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FALLAN POETIC HISTORY:The coming of the second WordsworthPicture the scene: It was a warm, sunny, April morning in 1984 and the Fallan youth were having a "Rest Day" at Low Kiln Bank, the house they had rented that year in the Duddon valley. Whilst Jo, Jo and Kate "played" the piano in the living room and Jeremy had a "contest" throwing sticks at the palm tree in the front garden, Jonathan went upstairs to his bedroom. He sat all alone, sulking because we had not been allowed to spend the day on the R2EDR (Ravenglass to Eskdale Railway). He looked out of his bedroom window at the carpet of daffodils growing in the garden below and was inspired, as the great poet, William Wordsworth, had been before him, to write the most influential poem in Fallan history , "Daffodils".
Although this is, perhaps, a better, more mature poem than Daffodils, it never received the same adulation and critical acclaim. From a meteorological point of view at least, 1985 was a year that Fallans would perhaps rather forget and it seems that Jonnie’s second major poetic work has also been (unfairly) treated in the same way. Whilst Jonnie was composing The Rain during the wet Easter of 1985, the rest of the younger Fallans tried to follow his creative example and write some poetry of their own. Their efforts did not have the impact of Jonnie’s classic, Daffodils, on Fallan culture and history, however, three examples by Kate ("The Lake District"), Jeremy ("Winter Weeks") and Jo F ("The Fart") are included here. Readers are also referred to the Log* for samples of poetry written by the great Scribe of Barnet. * see 01/04/91 and 05/04/96 |
