Poetry Session ‒ Nov 14, 2012

The poets we recited were from the world over: India – 2, Britain – 2, Canada – 1, and Vietnam – 1. Two were read in translation from Punjabi and Vietnamese. Four poets were women, and two, men. The readers were equally split, 3 women and 3 men.

 KumKum, Gopa and Kavita

The sparse attendance did not diminish our zest for the poetry. The Canadian and the Vietnamese were modern poets whose simple syntax, and direct speech, were nevertheless powerful in what they conveyed. We recalled T. S. Eliot’s maxim: “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”

 Sunil and Sivaram

Gopa chose to read a poem which she had prepared for the Sptember Browning session she missed. Its dramatic monologue form popularised by the poet carries searing images and uses several of the devices of poetry: alliteration, enjambment, rhyme, and metre.

 Gopa

There were interesting sidelights on liberated women in India who led life on their own terms and earned the grudging respect of wider society.

 Sivaram

Here are the readers at the end of the session.

 Kavita, KumKum, Sivaram, Gopa, Sunil

For a full account and the text of the poems, click below.

Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton - Oct 29, 2012

Postponed once for the Dassehra and Bakr-Id holidays, this novel was long awaited. Its simple narrative style and endearing local colour make it an easy read.

 KumKum, Zakia, Gopa, Matthew, Sunil

Tragedy is in keeping with the quiet tenor of the novel, for Alan Paton was writing about a tragic country and its tragic people. A deep vein of humanity runs through the novel. The Umfundisi is a character who grows on the reader; when you are done, you wish to imitate his speech rhythms.

 Matthew, Sunil

The parallels with Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address are brought out. How can a country survive with freedom only for one-fifth of its people?

 KumKum

Here are the readers at the end of the reading.

 Matthew, Talitha, Zakia, Thommo, Gopa, KumKum, Sunil

For a full account click below.  

Robert Browning's 200th Birth Anniversary, Special Session on Sep 19, 2012

 Portrait by Michele Gordigiani

This session was long awaited. Along with literature enthusiasts the world over the Kochi Reading Group decided to honour the 200th birth anniversary of Robert Browning by a session devoted to him.

Blessed with a rich imagination, wide learning, and steeped in rhyme and metre, Browning’s poems have the power to evoke sympathy even in an age that is the antithesis of everything Victorians stood for.  He is best noted in literature for his dramatic monologues. The nearest we got to that were the poems Rabbi Ben Ezra and Home Thoughts from Abroad.

 Sunil, Bobby, KumKum, Talitha

Many noted the difficulties one has reading Browning’s poems, on account of their allusiveness; the diction too is sometimes novel and requires a fair amount of re-reading to grasp its full import. Yet the poet so often strikes gold that you wish to mine all his poems.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

One cannot forget his contribution to literature in rescuing Elizabeth Barrett from her domineering father; and then persuading her to publish those private sonnets she wrote to celebrate their love, later collected in a volume titled Sonnets from the Portuguese. It is fair to say no one who has fallen in love, or wished to fall in love, in the past 150 years has escaped the allure of these sonnets.

 Talitha, Zakia, Thommo

Here is a picture of the group after the reading.

 Talitha, Kavita, Zakia, Thommo, Bobby, KumKum, Sunil, Joe

A fuller account follows. Please click below.

Jerome K. Jerome - Three Men in a Boat, Aug 10, 2012

Priya reported that it was laughter all the way at the reading of Three Men in a Boat. These pictures will confirm the merriment that pervaded the reading room.

Sivaram often takes a Kindle e-book copy with him on his travels to keep himself in good humour.  

Sivaram reads as Zakia and Kavita listen.

The many digressions into sentimental philosophy enriched the reading, as Zakia noted. Talitha read the passage where Harris sings a comic song, and she beautifully mimicked the falsettos. It had the group in splits.  

Gopa, Priya, and Talitha

Priya had a fine time reading the passage about two men in their cups who go to bed and throw each other out. 

Here is the group displaying copies of the book they read at the end fo the session:

Kavita, Talitha, Priya, Zakia, Sivaram, Gopa, Sunil, and Mathew

To read a fuller account, click below.

Poetry Session on July 29, 2012 with the Philadelphia City Center Book Club

The City Center Book Club of Philadelphia (CCBC) is a group of women readers who interest themselves in non-fiction, plays, classical literature, and poetry. It was started in 2001. They meet once a month, mostly at the home of the convener, Rachel Munafo.

On July 29, 2012 Marie, host of Joe and KumKum Cleetus for a delicious weekend in Philadelphia, invited the CCBC members to her home and laid on a sumptuous feast, which these pictures will attest to.

 Marie checking the comestibles

The occasion was a Poetry session. As Marie put it: “Without any prearrangement we read from the poets of Japan, England, America, India, France, and Russia.......Not bad for a first sampling.”

KumKum, Nancy, Rachel, and Caroline select from the elaborate menu

Death poems in haiku formed the first reading by Rachel. She explained the significance and context for writing such poetry and gave an exquisite example of its practice by a haiku master, Yosa Buson.

Marie and Rachel help themselves

More Japanese poetry followed, describing the life of a famous courtesan of the 9th century, Oto No Komachi. A play on her life will be read in a longer session.

KumKum, Nancy, Marie, Caroline, Martha

The two poems with the title of Lullaby by W.H. Auden introduced readers to the fine choice of words to accompany the sentiment of lovers in bed.

KumKum and Nancy

Baudelaire figured in a wonderful interpretation by Nancy of his poem, Correspondances. The intense concentration of nasal sounds in the original French she read, gave an idea of the sensuality in which that poet's language is drenched.

Rachel, Taylor, KumKum, Nancy, and Caroline

Joe and KumKum expressed their gratitude to the members of the CCBC group for making them feel so welcome. In time KRG and CCBC may form more links and relationships.

Taylor, KumKum, Nancy, Caroline, Martha

For a full record of the session, click below.

Poetry Session on July 13, 2012

This was the first time KRG attempted to harness the Internet to see if a semblance of physical presence could be afforded by the Skype application to allow traveling members to attend. Although it is commonly used to connect people in a video session remotely, Skype did not work on the day because a reliable broadband connection could not be established. Joe and KumKum in Boston were keen to attend; the Internet failure was a disappointment for all.

 Talitha and Gopa

Kamala Das (Kamala Surayya, when she died) must now rank as number one in the frequency of choice by KRG members. 

 Sunil

A most unlikely poet to read was Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games. His verse which would have been rejected at a club poetry contest, nevertheless won an Olympic gold medal; talk of match fixing!

 Gopa and Bobby

As ever the discussions in the group were lively and led in many directions. Here are the readers pictured at the end of the session:

 Anna, Talitha, Priya, Bobby, Gopa, Sunil, Mathew

For a full account, click below.

Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities – June 14, 2012

We are celebrating the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens. Gopa and Sivaram therefore selected this novel. It relies on Thomas Carlyle's account of the French Revolution and depicts the contrasting fortunes of citizens in the capitals of neighbouring countries, London and Paris. 

London was lawless and its common citizens were poor, lorded over by the nobility; the citizens of Paris were equally down-trodden, but are now caught in the throes of a violent revolt that will change the landscape of France forever, but not before a bloodthirsty period of head-chopping.

Mathew, Gopa, Kavita

As is true of Dickens' novels the characters are vivid. But there is little of Dickens' humour in this work, which came late in his life. Perhaps Dr Manette is the most striking person; he evolves from the mental trauma of solitary imprisonment to become heroic in stature. 

 KumKum

Madame Defarge symbolises the extreme violence and bloody vengeance the French Revolution heaped on the aristocracy, sweeping along many unwitting individuals implicated by false testimony.

 Kavita

The language is complex; Dickens seems to have revelled in long sentences and his style has the stolidity of the Victorians, but it has aged quickly. Lacking an editor, Dickens does not hesitate to pile detail on top of details; a judicious reader is forced to skip. 

 Priya

Google celebrated the Dickens anniversary with a doodle depicting a collage of his characters:

Here are the readers at the end:

Kavita, Priya, Zakia, Gopa, KumKum, Mathew, Sunil, Joe

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