The Nonsuch Poems

Nonsuch Park is steeped in history. In 1538 Henry VIII destroyed Cuddington village and built his great palace – ‘There was Nonesuch in Christendom’. In the 17^th century this was demolished and in the 19^th century the Mansion House, which still stands in another part of Nonsuch Park, was built.

The Nonsuch Poems has fifteen poems, each written in a different form (sonnet, sestina, villanelle, etc.). Descriptive prose, on the facing page, sets the scene and identifies the form. Some of the poems are historical, others personal.

This book is also written as a teaching aid. There is an historical timeline, a description of Nonsuch and its great houses, and an explanation of the poetry forms used, including length, rhyming pattern and metre.

The Nonsuch Poems focusses on the writer’s connection to Nonsuch over his lifetime and the deep connection between place and person.

‘Opening the Gates’ is a sonnet and a love poem, set in the Mansion House gardens.

‘Cuddington Clearances’ remembers the village destroyed to clear the site to build Nonsuch Palace, and the ill-used villagers, closing with a message of hope – and retribution. It is written as a Terza Rima. ‘Nonsuch in Christendom’ tours Nonsuch Palace with Henry VIII on his last visit in 1546. His musings about his wives are intercut with descriptions of the beauty of the building. It is written in Nonsuch Palatial, a form invented for this poem, full of imagery. ‘Spem in Alium’ celebrates an early performance of this English choral masterpiece by Thomas Tallis. The work is for forty voices, divided into eight choirs and the balconies of the Palace would have provided an ideal setting. This is a poem to be performed.

Instantly a voice pierces the silence of the Great Hall,

‘Spem in numque habui…’

One boy chorister has never prayed so fervently for perfect pitch and tone

Spem in Alium

Reading from 'Spem in Alium'

‘Pargetting’ describes the technique used to carve decorative themes into plaster. It is humorous, written in doggerel, with a backbone of rhyme and metre. ‘Cards and Stones’ brings us to the destruction of the Palace in 1683. Charles II gave it to his mistress, Barbara Villiers. She demolished the building and sold the materials to pay her gambling debts. It is written as a multiple Haiku, each Haiku telling a part of her story.

‘Once There was a Garden Here’ pays homage to the influence the custodians of Nonsuch Palace and Nonsuch Mansion have had on the gardens. From Elizabeth I and the first lilac trees, imported from Virginia and presented to her by Raleigh, to the world-famous orchids of the Farmer family. The Pastoral style reflects the peace and beauty of the gardens.

Orange campions flare,

Struck on the tinderbox of the last sunray.

The vanity palace is gone: Nonsuch laid waste

Knots and maze, mystery and power, all powdered to dust –

Once There Was a Garden Here.

'Stained Glass’ is an unashamed expression of delight for the beauty that stained glass brings to our lives. We are introduced to the process of making the glass, and the pictures it creates. It is a sestina. ‘A Park at War’ is a villanelle. During World War II anti-aircraft guns were deployed and the land grew wheat and potatoes, sheep and cattle grazed, and allotments grew vegetables. ‘Dig the Fifties’ takes us to the buried ruins of Nonsuch Palace, excavated in 1959. It is written as a (triple) Tanka.

‘The Hornbeam’ celebrates the constant that Nonsuch Park has provided for my family for over eighty years. Despite my parents volatile relationship they shared a love of Nonsuch, and after their death my brother and I had a commemorative Hornbeam planted. The form is a Pantoum.

Here they had walked, arm in arm

In the days of feeling good,

ageing in years of peace and calm,

along the paths and through the wood.

The Hornbeam

‘A Winter Reception’ is a Rubaiyat. In 1967 my wife and I held our wedding reception in the Mansion House. Despite a windy, February day, Nonsuch worked its magic. ‘A Tudor Time Trial’ remembers the years I was a runner and often trained between the Cheam and Ewell gates (1 mile), finishing past the obelisks marking the Palace site. The form is ‘concrete’, the poem visual. ‘In the Light-Dappled Shade’ is the last poem. As we started with a young couple’s love story, we finish with a reaffirmation of love, and a reflection on ‘the stardust particles’ from which we came.

In life together we see our family grow

Until the moment which none of us can know

Brushing our footsteps through the grass, soft as a mime,

We leave no track and of life’s passage there is no sign.

In the Light Dappled Shade