[Ttha-potm] In Defence of 'Joys of Memory'

[carolynmcgrathuk at yahoo.co.uk]

Dear Barry

Thanks for confirming that 'slight' is a negative term - a few months ago I entered into debate with the misconception that 'juvenilia' was similarly dismissive only to discover that it was a neutral term regarding date of composition only rather than a comment on quality. In commenting on the value of a poem, I feel I am entering uncharted waters as I have only ever responded on a personal level, from a sort of self-defensive, non-committal "I don't know what 'art' is, but I know what I like" position. But when Betty speculated why there had been a lack of participation this month, it seemed to me unfair to the poem to dismiss it so lightly. I agree you have to beware any tendency to delude yourself into thinking a poet can do no wrong, but doesn't this poem have enough merit to justify exploration and comment on this site? 

In fact, surely there is much to be learnt from discussing what may be regarded as weaknesses and then contrasting with more accomplished pieces. I really want to learn from this site and have learnt even when no-one else has contributed, funnily enough, because it is the discipline of engaging with the poem to a degree that I had not done for some years and being compelled to commit something in writing for others to respond to that has advanced me - having others actually respond is of course a hugely important contributing factor! 

So, in the spirit of that learning curve, I will stick my neck out and say that there is more than enough poetic merit in this poem to warrant comment and commendation.

Many of Hardy's poems could be considered 'slight' in that the insight or point made is often quite 'homespun' but it is that individual perspective realised through language and form which makes his poetry so distinctive.
'Joys of Memory' is unmistakably Hardy and seems to me well-crafted rather than merely 'cranking out' old themes. The stanza form is challenging yet the voice remains highly conversational. There seems to be a tension between a pull towards a song-like poem that celebrates the 'joys' of the title, which is felt in the personification of 'a certain day' and the refrain 'When spring comes round', and the more detached commentating quality of the voice which increases throughout the second stanza, the
'self-observer' who analytically looks back at the 'once lived' past, the present 'dun life here' and the 'numbness' of the future. The 'Joys of Memory' may not tell us what we want to hear but it tells us remarkably directly and incredibly consciously what it is to feel as the persona of this poem feels. 

I love how the opening, 'When the spring comes round," is extended and extended to the word, 'remember', and then does return on itself and 'begin again' metrically with the variation in the second half of the line, 'as if it were new'. I also like the balance and shift in stress created by the alliteration in the following line 'A day of like date I once lived through' and the languorous 'Whiling it hour by hour away' of the next. There is a subtle emphasis on the 'my' in 'my December' which hints at the future 'certain day' of death for the speaker, which reminds the reader that their days too are numbered or may even allude to an unnamed sharer of that anniversary date who has already met their 'December'. There is a sense of closure after the semi-colon as the last two lines reiterate and confirm what has gone before with the return to the opening line of the poem. However, the poem does not end there but pushes on into that imagined future.

The second stanza does not have the same structure grammatically although it has the same stanza form. There is no semi-colon in this but one long development of thought that leads to the grave. This surprised me when I first read it as I had expected a more cyclical, refrain-like ending, but that lack of comma on the end of the penultimate line denies that meaning. 'Till my December' becomes 'till I house with dust' which more morbidly imagines that future. Isn't the use of 'house' here the first shift to the subjunctive mood which is continued with 'be past repeating'? I feel the effect of this to embody 'the numbness' envisaged by the speaker's imagined removal from both the cycle of seasons and the human lifespan and the final line takes a most poignant note that the 'joys of memory' - that 'heartsome zest' - die with the memory-holders. 

What's not to like? 

Carolyn McGrath





      
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