World Poetry Day is held every year on 21 March, so I have chosen one of my favourites this week: Wendy Cope’s “Engineers’ Corner”.
While well-heeled poets ride around in Daimlers,
Wendy Cope (1945—)
You’ll burn the midnight oil to earn a crust,
With no hope of a statue in the Abbey,
With no hope, even, of a modest bust.
Poem 208. Engineers’ Corner
“Why isn’t there an Engineers’ Corner in Westminster Abbey? In Britain we’ve always made more fuss of a ballad than a blueprint … How many schoolchildren dream of becoming great engineers?”
Advertisement placed in The Times by the Engineering Council (1986).
We make more fuss of ballads than of blueprints –
That’s why so many poets end up rich,
While engineers scrape by in cheerless garrets.
Who needs a bridge or dam? Who needs a ditch?
Whereas the person who can write a sonnet
Has got it made. It’s always been the way,
For everybody knows that we need poems
And everybody reads them every day.
Yes, life is hard if you choose engineering –
You’re sure to need another job as well;
You’ll have to plan your projects in the evenings
Instead of going out. It must be hell.
While well-heeled poets ride around in Daimlers,
You’ll burn the midnight oil to earn a crust,
With no hope of a statue in the Abbey,
With no hope, even, of a modest bust.
No wonder small boys dream of writing couplets
And spurn the bike, the lorry and the train.
There’s far too much encouragement for poets –
That’s why this country’s going down the drain.
Wendy Cope’s poem, which was triggered by the Engineering Council’s advertisement quoted at the beginning, is an amusing twist on the Arts vs Sciences debate that has raged for decades now. She ironically compares the life of the supposedly pampered poet (guaranteed a memorial in the Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey) with the allegedly thankless existence of engineers, who are seldom memorialised.
As an engineer with an appreciation for verse—especially funny verse—I love this poem. The idea of poets swanning around in expensive cars while engineers slave away in dingy garrets amuses me since neither picture is true. I think both occupations are really under-appreciated in the UK—to most people, an engineer is the person who comes and fixes the washing machine, while poetry is generally considered boring or cheesy. If that’s your view of poetry, I commend Wendy Cope to your attention.
Ms Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, opened her message for this year’s World Poetry Day with this: “Arranged in words, coloured with images, struck with the right meter, the power of poetry has no match. As an intimate form of expression that opens doors to others, poetry enriches the dialogue that catalyses all human progress, and is more necessary than ever in turbulent times.”
I cannot think of a better description of the necessity for poets and their work.
Links
- Read about World Poetry Day on the UNESCO website.