Queen's Gold Medal for Welsh poet Gillian Clarke

Gillian Clarke, Wales' national poet, has become the second Welsh winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

Mrs Clarke, 73, said she was "humbled" to join names such as WH Auden, John Betjeman, Philip Larkin and Welshman RS Thomas in receiving the honour.

It recognises her body of work which culminated in the collection A Recipe for Water, published last year.

The Cardiff-born poet, who lives in Talgarreg, Ceredigion, will receive her honour from the Queen next year.

She was named Wales' third national poet in 2008 and works as a poet, playwright, editor, creative writing tutor and translator.

She is the author of several volumes of poetry and many broadcast plays. She is resident of Ty Newydd, the writers' centre in Llanystumdwy, Gwynedd, which she co-founded in 1990.

Mrs Clarke said she was "stunned" when she heard she had received the gold medal.

"It is absolutely amazing. I don't win raffles, so I didn't expect this. Some of my greatest heroes have received the award - Auden, Ted Hughes, Derek Walcot, Les Murray, U A Fanthorpe and, at the top of my list, RS Thomas.

"I feel humbled so many wonderful people have received the award and I wondered if I belonged on such a distinguished list, but I thought if RS Thomas can accept, so can I."

'Literary landscape'

Mrs Clarke said only 11 women had received the award, and the medal was a "gift for poetry and for Wales".

Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who chaired the medal's judging panel, described her as "part of the literary landscape of this country".

Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

It is absolutely amazing... I don't win raffles, so I didn't expect this”

End Quote

Gillian Clarke

National poet of Wales

Ms Duffy said: "As such, it is easy to take for granted the impact and influence of her work.

"Take an early poem, perhaps, like Letter from a Far Country. First heard on radio and published in the early 1980s, this poem subtly and lyrically describes the everyday household responsibilities of a woman with a full, ordered, demanding life at home and a longed-for, free, dream-like life elsewhere.

"We could read it as a poem about a trapped housewife but it is so much more than that. It is a moving and beautiful statement about freedom and constraint.

"Freedom and constraint - whether writing about women, ecology, politics or the natural world - these are the hallmarks of Gillian Clarke's art."

The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry was instituted by George V in 1933 at the suggestion of the then poet laureate, John Masefield.

The honour is awarded for excellence in poetry for either a body of work or an outstanding poetry collection published during the year of the award.

Mrs Clarke is also known to teenage readers as a selection of her poems have been set for GCSE English for a number of years.

FONTE: BBC News

URL FONTE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12070426
URL MATÉRIA: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12070426

Transported to faerie lands

ANUPAMA RAJU

Talking to Gillian Clarke is to peek into the poignant world of Welsh poetry, only to find resonances with Indian verse.

It was a conversation that started serendipitously during the Hay festival held in Thiruvananthapuram in November. Yet, my discussion with Gillian Clarke, the national poet of Wales flowed as mellifluously as her poetry.

Was it to do with her gracious, ever-cheerful spirit that engaged every eager writer in animated conversations? Or was it the magic of poetry itself? Perhaps it was a bit of both that made it one of the most inspiring interviews I've ever done.

“If the writers were allowed to speak and the politicians just shut up, we would have world peace!” says Clarke. Strongly moved by the idea of cross-cultural dialogue and oneness, Clarke refutes every kind fanaticism or “any –ism”. However, such triumphant and spirited statements that underline the power of literature are but only a small indicator of Clarke's sensibility.

Multi- faceted

Clarke who is also playwright, editor and translator, was born in the Welsh capital Cardiff, and perhaps is the first national poet of Wales to write only in English. “I learnt Welsh as an adult… it was not the language of my education,” she says. Clarke's mother had wanted her daughter to become successful and English would help her when she grew up.

The poet recalls how her mother had banned the Welsh language at home and the only opportunity to practise her mother tongue was during drives with her father. I was reminded of Indian literature that is quite often subjected to the ‘English versus regional languages' debate. How relevant it was to talk about the generation whose mother tongue was Malayalam or Welsh but which dreamt or prayed in English.

For Clarke, this dichotomy is especially interesting given how strongly the Welsh feel about their language: “I'm aware of the unease…We were fanatics of the Welsh language!” Even today, the younger generation is doing its bit to promote Welsh, through music and arts.

She strikes a valiant balance between her Welsh roots and her English sensibility in the way her poetry surprises readers with a sudden Welsh word or spelling. It is just not possible to escape the powerful influence of one's surroundings and language, she says.

“I think of her sometimes when I lie in bed,/ falling asleep in the room I have made in the roof-space/ over the old dark parlwr where she died//alone in winter, ill and penniless…/” (From ‘Marged ') . The poem is striking for its use of Welsh “parlwr” instead of the English ‘parlour' )

Her closeness to Welsh is also exemplified in her role as translator of the Welsh poet Menna Elfyn's poems into English. In turn, Elfyn translates Clarke into Welsh. Elfyn who was also one of the Hay authors at the festival mused, quoting R. S. Thomas, “A poem in translation is like kissing through the handkerchief,” but she quickly added that it was better than not kissing at all! How true.

Play of words

The chemistry between Elfyn and Clarke symbolises for me the relationship between two languages. Clearly, Clarke believes that only a poet who writes in the target language can translate poetry. “When you translate, at times, the metre and rhythm are utterly lost… so, when you lose something, you must make up for it by putting in an extra musical word,” she feels. Quickly grabbing my notepad, she illustrates Welsh and English rhythm by writing a sentence, drawing my attention to the interplay of consonants and vowels.

However, poetry is not just rhythm or iambic pentameter. It is also about feelings and responses to the world around us. Pointing to how personal or public events can influence poetry, Clarke said at a Hay session, “The language that comes to me shivers and trembles with these things that are happening.” The shrapnel born of a bomb blast could, thus, tear through a poem. My conversation with this writer ends. Clarke's responsibilities as a poet beckon and she floats into the next session with zeal. And I'm left with the scribble in capital letters and thoughts she left behind in my note pad: “Fairy Lands Forlon”. It was an invitation to a poignant yet euphoric poetic land.

FONTE: THE HINDU
URL FONTE: http://www.hindu.com/
URL MATÉRIA: http://www.hindu.com/lr/2010/12/05/stories/2010120550120300.htm