Ivor Gurney (1890-1937)
English Poet and
Composer
“A
lover and maker of beauty”
Ivor Gurney was
born in
composing
music at the age of 14 and
won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music
in
a
private. He spent 16 months
at the Front where he was wounded in April 1917 and
gassed in
September of the same
year. During the time he spent in
gift
revealed itself and his first book of
poems, Severn and Somme, was published in
the autumn of
1917. After his
discharge from the Army, he returned to
resume his
music studies. His
second book of poems, War’s Embers, was published in
1919.
Gurney was regarded as one of the most promising men
of his
generation, both in
music and
poetry. However, in
1922, the overexcited depressive illness that had
plagued him from early adulthood prompted his
family to
have him declared insane.
He
was institutionalized for the last 15 years
of his life, and died on
at the City of
more than 300 songs as well as instrumental music,
primarily for the piano.
(
cf. < http://www.geneva.edu/~dksmith/gurney/biography.html#short
> )
To His Love
He's gone, and all our plans
Are useless indeed.
We'll walk no more on Cotswold
Where the sheep feed
Quietly and take no heed.
His
body that was so quick
Is not as you
Knew it, on
Under the blue
Driving our small boat through.
You
would not know him now...
But still he died
Nobly, so cover him over
With violets of pride
Purple from
Cover
him, cover him soon!
And with thick-set
Masses of Memoried flowers -
Hide that red wet
Thing I must somehow forget.
Ivor Gurney
( cf. < http://website.lineone.net/~nusquam/tohislov.htm
> )
This
poem begins on a
quiet note, remembering times of his past which were happy
times,
at home with his
friend, who is now lying dead.
The sight of the friends confused body is expressed by a note of rising
hysteria as he
tries
to cover the sight
and memory of his dead friend.
Gurney mentions the River Severn and Gloucestershire, which together
with his
friend
give
two themes to this
poem.
During 1917 Gurney published a collection of poems 'Severn and Somme'
a tribute to
his
beloved
Gloucestershire and a direct comparison to the WW1 on the
1918
it was clear that
his horrific experiences had affected his already fragile mental
state.
(
cf. http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/show/30782-Ivor-Gurney-To-His-Love )