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Hellward
The English Cantos is a horror tale told in beautiful, lyrical style. Based on his near-death experience in Ward 17 of Royal Bournemouth Hospital, James Sale takes us on a journey into a contemporary vision of hell and heaven modelled on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. As Virgil guided Dante, so too Dante will guide James on this incredible journey.
148 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 28, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 8, 2020
Updated as now live on STORGY.com
I’m not a huge fan of poetry, okay I’ve said it. I don’t know what it is, there’s something about the artform that I struggle with, it may have underlining issues with how this was dealt with at my secondary school and the bullying that took place in the classroom from my teacher and directed at me personally because I just didn’t get it.
After that I just turned my back on it, it was clearly for academics and well, I’m no academic.
I never gave up on it totally though, I had to discover it for myself and on my terms.
I had to find the right style that I could get to grips with, I don’t like all the floaty stuff, I like my poetry to be gritty or funny and one of my favourite poets is John Cooper Clarke (The Punk Poet) – his use of wordplay and his uncanny ability to get his point across in funny and engaging prose is something I truly love and admire. I think I enjoy poetry when it is real and heartfelt, when it’s dripping in pain and suffering and darkness (cheery guy that I am). I also have a fascination with the bible and the books of Job, Song of Songs (Songs of Solomon) and The Book of Revelation are some of my favourite books of the bible, due to the imagery that is created, the desolation of Job followed by the deftly crafted beauty of Song of Songs and the epic finale that is Revelation – and that is why I loved Hell Ward by James Sale so much.
How could such power be – the whole cosmos rent
Into parts and each part on its own work,
And better still, each atom purposeful, sent
Whilst far below on a bed, injured, hurt,
Powerless to do evil, much less good,
I lay helpless, fit soon to be but dirt?
Hell Ward by James Sale is a book that I couldn’t wait to dig my teeth into. I’d seen a few of these Cantos performed online via Sale and his use of language, the themes of the collection and the bleakness of it were most appealing.
The collection focuses on the Poet as he is in hospital with cancer and calls on Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry to help him in his time of need. Later Dante arrives to take the poet on a tour of what can only be described as purgatory or Hell – where our poet meets with people, friends and family – those that had some form of a connection to him at some point in his life.
It is in the meeting of these friends that had me reminiscing about the book of Job (how he also conversed with his friends – whilst being tempted to sin by Satan against his God). The way the Poet meets with these people and converses with them are incredibly well constructed, each one trying to bring him down further into the mire, each one with their own axe to grind, each one laying on blame or accusations, each friend or visitor a step towards a final destination that has yet to be decided.
‘Be careful,’ Dante said, ‘for here’s the end
Of hell itself in your world: the last test –
Philosophers whose ideas never mend
Or heal a single soul; rather, as pests –
Cockroaches scuttling in cellars below –
They quarry till your kitchen is their nest.
Sale masterfully gets his point across with these additional characters and the journey is one that is filled with pain, suffering, redemption and hope – the language Sale uses adds a regality to it that one would expect to find in the masters of the form such as Shakespeare, Homer, Dante and Milton but as I said I’m not much of a poetry man – so there are probably even more comparisons to be had such is the brilliance of Sale’s prose. You can witness with each Canto that Sale is someone that is passionate about language and poetry, crafting beautiful offerings from the ashes of a life, there is passion within the words and I feel that this is rather a somewhat personal journey for the author, one which comes across in blinding clarity and proves how powerful words can be, how in words sometimes we can find salvation and hope, but also despair and desolation.
The beauty of the book is in the journey and each Canto adds another layer to this incredible glimpse into the afterlife, the purgatory that awaits us or the hell we may or may not wander when our time comes. Each proceeding Canto has an echo in the next story, driving the reader onwards to a destination that they and the poet fear to tread, and it’s this that builds a palpable tension within the book and adds weight to the words and the prose that is always beautifully poetic. The wordsmithery of Sale ensures that each line is as sharp as a scalpel, that each verse hits with the directness of an arrow to a target, and ensures each Canto will take your breath away as you walk the delicate line that Sale has weaved before us.
The blurb of the book details that Hell Ward is based on Sale’s near-death experience in Ward 17 of Bournemouth General Hospital – and you can feel all the passion, pain, hurt, hope, despair, suffering, longing and fear in every line, it comes across as a deeply personal account of someone’s last days, a epic battle that is waging over their soul. Hell Ward also asks questions of the afterlife, leaves the reader pondering who will be waiting for them in the Hell Ward when their time comes, and it is this epic beauty, these unanswered questions that in my opinion solidifies Sale as ‘England’s Epic Poet’.
I’m not a huge fan of poetry, okay I’ve said it. I don’t know what it is, there’s something about the artform that I struggle with, it may have underlining issues with how this was dealt with at my secondary school and the bullying that took place in the classroom from my teacher and directed at me personally because I just didn’t get it.
After that I just turned my back on it, it was clearly for academics and well, I’m no academic.
I never gave up on it totally though, I had to discover it for myself and on my terms.
I had to find the right style that I could get to grips with, I don’t like all the floaty stuff, I like my poetry to be gritty or funny and one of my favourite poets is John Cooper Clarke (The Punk Poet) – his use of wordplay and his uncanny ability to get his point across in funny and engaging prose is something I truly love and admire. I think I enjoy poetry when it is real and heartfelt, when it’s dripping in pain and suffering and darkness (cheery guy that I am). I also have a fascination with the bible and the books of Job, Song of Songs (Songs of Solomon) and The Book of Revelation are some of my favourite books of the bible, due to the imagery that is created, the desolation of Job followed by the deftly crafted beauty of Song of Songs and the epic finale that is Revelation – and that is why I loved Hell Ward by James Sale so much.
How could such power be – the whole cosmos rent
Into parts and each part on its own work,
And better still, each atom purposeful, sent
Whilst far below on a bed, injured, hurt,
Powerless to do evil, much less good,
I lay helpless, fit soon to be but dirt?
Hell Ward by James Sale is a book that I couldn’t wait to dig my teeth into. I’d seen a few of these Cantos performed online via Sale and his use of language, the themes of the collection and the bleakness of it were most appealing.
The collection focuses on the Poet as he is in hospital with cancer and calls on Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry to help him in his time of need. Later Dante arrives to take the poet on a tour of what can only be described as purgatory or Hell – where our poet meets with people, friends and family – those that had some form of a connection to him at some point in his life.
It is in the meeting of these friends that had me reminiscing about the book of Job (how he also conversed with his friends – whilst being tempted to sin by Satan against his God). The way the Poet meets with these people and converses with them are incredibly well constructed, each one trying to bring him down further into the mire, each one with their own axe to grind, each one laying on blame or accusations, each friend or visitor a step towards a final destination that has yet to be decided.
‘Be careful,’ Dante said, ‘for here’s the end
Of hell itself in your world: the last test –
Philosophers whose ideas never mend
Or heal a single soul; rather, as pests –
Cockroaches scuttling in cellars below –
They quarry till your kitchen is their nest.
Sale masterfully gets his point across with these additional characters and the journey is one that is filled with pain, suffering, redemption and hope – the language Sale uses adds a regality to it that one would expect to find in the masters of the form such as Shakespeare, Homer, Dante and Milton but as I said I’m not much of a poetry man – so there are probably even more comparisons to be had such is the brilliance of Sale’s prose. You can witness with each Canto that Sale is someone that is passionate about language and poetry, crafting beautiful offerings from the ashes of a life, there is passion within the words and I feel that this is rather a somewhat personal journey for the author, one which comes across in blinding clarity and proves how powerful words can be, how in words sometimes we can find salvation and hope, but also despair and desolation.
The beauty of the book is in the journey and each Canto adds another layer to this incredible glimpse into the afterlife, the purgatory that awaits us or the hell we may or may not wander when our time comes. Each proceeding Canto has an echo in the next story, driving the reader onwards to a destination that they and the poet fear to tread, and it’s this that builds a palpable tension within the book and adds weight to the words and the prose that is always beautifully poetic. The wordsmithery of Sale ensures that each line is as sharp as a scalpel, that each verse hits with the directness of an arrow to a target, and ensures each Canto will take your breath away as you walk the delicate line that Sale has weaved before us.
The blurb of the book details that Hell Ward is based on Sale’s near-death experience in Ward 17 of Bournemouth General Hospital – and you can feel all the passion, pain, hurt, hope, despair, suffering, longing and fear in every line, it comes across as a deeply personal account of someone’s last days, a epic battle that is waging over their soul. Hell Ward also asks questions of the afterlife, leaves the reader pondering who will be waiting for them in the Hell Ward when their time comes, and it is this epic beauty, these unanswered questions that in my opinion solidifies Sale as ‘England’s Epic Poet’.
October 18, 2020
Spectacular
Not being as talented as the poet, words fail me in my efforts to express how much I love this first volume in the English Cantos.
Sale elevates poetry to its rightful place at the pinnacle of the arts. At once personal, this journey through Hell tackles philosophy and truth greater than the individual, even as it connects to the reader on an intimate level.
But wait - there’s more! Even as it feeds the mind and the soul, each canto is immensely entertaining, with moments of horror and humor, and lots of genuine emotion that moves the heart.
As Tolkien triumphed writing an English myth to rival Norse mythology, Sale has succeeded in producing an English Divine Comedy for our time. I can’t wait to read the two volumes yet to come.
Not being as talented as the poet, words fail me in my efforts to express how much I love this first volume in the English Cantos.
Sale elevates poetry to its rightful place at the pinnacle of the arts. At once personal, this journey through Hell tackles philosophy and truth greater than the individual, even as it connects to the reader on an intimate level.
But wait - there’s more! Even as it feeds the mind and the soul, each canto is immensely entertaining, with moments of horror and humor, and lots of genuine emotion that moves the heart.
As Tolkien triumphed writing an English myth to rival Norse mythology, Sale has succeeded in producing an English Divine Comedy for our time. I can’t wait to read the two volumes yet to come.
August 31, 2022
Let me first disclose that I’m not a poet or poetry reader, neither am I versed in classical literature or mythology. Still, this book will pick at wounds you didn’t know were there, and also heal you in places you didn’t expect.
All that makes a human’s life—friends, family, culture, society, history—is unpacked in Sale’s journey through hell, forcing us to look inside ourselves to discover where we were led astray and how we can make amends. Haunting scenarios, gnarled and grotesque, sear like flash burn, the dark inverse images overlaying your reality long after you’ve put the book down. This exploration is deeply personal, like all great work must be—naked, fearless, angry, and yet sensitive.
No matter what spiritual or moral beliefs you ascribe to, in Sale’s visitations to the wards, those suffering are in hells of their own making. Most horrifying of all is they are ignorant of the truth about themselves, blind to the pain they’ve caused, and therefore, incapable of seeking forgiveness and redemption. Their fates are sealed. They are broken, mindless machines, doomed to replay the same empty processes for eternity. But Sale, lead by Dante, will not succumb to the same dumb purgatory.
A writer doesn’t come back from the brink of death to write just any poem, and this explains why Sale pulls off such an audacious endeavor without pretentiousness or self-importance. It is undoubtedly a work of higher purpose and one without the self-consciousness or over-the-top stunts that pander for fame or praise. Despite the horrors, the agony, and the fear, is a sublime work of art crafted out of great love, gratitude, and devotion. It is a refreshing change for readers want to a change from the usual prose. I’m eager to see where Sale takes us in the next two volumes!
All that makes a human’s life—friends, family, culture, society, history—is unpacked in Sale’s journey through hell, forcing us to look inside ourselves to discover where we were led astray and how we can make amends. Haunting scenarios, gnarled and grotesque, sear like flash burn, the dark inverse images overlaying your reality long after you’ve put the book down. This exploration is deeply personal, like all great work must be—naked, fearless, angry, and yet sensitive.
No matter what spiritual or moral beliefs you ascribe to, in Sale’s visitations to the wards, those suffering are in hells of their own making. Most horrifying of all is they are ignorant of the truth about themselves, blind to the pain they’ve caused, and therefore, incapable of seeking forgiveness and redemption. Their fates are sealed. They are broken, mindless machines, doomed to replay the same empty processes for eternity. But Sale, lead by Dante, will not succumb to the same dumb purgatory.
A writer doesn’t come back from the brink of death to write just any poem, and this explains why Sale pulls off such an audacious endeavor without pretentiousness or self-importance. It is undoubtedly a work of higher purpose and one without the self-consciousness or over-the-top stunts that pander for fame or praise. Despite the horrors, the agony, and the fear, is a sublime work of art crafted out of great love, gratitude, and devotion. It is a refreshing change for readers want to a change from the usual prose. I’m eager to see where Sale takes us in the next two volumes!
March 18, 2021
I paused before beginning “Hellward: The English Cantos.” I opened it knowing that poetry has never been my friend. I admire poetry from some distance; I salute it and wish it good health, especially at this time when it’s ailing. But we’ve never been close.
I studied theater. Scenes, stories, dialogues: These have kept me company, and these, whether they present a grin or grimace, touch me most.
How grateful, then, to find “Hellward” a poem with dialogue, scenes, and a story! Witty at times, disturbing at others, the poem takes the reader through blame, denial, despair, lust for power, to absolute selfishness, but with always the recognition that beauty, hope, and finally grace await the faithful. I look forward to volume II.
I studied theater. Scenes, stories, dialogues: These have kept me company, and these, whether they present a grin or grimace, touch me most.
How grateful, then, to find “Hellward” a poem with dialogue, scenes, and a story! Witty at times, disturbing at others, the poem takes the reader through blame, denial, despair, lust for power, to absolute selfishness, but with always the recognition that beauty, hope, and finally grace await the faithful. I look forward to volume II.
November 24, 2021
HELLWARD: THE ENGLISH CANTOS VOLUME 1 by James Sale takes us into a unique vision of Heaven and Hell and lets us explore our own inner workings as we see where the poem takes us and who we are introduced to. A good way to think of this epic poem is that it is a modern reimagining of Dante's Inferno. In this poem, Virgil is replaced by Dante himself and rather than taking the journey into the circles, we are taken into different parts of a hospital where the traveler meets family members, friends, enemies, philosophers and others in their different versions of Hell. The poet has done a great job of creating prose that flow well and a rhyme pattern that is interesting and engaging. Fans of poetry and of The Inferno itself will be delighted by this version of the story and the new directions that it takes us in.
November 12, 2021
James Sale nearly dies when he is a patient of the Royal Bournemouth Hospital. Utilizing the poetic writing style by Dante, James Sale guides us through his experience with an artful flair. At times disturbed and others triumphant, this book certainly will be interesting to read.
While the story was certainly interesting, the style was reminiscent of a stage play for me. I am ok with poems and this one was ok but not something I’ll be re-reading again.
While the story was certainly interesting, the style was reminiscent of a stage play for me. I am ok with poems and this one was ok but not something I’ll be re-reading again.
Want to read
August 16, 2021If you are at all interested in Dante's Inferno, you will definitely want to check out James Sale's Hellward.
See also my review/essay at Antonym Magazine:
https: // antonymmag.com / tag / hellward /
(eliminate the spaces)
for more.
James B. Nicola
See also my review/essay at Antonym Magazine:
https: // antonymmag.com / tag / hellward /
(eliminate the spaces)
for more.
James B. Nicola
November 5, 2020
A new English epic.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews