{"id":7412,"date":"2012-10-03T23:00:57","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T22:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=7412"},"modified":"2012-10-03T23:00:57","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T22:00:57","slug":"national-poetry-day-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=7412","title":{"rendered":"National Poetry Day &#8211; Stars, Constellations and Star Fields"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag12\/12100301.jpg\" alt=\"National Poetry Day - Stars\" \/><br \/>\nRecently, there have been leaflets and posters publicising the Wantage\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(not just)<\/span> Betjemen Literary Festival.\u00a0 Thursday 4th October is also\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk\/\">National Poetry Day<\/a>. The theme of this year&#8217;s National Poetry Competition is\u00a0<strong>Stars<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In 2009 an Abingdon based poet came second in the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.poetrysociety.org.uk\/content\/npc30\/npc2009\/\"> National Poetry Competition<\/a> . Since winning that prize, two well received poetry books have appeared. The latest is called <strong>Constellations<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag12\/12100303.jpg\" alt=\"National Poetry Day - Stars\" \/><br \/>\nThere are also Abingdon poets from the past. One name I came across in Abingdon Library for the first time today was Willoughby Weaving.\u00a0His first published book of poems was called The <strong>Star Fields<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/imag12\/12100304.jpg\" alt=\"National Poetry Day - Stars\" \/><br \/>\nHe went to Abingdon School and seems to be best known for World War I poems like\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstworldwar.com\/poetsandprose\/mia_birdstrenches.htm\">Birds in The Trenches<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstworldwar.com\/poetsandprose\/mia_betweenthetrenches.htm\">Between The Trenches<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstworldwar.com\/poetsandprose\/mia_progress.htm\">Progress<\/a>.  In the introduction to The Star Fields, Robert Bridges says &#8220;<em>although there can scarcely have been a more genuine and prolific poet in the trenches ; where he did well, until, invalided home in 1915, he was safely restored to his Country Muse, to whose protection I very humbly and confidently commend him &#8230;&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here is a more recent poem from this poet. It appeared in a 1951 Festival of Britain anthology of Abingdon poets called, &#8220;Local Colour&#8221;. It is about his family home, Pewet House &#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Pewet<\/p>\n<p>(demolished for an airfield)<\/p>\n<p>The house where I for many a year was bred<br \/>\nMen are demolishing stone after stone.<br \/>\nAs if some giant plucked me bone by bone<br \/>\nSlowly to pieces I can feel the dread<br \/>\nDisintegration through me seconded.<br \/>\nI did not dream how much of me had grown<br \/>\nInto its walls, nor how I should go down<br \/>\nTaking its lonely grief upon my head.<\/p>\n<p>The ghost of the house will haunt the place<br \/>\nIn my imagination solid yet<br \/>\nWhile I am absent. If I do draw near<br \/>\nWill it abide my coming, give me grace<br \/>\nTo see it as it was once firmly set?<br \/>\nNo, not without a disillusioning tear.<\/p>\n<p>(Has anybody out there other examples of notable Abingdon poetry or poets for National Poetry Day)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, there have been leaflets and posters publicising the Wantage\u00a0(not just) Betjemen Literary Festival.\u00a0 Thursday 4th October is also\u00a0National Poetry Day. The theme of this year&#8217;s National Poetry Competition is\u00a0Stars. In 2009 an Abingdon based poet came second in the\u00a0 National Poetry Competition . Since winning that prize, two well received poetry books have appeared. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7412\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}