Book review

Onwings of dreams

Title: From a distance
Authored by Gwen Herat
Printed by NEO Graphics
Designed by RDA
Distributed by Vijitha Yapa bookshops

Those who have majored in Aesthetic Studies look at the world differently and clearly. They hear the call from a distance; the brilliance in the sunrise; pastures greener and the faraway blue horizon that touch the skies. They discover a certain degree of beauty in ugliness; relate to people easier and sadden quickly at conflicts... and they make good writers if they opt to be. Gwen Herat looks at things how they should be looked at. God in His infinite glory; nature in her lush abundance as well as life in their perils. They all attribute to her solid character.

Smitten by a vision or a visionary at a distance, the poet confused by her own seeking at what she sees at the end of the road, is her own dream.

If writers fail to draw out the essence found in their perception of extended visions not present which amounts to hallucinations, there will never be exciting ones around the world, let alone in Sri Lanka who can evoke passion and pathos which is about life.

Easy poetry

Poetry comes easy to many writers but not to Herat because her pen never strays but stay put on a firm wrist. A Shakespeare-wit who values Classicism in English language she slams at times, go beyond borders given the task on her varied subject which makes up From a distance. She enhance poetry with vibrance.

Not that Herat not falters. Why on earth did she have to lavish her enormous talent on a listless subject that make up the lengthy poem, From a distance. It gives rise to the insecurity in her personality where the child in her has not grown up though in possession of a computerized mind that she can turn around in any direction.

Take for example the sonnets; They are simply marvelous and if one was not aware they were written by Herat, he would think he was reading Shakespeare. They are so colossal in language authenticity, they marvel the reader. They amount to reasoning that the merit or poems are those of style and words. Here, it becomes apparent with the spirit of time that are lively expressions. Certain genres particularly in search of haunting beauty why Herat reveals their depth.

Many modern poets cannot succeed in reaching the high pitch like a musical score and fall by their attempts but she has the ability to reach the last high pitch on a keyboard. So much so the lyrics she tries to intervene with sequence are like a music sheet that had been lying at the bottom of a violin case craving for notice. Her mind is full of lyrics but pushed back to be replaced by verses.

The Black Swan of Avon subconsciously stirs the alternate scores that are found in Tchaikovsky's, Swan Lake. She displays an equal aptitude for lyrics as well as for their shadows. Herat's poems are sparkling as well as down–to–earth.

From a distance is all about dreams that you and I dream about in our childhood, youth and maturity along our roads to our destinies. Some flower out; some die upon their dreams; and some wondrous ones are dashed against rocks by those whom we love and they all merge in our dreams unto eternity.

Shifting moments

Her pen shifts for a moment; from a serious literary writer to a poet but not easy. There is a huge imbalance between the two. Whereas her literary papers spells excellence, she squirms against high emotion that restricts her jab at poetry.

The example is found in the book itself. The iconic Shakespeare language she caresses on sonnets are simply brilliant as against the poetry that takes a back seat behind them.

But not with our topmost literary giant, Professor Ashley Halpe rising in her defence and upgrading her sequences to a legend-like ending in his Foreword. He knows better than all of us.

The vigorous skilful objects that meet her eyes are more than a framework that the poems are confined to. She labours between unvarying images. If the poet is in search of the gospel of classicism that some of her verses points towards, she has to be broader and step on to an interlined order. For her, the doctrine of classicism suffices in the movement of some rhymed couplets that are released from her mind of lyricism.

'As starry skies stretch their expanse,

How softly would thou float upon their wings?

As deep intense be in tridents break

I can see thee from a distance'

(page 27)

Very few poets in Sri Lanka has reached the near-summit of English Classical poetry and if Herat continues in this strain, she can be one. Those traits in her remain exceptional. She only needs inspiration. She is almost there in The Black Swan of Avon.

From a distance is beautifully hand-bound with hard cover, immaculately finished; it is high in book excellence that makes a revered dedication by a high profile writer to a Bishop of profound knowledge, Rt Rev Dr Devsritha Valence Mendis. -

Viraj Fernando