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Apple blossom

Posted on May 18, 2020 in Apple blossom, consolation of art, Peter Blundell Jones, Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII | 4 Comments

Earlier this month the apple tree that we planted in memory of my husband, Peter, was in bloom. The warm days were followed by cold and windy weather that brought to my mind one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. The power of art to console remains undimmed in these difficult days. Indeed, we need it more than ever.

So here it is, Sonnet XVIII.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
    So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

4 Comments

  1. Margot Kinberg
    May 18, 2020

    What a lovely idea, to plant a tree in your husband’s memory! And I see that it’s doing well despite the spate of cold weather lately. Thank you for the reminder that art (whether it’s musical, literary, visual, dance, or something else) has a real power to heal. We need that more than ever now…

    Reply
    • Christine Poulson
      May 18, 2020

      Thank you, Margot. We also planted one in the memorial garden for staff and students in the university. Yes, I do find that I am turning to poetry in particular in these uncertain times.

      Reply
  2. Moira@Clothes in Books
    June 16, 2020

    You can read Shakespeare’s sonnets a hundred times, and they should become hackneyed, and we are all familiar with this one. And still the magic works every time…

    Last year I went to Sonnet Sunday at the Globe Theatre, where the sonnets were performed in all kinds of different ways – just as you were strolling around you might come across an actor in ordinary clothes who would recite one for you. It was completely magical, a wonderful experience that I will never forget. (In fact, it must have been 2018, though it feels like last week.)

    Reply
    • Christine Poulson
      June 16, 2020

      That must have been magical.This is not perhaps my favourite of the sonnets, but is still wonderful.

      Reply

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