I decided to read "Mercian Hymns" by Geoffrey Hill because Polly has said several times that it had a strong influence on Orlam. It's quite a short book of poems and I enjoyed it, and also found a number of "echoes" between it and Orlam. They share the same idea of having people from different times sharing the same space: in the case of Mercian Hymns it is the border country between England and Wales (Mercia) and the key people are Offa (the Saxon king who built Offa's dyke) and the author as a child (sound familiar?). It is also quite playful at times, like Orlam. Here's the first poem as an example:
I The Naming of OffaKing of the perennial holly-groves, the riven sandstone: overlord of the M5: architect of the historic rampart and ditch, the citadel at Tamworth, the summer hermitage in Holy Cross: guardian of the Welsh Bridge and the Iron Bridge: contractor to the desirable new estates: saltmaster: moneychanger: commissioner for oaths: martyrologist: the friend of Charlemagne.
‘I liked that,’ said Offa, ‘sing it again.’
And then in the second poem I got the first big "echo" of Orlam. You could put this in Orlam after "Naming: Ira" and it would fit right in:
II The Naming of OffaA pet-name, a common name. Best-selling brand, curt graffito. A laugh; a cough. A syndicate. A specious gift. Scoffed-at horned phonograph.
The starting cry of a race. A name to conjure with.
Further on we come to this, which wandered round my head for a while until I realised that it has the same sort of structure and feel as "In The Woods"
VI The Childhood of OffaThe princes of Mercia were badger and raven. Thrall to their freedom, I dug and hoarded. Orchards fruited above clefts. I drank from honeycombs of chill sandstone.
‘A boy at odds in the house, lonely among brothers.’ But I, who had none, fostered a strangeness; gave myself to unattainable toys.
Candles of gnarled resin, apple-branches, the tacky mistletoe. ‘Look’ they said and again ‘look.’ But I ran slowly; the landscape flowed away, back to its source.
In the schoolyard, in the cloakrooms, the children boasted their scars of dried snot; wrists and knees garnished with impetigo.
And then finally I came across this where Polly has actually borrowed and tweaked a couple of lines:
XXVIII The Death of Offa...
Tracks of ancient occupation. Frail ironworks rusting in the thorn thicket. Hearthstones; charred lullabies. A solitary axe-blow that is the echo of a lost sound.
...
UNDERWHELEM...
Ward of ancient occupations;
ploughshares rusting in the brembles,
half-walls, smuggler’s runs and ditches,
blackened heth stones, lured lullabies;
...
I don't know if anyone else finds this sort of thing interesting but I find it intriguing to see how one work has influenced the other, or maybe I just read too much into things
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