, which is widely available on a manner of poetry websites,
often accompanied by a recording of it being read aloud. Written in sonnet
form, The Kaleidoscope details Dunn’s
loss of direction after his wife’s death. He describes, in aching detail, how
he still half expects his wife to be in their house, and how he can almost see
her watching him, if only he’d turn around. It’s probably one of my favourites
from this collection, along with Birch
Room.
I will say, however, that this isn’t really a book to pick
up lightly. It deals with a lot of sensitive and emotional aspects of life and
death and love, and even those who claim to be completely hard-hearted will
probably finish reading this with a lump in their throat. It is likely that you
might need some time to process the book after you have read it – I know I did!
– so please bear that in mind.
Having said that, I would heartily recommend this to anyone
and everyone who likes poetry, and to most people who don’t! It flows and
captures you in way that some older poets might not, and I promise, you will never be bored when reading it.
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