Miracle on St David’s Day by Gillian Clarke

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‘Miracle on St David’s Day’, written by Gillian Clarke in 1975, is a personal account of the author’s experiences as she visited a mental hospital. A calm peaceful mood is set at the beginning of the poem, as Gillian Clarke describes the countryside and country house. However, the poem leads straight from this gentle nature to the harsh reality of life.

‘I am reading poetry to the insane’

Gillian Clarke is at a mental institution, reading poetry to the patients as a form of therapy. Through the use of the present tense and first person, Clarke places herself within the context of the poem. This is a deliberately abrupt and final statement which gives the impression of an impossible task. However, as she reads, a man begins to rock back and forth in rhythm to the poem; he is listening and appreciating. Here there is an unexpected build up of tension as the mute man stands, silent, then begins to recite ‘The Daffodils’, word for word, just as he had learned when he was a child at school. The miracle that gave voice to this mute is one of the most well known poems in the English language, Wordsworth’s ‘The Daffodils’.

‘I wandered lonely as a cloud,

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;’

Wordsworth loved daffodils; he was overwhelmed by their beauty and whenever he was in a contemplative mood, he would think of those ten thousand.

‘They flash upon that inward eye’

The sight of the daffodils never left Wordsworth’s mind. In the same way, Wordsworth’s poem remained buried in the mind of the man in the hospital; each is reliving memories through poetry.

St. David is the patron Saint of Wales and daffodils are an emblem of the country. These symbols of W...

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...nd the silence of the flowers. Wordsworth’s ‘Daffodils’ are used throughout Clarke’s poem. In yellow open-mouthed awe they prophesize a miracle about to happen. In their waxy stillness and silence the daffodils are divorced from the surrounding world just as the patients were. Finally, they ‘flame’ in celebration of life.

The people who are in this mental home have lost their senses. This encourages me to consider abilities I take for granted and what I would do if these were suddenly taken away from me. This poem evokes sympathy in me towards these patients who are trapped inside themselves. The content of Clarke’s poem is very serious, but in the end there is a positive feel as it explores the theme of life revived. It suggests that there is hope, when all may seem lost. Most of all, I love the emotional connection that is made through the power of poetry.

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