Ted Hughes

dangermouse · Jun 17, 2012

Someone, I think it was Benny G. was looking for a poem where fish were described as bars of metal. Paul Boote suggested Hughes but couldn`t be exact.

It`s not a poem, it`s an essay, which probably explains why you couldn`t find it.

It begins;

"I spent hundreds of hours staring at a float,
Not drowsily, very alert"

And the line you were thinking of

"Is to bring up some lovely solid thing
Like living metal . . ."

I believe you can find it in 'Poetry in the Making' and `Winter Pollen- Occasional Prose`.

bennygesserit · Jun 17, 2012

dangermouse said:
Someone, I think it was Benny G. was looking for a poem where fish were described as bars of metal. Paul Boote suggested Hughes but couldn`t be exact.

It`s not a poem, it`s an essay, which probably explains why you couldn`t find it.

It begins;

"I spent hundreds of hours staring at a float,
Not drowsily, very alert"

And the line you were thinking of

"Is to bring up some lovely solid thing
Like living metal . . ."

I believe you can find it in 'Poetry in the Making' and `Winter Pollen- Occasional Prose`.

Aaaah Brilliant I have looked for this all over the place - Many Many thanks

Thanks to Paul Boote also !

---------- Post added at 11:19 ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 ----------

This is the phrase that caught my attention - an extract from an essay contained within a book which I will more than likely go out and buy.

Apparantley Chris Yates recites a portion of it before tench fishing.

Its a wonderful piece

Your whole being rests lightly on your float, but not drowsily: very alert, so that the least twitch of the float arrives like an electric shock. And you are not only watching the float. You are aware , in a horizonless and slightly mesmerised way, like listening to the double bass in orchestral music, of the fish below in the dark. At every moment your imagination is alarming itself with the size of the thing slowly leaving the weeds and approaching your bait. Or with the world of beauties down there, suspended in total ignorance of you. And the whole purpose of this concentrated excitement, in this arena of apprehension and unforeseeable events, is to bring up some lovely solid thing like living metal from a world where nothing exists but those inevitable facts which raise life out of nothing and return it to nothing

dangermouse · Jun 17, 2012

Yw mate

I`ve been saving the last episode of P4A for a while and decided to watch it this morning. The quote is in that episode, heard it, remembered the thread, quick Google search and "Bob James`s your uncle!"

bennygesserit · Jun 17, 2012

Well it defeated me Neil and I would say 10 percent of my Job is using google - Ta !

I ignored the essays which is what stymied me.

Ted Hughes

dangermouse

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bennygesserit

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dangermouse

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bennygesserit

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