Tuesday 29 October 2013

St. Jude's Day Storm


Stormy sea with blazing wreck (1835-40)

"Winds from fiery holes in heaven
Piled the hills darkening around them
To awe them..."


Ted Hughes


Stormy sea with blazing wreck (1835-40)

All night we listened
to the powerful storm wind
battering our house walls,
and marvelled at the courage
of the lifeboat off Newhaven
fighting the violence of the waves.


Steam boat off a harbour's mouth making signals
in shallow water and going by the lead (1842)

We were tucked up snug
in our warm little house
with candles flickering by choice.
So much to be grateful for.


Shore scene with waves and breakwater

Turner understood the grandeur of the storm
the vulnerability of those trapped by the sea,
and the quiet of the day after.


The morning after the deluge (1843)

Nothing has changed.

*****

All paintings by J M W Turner RA (1775 - 1851)

8 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you've come through it and all is well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Of all the heroes ~ it's always the lifeboat men for me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gosh, we were bracing ourselves but it didn't really touch us. Scary stuff though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So glad to know it did not harm you.
    Thank you for finding and posting these paintings...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wasn't Turner magnificent? I am so pleased that you survived and enjoyed the flickering candles. It all seemed to pass by here.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You picked some fantastic pictures to illustrate the storm - what storm? It passed us by thank goodness. We were the lucky ones.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad you're okay -- I love Turner.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you! I love reading your comments and even though I don't always have time to reply I am really grateful to every one who joins in the conversation.