Murmur

by Menna Elfyn

Menna Elfyn's latest collection in Welsh and English is full of murmurings, such as the need 'to walk the earth as if there's a baby sleeping next door'. Murmur is a poetry of meditation, from the reverberations of dead poets to murmurs of the heart which force the poet to dwell on the irregular beat of the poet's lot. Distant sounds too are heard from captivity in a sequence of poems about the last princess of Wales, Catrin Glyndwr, daughter of Owain Glyndwr, who was incarcerated with her children in the Tower of London for over two years until their mysterious death. Fittingly enough, mur-mur in Welsh also means wall-wall, so the book's leitmotif is one that stresses the distance between words and worlds -and the way poetry is a language beyond language which we can sometimes only grasp through sound. Menna Elfyn is the best-known, most travelled and most translated of all Welsh-language poets. The extraordinary international range of her subjects, breathtaking inventiveness and generosity of vision place her among Europe's leading poets. Murmur is her first new book since Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems / Perffaith Nam: Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007, and includes translations of poems by Welsh folk hero and poet of peace Waldo Williams (1904-71) which challenge the notion of the Celtic melancholy and testify to a 'hesitant hope'. Her own poems have facing English translations by leading Welsh poets: Elin ap Hywel, Joseph P. Clancy, Gillian Clarke, Damian Walford Davies and Paul Henry.

Genres: Poetry

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 28, 2012

Reviews

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant collection which stirred childhood memories. I did attempt to read the Welsh, but although I can still pronounce the words in my head, understanding /translating is another thing entirely, my Welsh so rusty. But, I'm in awe of the translator's poetic sensibilities. I loved "The Cocklewoman" - " Waves of hair swept
Waves of hair swept under a hat, / her shawl a fringe on the shore;". With it's underlying theme of the young observer's awakening to wider horizons ... "at the Manse's teetotal door". The "scooping of sacramental shells / sound of innocence, ... / A coming of age, / that emptying, emptying cry."
So many powerful images crowd these pages; Menna Elfyn's Murmur is a book I will return to again and again.

[scarlettraces · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5) Pretty confident I would need to be a reader of Welsh in order to rate this appropriately. As it was I found it mostly unmemorable.

I did very much like the Catrin Glyndwr sequence.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got more out of this collection on a second reading. There were two or three slightly longer poems in the first part that I hadn't really appreciated first time which I enjoyed the second time around. Then I didn't realise I was into the Catrin Glendwr section first time, I just became aware that several poems had been set in prison; the second time they made more sense! In fact, it all improved, so the lesson is, don't be too hasty to your judgement!

[Judith is reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking, beautiful and great practice for Welsh learners. Menna Elfyn’s poetry is what started me reading poetry again after years of disinterest. I love that Welsh language originals are translated and responded to by other bilingual poets. Reading one of her collections is to experience being part of a dialogue and a retelling within the Welsh language community.

Particular favourites of mine in the collection are the famous Drws yn Epynt (Door in Epynt) which has acute resonance for my own place of residence, Afalau minswyn (Bitter Apples) and of, course the Catrin Glyn Dŵr cycle, that forms the core of this volume. Catrin Glyn Dŵr is an own voice piece, where Elfyn’s own experiences as a political prisoner are entwined with the reimagined suffering of her doomed medieval “predecessor”.

A poignant reminder of the oppression and “cancellation” of minority cultures globally. To be political is not necessarily to be violent or even an activist. The mere use of an alternate or condemned language is to stand up and stand out.