And I LOVE these books. I mean, who could resist stories set in the perfect English village of Nether Monkslip, or former MI5 spy turned Anglican priest Max Tudor? (Not to mention that Max is very good-looking, and I'd be willing to bet he was a rower... right, Gin?)
But one of the things I like most about Gin's books is her beautiful use of language, which is not, as she will explain, highbrow.
G.M MALLIET: I
long ago realized that my taste is not very highbrow. I go to plays but I don’t
go to the opera, and while I enjoy classical music, I tend to divide it into
categories: 1) Nice dinner music, and 2) Loud dinner music. It’s rare that I
recognize a classical song or composer unless it’s something popular, like Vivaldi’s
The Four Seasons. I have, however, without
meaning to, memorized the lyrics to almost every rock and roll song recorded in
the seventies or eighties. And a lot of country-western songs, as well. 
When it comes to poetry, it is pretty much the same story. I
tried to improve my mind by reading the classics, because I knew this was good
for me, like broccoli, but very few of them stuck. In college, I did acquire an
irrational attachment to Ernest Christopher Dowson’s gloomy poem with its long
Latin title, a poem most people would simply call Cynara:
Last night,
ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine
There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed
Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine;
There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed
Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine;
Heavy stuff, eh? Love that exclamation point, which appears
every time Cynara!’s name is mentioned. To this day I can recite much of this
poem, but I suspect it is pretty lowbrow. It does have this one famous line:
I
have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
So I gather Margaret Mitchell liked it, too.
And by the way, when Kate and Wills are choosing royal baby
names, I think Cynara! should definitely be in the running.
Still,
I’ve often thought anyone who strings together words for a living should have
more than a nodding acquaintance with poetry. I figure someone like Ruth Rendell,
a prolific crime writer whose style I admire to distraction, must somehow be
finding the time to read poetry.
One day on vacation, I picked up a book in a gift shop
called Ten Poems to Change Your Life
Again and Again by Roger Housden.
That title must have come from one of the publisher’s more feverish marketing
meetings—a poem to change your life? really?—but I did feel compelled to pick
up the book and buy it. It turns out it is one of a series of books Housden has
written, which is a good thing, because I quickly was hooked and will soon own
the entire collection. These are actually compilations of ten short poems with
Housden’s commentary on each one. Of the Again
and Again book, Housden says, “Every one of the poems in this book has
struck me a blow, a direct hit, each of them, into the heart of hearts.” I must
say most of them struck me the same way. I don’t think anyone, for example, can
read Marie Howe’s “What the Living Do,” a poem about her brother, without feeling
the tears well up.
I
am living, I remember you.
So after all these years, this one little book actually did
change my life.
Because I have come to realize how important it is as a
writer to be submerged not just in plots and prose, but in poetry as well.
Also to realize that if a song or a poem or a novel speaks
to the reader for any reason, definitions like low- and highbrow just don’t
apply.
I have to say that as an added bonus, one of the poems in
this collection inspired the plot for the fourth Max Tudor mystery, the one I’m
working on now.
Do you have a treasured poem, new or old?
And while we’re here, any thoughts on what Kate and Wills
should name that baby?
~ Photo
of Ernest Christopher Dowson from allpoetry.com
~ Photo of Ruth Rendell from Fantastic Fiction
~ Photo of G.M.
Malliet by Joe Henson
DEBS: Gin, I've ordered the first Housden book and hope to get it today. Thanks for the inspiration! I think I would buy them just for the wonderful covers.
And to inspire all our readers to come up with favorite poems AND royal baby names that top Cynara!, Gin is going to randomly pick 3 of our commenters to receive signed 1st editions of her books!
You can learn more about G.M. Malliet and Max Tudor at www.GMMalliet.com.
P.S. And our winner of NO MARK UPON HER is Lisa Alber! Lisa, if you'll email me at deb at deborahcrombie.com with your address, I'll send you a book.
