The Poetry of Harold Monro. A Graph Review
Selected and introduced by Michael Cullup
Published by Greenwich Exchange. 2018. Paperback 978 191099625 6 £12.99 125pp plus bibliography
6 sections, 38 Poems and bibliography
Harold Monro crops up frequently if you are interested in poets and poetry of the early 20th Century. Why? For his editing of the Poetry Review and, Poetry Review and Drama and ownership of the Poetry Bookshop from which he supported/ promoted and published new talent of trending poetic styles.
Perhaps he is most remembered for the central role in starting and running The Poetry Bookshop. He was also known as a poet, currently as unappreciated as many other seeming lions of that period.
This short, very readable book by Michael Cullup does much to shine a brighter light on Harold Monro, especially his poetry. Monro’s early life, enthusiasm for poetry, two marriages and restlessness are all succintly covered. His involvement in the Literary/Artistic scene and particularly the establishing of The Poetry Bookshop and his editing and publishing endeavours are clearly established. From his second marriage, to Alida, Cullup offers serious insights into her role in running Monro’s various business activities and their marriage.
This is not a biography so the brevity of information is intended to help with a better understanding of the man and his poetry. The downside is that the reader (me!) is further intrigued by the complexity of this poetically obsessive yet determinedly open-minded man who seems to have been an ideal ‘chairman’ for the poets of his generation.
It seems, on reading this history of the man that he has inadvertently hidden his skill as a poet under the actual success of promoting Poetry in all its form and person, thus neglecting himself. However, Cullup clearly indicates alcoholism as a massive disability in Monro’s life. It was his way of dealing with something…… a sense of personal isolation, an inner feeling that he had wrongly allowed his head to rule over his heart, his ability as a poet, a love other than his second wife, Alida; a permanent sense of mortality without his own poetic marker: too many threads making him sleepless? All a range of individual and intermingling difficulties running through his mind that he found hard or impossible to switch off, or even relax without the help of alcohol. An accumulation of wanting to reach success with his heart but frustrated by an overwhelming expectation of failure.
Michael Cullup has written about and selected numerous poems by Harold Monro in a way that should raise his status as a poet, as he was seen by his peers, such as TS Eliot and Ezra Pound. The collection here is put into chronological order, much my preferred ordering, so one can spot/sense a poet’s development over time.
One poem, not included but often anthologised is ’Overheard on a Saltmarsh’. For me it is a glance at ‘Goblin Market’ by Rossetti. I don’t know it’s date but it illustrates Munro’s searching for what others have and he wants, i.e. glass beads (of immortality) from the nymph (here Rossetti but ‘poet’) and despite his pleads and threats the answer is a straight “No.” He seems to have mentally prepared himself for failure as opposed to overcoming it.
By concentrating on Monro’s poems that seem least affected by outside poetical influences, we see some of his personal journey. A favourite of mine: Rumours is included and for me suggests a starting point for Orwell’s ‘1984’.
Poems in this collection are often a step forward from the norm of the day. Gravity, Fragment and Bitter Sanctuary took my fancy, as also you might expect: The Curate’s Christmas Eve and To The Ladies of the Convent. Not forgetting Disillusionment and Officers’ Mess. There is an edge that you may not expect.
For me, interested in the dramatic change of style from Pre to Post turn-of-the-Century British poets and poetry, this man has an almost pivotal role in its co-ordination and progress away from a late18th century norm. It was moving that way but along with the likes of T S Eliot and Pound he was quite central to the progression of poets he championed.. Apparently Monro was writing poetry on a daily basis in his early years; one assumes he continued writing frequently despite his other busy activities, maybe involved in tinkering or rewriting his verse if not creating new. There must be more to learn from other poems and about the man who was influential in his day.
The book succeeds in being highly readable on Harold Monro, as a poet, who was ultimately important to the development of poetry. A book whetting the appetite for more.
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