In case you didn’t already know, this week marks the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens  - and we at Write Out Loud thought it time to remind you that he wrote a few poems, too. Here’s one of his better ones, below: 

 

The Ivy Green

Oh, a dainty plant is the Ivy green,

That creepeth o’er ruins old!

Of right choice food are his meals, I ween,

In his cell so lone and cold.

The wall must be crumbled, the stone decayed,

To pleasure his dainty whim:

And the mouldering dust that years have made

Is a merry meal for him.

      Creeping where no life is seen,

      A rare old plant is the Ivy green.

 

Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings,

And a staunch old heart has he.

How closely he twineth, how tight he clings,

To his friend the huge Oak Tree!

And slily he traileth along the ground,

And his leaves he gently waves,

As he joyously hugs and crawleth round

The rich mould of dead men’s graves.

      Creeping where grim death has been,

      A rare old plant is the Ivy green.

 

Whole ages have fled and their works decayed,

And nations have scattered been;

But the stout old Ivy shall never fade,

From its hale and hearty green.

The brave old plant, in its lonely days,

Shall fatten upon the past:

For the stateliest building man can raise,

Is the Ivy’s food at last.

      Creeping on, where time has been,

      A rare old plant is the Ivy green.

 

Dickens was a master of the spoken word performance, even though it did kill him in the end. But glancing at some examples of his poetic oeuvre brings the realisation that the great novelist couldn’t be brilliant at everything. Perhaps he found the breadth of his vision and social concerns impossible to express within the apparent conventions and restrictions of 19^th century poetry. And perhaps it also occurred to him that poetry didn’t pay as well. 

But it raises an interesting question: is poetry in the 21^st poetry any more able to voice the kind of issues that troubled Dickens?  Should it be trying to? Or is it too inward-looking to attempt it? Maybe it is time to look for the Dickens of a poet to step forward in these troubled times.