Poetry of the sublime

Sometimes you have those quirky moments when you randomly play with things and then you see that they mean more than you thought they did! I’m not looking too deeply but having unwittingly graffitied the venerable Bede, a man who shares my family’s Sunderland past, I do love the way these things come together into a moment of meaning.

The author of this page was actually talking about the bible when he or she enthusiastically wrote “not only is there poetry of sublime imagination, but also song, adapted to a wide variety of circumstances-odes of victory, tender laments, outbursts of pious adoration, and magnificent Nature poems …”

However, being the ardent cherry picker that I am, I couldn’t help but enjoy what I see as a romantic reference to the ‘poetry of the sublime imagination’ and Bede of course. A 12th century man writes his wisdom while a 21st century woman allows her pen to meander across the page lovingly filling in the spaces with colour, two people worlds apart in time and intent.

It’s like a heart has been graffitied across the page but the seriousness of the subject still peeks through that stained glass window in time from a place that is long ago.

Footnote

This graffitied page is from ‘The Childrens Encyclopedia’ (no date), Volume 1, p. 488. Edited by Arthur Mee, published by Fleetway House, London.