Music, Art & Poetry in Herne Bay

The Herne Bay branch of the WEA (Workers’ Educational Association) is starting a new season of courses.

There will be a seven week course starting 17th April - one two-hour session a week - looking at poets and poetry between the two world wars.

Tutor Ron Dodge introduces the course:

Do you like poetry? Yes? No? Think again... Hitler and German rearmament. The Spanish Civil War. Grinding poverty. Ominous noises off. Was it likely that anything poetic could come from this 'low dishonest decade'? Yet poetry is always being written however turbulent the times.

In the 1930s a new breed of politically aware poets came of age, writing about the Spanish Civil War, about the increasingly urban sprawl, about the need to take sides, sensing the havoc of the coming conflict. People like WH Auden and Louis MacNeice were inspired to some of their finest poetry in this decade.

But as well as the so-called 'pylon poets' there were some notable others. The precocious Dylan Thomas was starting to make his mark. The mature poet TS Eliot wrote some of his finest work. Yet others, seemingly disengaged from the turmoil such as AE Housman and WB Yeats at the end of their creative lives made notable contributions.

Ron Dodge will look at the background of this uneasy peace between two wars to explore how the awareness of a world falling apart led some poets of the decade to come to terms with an unpoetic age, and how others seemingly did not.

Meanwhile, Caroline Finucane will take another group through seven sessions, starting on 19th April, on British Modern Art. She has already run a one day class, on Saturday 28th January, on The Origins of Modern Art.

On the subject of poetry again, the 17th March will see a one day course, led by Jane Ireson, which will be devoted to poems on the theme of Remembering. And another day course on Egyptology will take place in May - date to be decided.

And music? Well, the music course has already started, but there will be others, so keep an eye open.

If you are interested and would like to find out more, have a look at the WEA website for dates, times, venues and fees of courses in Herne Bay, or phone 01227 372281.