'The Malham Bird' - Dannie Abse

'The Malham Bird'.

Summary.

Abse writes about the couple's youth and reminisces back to the happy memories they had together before children. 'The Malham Bird' is a simple, loving and angelic poem that was written by Abse for his wife Joan. It is about a "Gentile and a Jew" falling in love and ending up spending the rest of their lives together with children of their own who have given Abse and Joan three grandchildren.

Key themes and brief ideas.

Abse begins the poem by referring back to the idea that a person of a non-Jewish nation should not fall in love or marry a Jew. In the first stanza, Abse shows off a bit of his  sense of humour when he jokes about a non-Jewish woman (his wife) and him being in love as he says:

 "no morning News announced the great world had been reinvented and we were new, in love - you a Gentile and I a Jew!"

Here, Abse is saying that even though they were of different religious faiths, they were in love and nothing was to be done about that, despite them going against the central principle of society during that time period of prejudice. The fact that Abse describes the "great world" being "reinvented" shows that Abse and his wife Joan, were one of the first couples from different backgrounds to be in love and weren't ashamed that they were in love. "reinvented" suggests that a Jew and a non-Jew being in love was some sort of revolution within their society which some people had a hard time to accept and understand.

Of course, one of the themes explored in 'The Malham Bird' is love that Abse has for his wife, youth and memories. We clearly see that this poems is very personal between Abse and Joan as he even says "Dear wife" as if he is having talking to her in person which makes the tone conversational but still very detailed and significant. Abse also describes their holiday at the "hidden beach in Wales" as "illicit" which meanings doing something that is not allowed by law or doing activities that are not considered morally acceptable. This therefore shows that it wouldn't have been acceptable for a couple like Joan and Abse to go on a holiday as lovers as it wouldn't have been socially acceptable. As the poem progresses, Abse continues with the theme of the growing love between him and Joan. This is shown when he describes "two chalk lines kiss and slowly disappear" which is representative of the couple. This explored furthermore when the couple are "more than together" which shows emphasizes how close the couple really were and still are. It implies that not only were the two madly in love and closer than ever, but they saw themselves as one instead of two different people from different backgrounds.

Abse then juxtaposes to the present tense "Now, three grandchildren later" he and his wife are still happily in love. This juxtaposition is done to make the reader compare how much his life has changed since his youth with his wife. The "black feathered bird, the malham of Eden" is said to be a Jewish legend who obeyed the commandment of not eating the forbidden fruit and so therefore it lives forever in paradise and stayed "lonely, immortal". Here, I get the impression that Abse sees himself as the Malham bird in the poem as he is a true, faithful Jew who is now lonely because he has experienced the unfortunate loss of his wife. Yet, he still remains "lonely, immortal".

Abse also juxtaposes to the present tense "Now, three grandchildren later" he and his wife are still happily in love. This juxtaposition is done to make the reader compare how much his life has changed since his youth with his wife. The "black feathered bird, the malham of Eden" is said to be a Jewish legend who obeyed the commandment of not eating the forbidden fruit and so therefore it lives forever in paradise and stayed "lonely, immortal". Here, I get the impression that Abse sees himself as the Malham bird in the poem as he is a true, faithful Jew who is now lonely because he has experienced the unfortunate loss of his wife. Yet, he still remains faithful and feels immortal despite all the the things in his life he has been through because of being a Jew.

Links to other Larkin poems.

'Talking In Bed'.

Larkin also explores the theme of enduring love in this poem as it is also simply about a young couple, like Abse and Joan,who are in love. Larkin portrays the couple in bed as being intimate and close together which creates a sense of comfort that all couples should have when around each other. Similarly, we see this in 'The Malham Bird' by Abse when he and Joan are "more than together" as they lay together on the sand looking up at the sky. It is not indicated that Abse and his partner make any communication and so this also is illuminated by 'Talking In Bed' as the couple also don't communicate which implies that words aren't enough to describe the love both of the couples have for each other at those very moments.