Selected Poems

by Jack Clemo

This new selection of the poetry of the acclaimed Cornish poet Jack Clemo includes work from all of his major volumes, from The Clay Verge in 1951 to 1995’s The Cured Arno. Awkward, radical, nature-baiting landscape poems full of pain and anguish give way to monologues, biographical sketches, broader themes and looser forms. The settings of white tips, flooded pits and the grinding works of the industrial-rural clayscape are replaced by the rivers and bridges of Florence and Venice and the coastal ease of Dorset. However, as Rowan Williams states in his introduction, ‘mellow is not the word’ for this transformation. Clemo remained till the end a rare rebellious voice, representing a unique poetic perspective and personal experience.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

Reginald John Clemo (Jack Clemo) was a poet and writer, strongly associated both with his native Cornwall and his Christian belief. His work is visionary and inspired by the Cornish landscape.

He had no formal schooling after age 13, became deaf around age 20, and blind in 1955, about 19 years later. His early work was published in the local press; he first received recognition in connection with the Festival of Britain.

The massive china clay mines and works around which he grew up feature strongly in his work.

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man forever tied to the clay. To read his life's journey in relation to the clay that birthed him and stayed with him to the end. I never knew the clay could have such power over a man. It's not one I feel a kinship too, but I understood it's hold over him, and could appreciate the gleaning's he got from it. The medium through which one can see one's relation to the world. To the world that made us, sculpted us, absorbs our sins, and can ultimately allow us to be reformed in the heavy shape that we choose.