Reading by Jonty Driver of his poem "Requiem"

In July Jonty read his poem "Requiem", stanzas alternating with Bach music played by Peter Fields on the violin, in the church of St Mary in the Marsh. There was a good turnout, with one of our members, Alan McKinna, among the audience. I am grateful to Ann Driver for sending me the write-up, reproduced below, of this event in the Ewhurst Green parish magazine. The text of the poem is included in a blog post dated,11 September 2014, (click on 2014 archive link on right), in connection with its reading at a service in Westminster Abbey, part of the commemoration of the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.

Jonathan Watts on Jonty Driver’s ‘Requiem’

Jonty Driver is perhaps the only modern head of a major public school to have spent a significant time in gaol – as a student activist against the iniquities of apartheid in South Africa, the country of his birth. He is a talented polymath – novelist, poet, essayist, political scientist, sportsman, musician, educationalist; his seven-part poem Requiem reflects with disarming honesty and openness on his emotional journeys, with a poignant focus on experiences of love and death: a friend has described it as ‘utterly personal: quiet, experienced, sombre, vulnerable’.

The evening was in aid of Hantam Community Education Trust near Colesberg, South Africa

His reading of the poem as part of the JAM on the Marsh festival in July was all the more moving because of his matter-of-fact delivery which let the exquisitely crafted verse speak for itself. The poem uses a number of different, but carefully constructed, forms and has a directness of language, content and imagery which is accessible and which – even though personal to the writer - resonate with the experience of us all, giving up more of its meaning with each encounter. The directness of Jonty’s poetic communication was heightened by the brilliant performance by Peter Fields of movements from Bach’s Cello Suite No 1 arranged for violin, with its deceptively simple, emotionally-charged lines – a wonderful counterpoint to the poetry in the immediacy of its appeal. All those fortunate enough to be at this recital encountered a performance of magical feeling and introspection, which only served to emphasise the shared experience of humanity.

First published in Ewhurst & Bodiam Parish News © Jonathan Watts / Ewhurst & Bodiam Parish News