“A profoundly poignant evocation of love and loss” to what extent do you agree with this assessment of Douglas Dunn’s elegies.
Following the death of his wife from cancer, Douglas Dunn chronicled his resulting feelings and emotions in a series of poems entitled ‘Elegies’. Essentially this collection reflects on a period of introspection as Dunn comes to terms with her absence. Through the poet’s depth and range of emotion feelings of love and loss, ideas that are intrinsically linked, are expressed.
Even prior to the death of Dunn’s wife there is a profound sense of sadness, primarily due to the inescapability of what is to happen. In ‘Thirteen Steps and the Thirteenth of March’, which revolves around the days preceding his wife’s death, the poet talks of ‘my’ rather than ‘our’ “high house.” Dunn’s sense of general acceptance only goes to highlight his vulnerability and thus heightens the poignancy of the situation. Consequently this sense of hopelessness sets a tone for the remaining poems, which are often rooted in the past tense.
With nothing to look forward to but heartache, Dunn immerses himself in memories, reminiscing primarily the good times that he shared with his wife but also recalling the times of heartache and struggle as his wife slowly succumbed to cancer. In the poem ‘France’ the poet recalls the summers that he has spent with his lover, “I counted summers, our loves arithmetic.” We are given the impression that France is very dear to his heart and that by merely closing his eyes he can conjure up images of “meadows, river, woods and jouissance” and a time of happiness, which is unique to him and his wife. This memory is drawn from a time of bliss and harmony but is brought about because of feelings of loss for times like that. In ‘Thirteen Steps and the Thirteenth of March’ Dunn recalls a much sadder image in which his wife is “turning down painkillers for lucidity”, through this recollection his love his expressed through the immense pride he feels for her bravery. Therefore despite the contrasting nature of both memories, feelings of love and loss are both evident.
