The Poem Tree - complete reading

The Poem Tree - complete reading
recording lasts 45 minutes


Synopsis

It is 1844 and Joseph Tubbs, a local man, is climbing up to the top of Castle Hill, Wittenham Clumps to carve a poem into the bark of a young beech tree. As he makes his journey he reflects on the nature of the countryside and the people who live and work in his village. He meditates, too, on the nature of walking.

In parallel nature itself is given a voice and becomes aware of its own existence. As these various monologues develop they enter Joseph's conscientiousness and gradually a conversation ensues and an agreement is made with one particular tree on which Joseph will carve his poem.

As Joseph begins to carve his poem into the tree's bark he has a vision of the events that occurred on the hill many centuries before, events which resonate across the years and enter the text of his poem, touching his presence, and which subsequently touched the presence of this author some 150 years later.


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