A candle in the darkness.

Jethro Tull's seed drill

This week, here in Nottingham, the children have gone back to school at the end of their Christmas holiday. My three grandson’s Sam, Luke and Alex have also gone back to their school in Berkshire to begin a new term and a New Year. And still today, even after more than a decade of retirement from the life of schools, I find myself marking the passing of the year with echoes of my own life in the classroom – the events, lessons, timetables and day to day life of the school year still being markers for my passing year. At this time of year when the sun is low in the sky and on a bright winter’s day casting long shadows, I frequently remember, as I drive into the low sun, a favourite assembly story I used at this time of year about a man who sold his shadow. Or, when it is autumn and harvest time I’m sure to recall as I drive along behind some slow moving tractor pulling a giant combine harvester telling children in history lessons the story of Jethro Tull the 17^th century English agricultural pioneer who perfected a horse-drawn seed drill that sowed the seeds in neat rows and thus helped to provide the basis for modern agriculture. In Tull’s invention  the seeds were placed in a rotating cylinder. Grooves were cut into the cylinder to allow seed to pass into a funnel below. They were then directed into a channel dug by a plough at the front of the machine, then immediately covered by a harrow attached to the rear. Legend has it that Tull had struggled with his invention until one day as he sat in church and noticed the cylindrical church organ pipes which allowed air to pass through them; he made the connection that if air could pass through a cylinder then so could a seed!  And, a spring equinox cannot go by without my recalling at some point the geography lessons when we pulled down the classroom blinds or went into the windowless TV room at school and sat in a large circle in the dark with a bright electric light (usually my garage inspection light!) placed in the middle as the “sun”. As the light shone casting shadows on the encircling children I could explain the earth’s annual journey around the sun and how the earth rotated on its own access and, because of its tilt, the length of days and nights changed – and at the spring equinox in March or the September Equinox the hours of day and night are about equal.

But, at this time of the year as we begin a New Year two other memories of my classroom days are often in my thoughts. The first is a poem by the Victorian poet Sara Coleridge. It sounds very twee in our modern brash world but was often a good starting point for a child to write a poem of their own on a similar theme or to reproduce as an illustrated piece of handwriting in their poetry anthology folder. It traces the passage of the year:

What will the New Year bring?

In January a touch of snow,
To make our feet and fingers glow.
February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.
March brings breezes, loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil............

And the second reminiscence of classroom life at this time of year was an assembly that I often used for the first day back after the Christmas holiday. It was a time to remind children that it was a New Year, a fresh start, a time of New Year resolutions. I would tell the children about the Roman god Janus the god of beginnings, gates, change, time, doorways, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past and it is thought that the month of January is named after him. And, having told the story of Janus I would often use the famous words that King George VI used in his Christmas/New Year radio broadcast to the nation in the dark days of war in 1939 when he quoted a little known poem by the English missionary, poet and academic Minnie Haskins:

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,

"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."

And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way."

May that Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.

Janus

As I have recalled these oft repeated moments of my classroom past during the final days of 2016 and  these early January days I have increasingly thought how very appropriate they seem to be as we stand at the gateway to 2017. Sara Coleridge in her poem asks “What will the New Year bring” and I have wondered what would Janus be thinking as he looks back on the 2016 and forwards into 2017. And I have reflected that when King George VI, our present Queen’s father, chose the words of Minnie Haskins’ poem he chose them wisely since they were so pertinent to the dark days being faced by his country at war and I wonder if they are not also very relevant and apposite today. We might not be at war in the same sense as 1939 but wherever we look our world of 2016/2017 is a world of turmoil, grave uncertainties and worrying prospects - we live in some very dark times.

The words of Minnie Haskins’ poem have been much in my mind as I sit in my lounge first few days. of 2017. Let me explain why.

Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio

A few weeks before Christmas Pat and I treated ourselves to day out in London. We caught an early train from Nottingham and three hours later were in the rush and bustle of the capital. Our reason for the trip was not Christmas shopping (thank goodness!) but to visit an exhibition at the National Gallery in London – “Beyond Caravaggio”. The well publicised exhibition was one of the high spots of the artistic year in that it brought together many works of art by the late 16^th century Italian artist Caravaggio and by a host of artists who followed him and painted in his style. Caravaggio is one of our favourite painters and over the years we have been lucky enough to see many of his works in galleries and churches across Europe. Michaelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio had a brief, brilliant but often violent life. He died in mysterious and probably violent circumstances aged about 39 having been on occasions involved in murder and other unpleasant episodes. He was frequently imprisoned or on the run. But his genius and his art changed the world; his wonderful draughtsmanship, exquisite drawing and painting skills and above all his use of light and dark for dramatic effect brought him to the attention of the great and powerful – from Popes to Princes. It also brought a new dimension to the world of art and his adherents picked up his style and still today works can readily be identified as “in the style of Caravaggio”. Our day at the exhibition was wonderful and in one corner we noticed a small painting unknown to us but which we both loved. It was not by Caravaggio but very much in his style and painted by a Dutch artist Matthias Stomer or Matthias Stom as he is often referred to. Stom lived in the first half of the 17^th century and would never have met Caravaggio but the impact of Caravaggio’s work had crossed Europe from Italy to Holland and Stom obviously liked it.

Christ brought before Annas by Matthias Stomer (Stom)

So, as the days ticked down to Christmas I was (as usual) wracking my brains as to what I could give Pat as a Christmas present – and then I had an idea. I remembered that the painting by Stom seen at the National Gallery in London and which  we had so much liked was on loan to the gallery from the Birmingham Art Gallery so I contacted them and ordered a print. I asked that it be delivered to the little art shop at the end of our street (so Pat would not see it!).

To enter Peter White’s tiny “Artvine” picture framing shop is to enter another world. One can hardly move for empty picture frames, sheets of glass waiting to be cut to size, finished works hanging on walls or are stacked ready to be collected by clients. One might call it Dickensian – certainly Charles Dickens would have the words to create the atmosphere and clutter of this little treasure trove. Peter has framed many photographs and paintings for us over the years so we know each other well and he quickly advised me as to the most appropriate frame and borders. He also promised that it would be ready for Christmas – and, true to his word, so it was. Two days before the big day Peter sent me a text to say I could collect it and so while Pat was out at the shops I smuggled it in and hid it behind one of our lounge chairs ready to be opened with our other presents.

An old woman and a boy by candlelight by Matthias Stomer (Stom)

Today it hangs in our lounge where I had planned – and we are both delighted. It was a present to Pat, but in reality we both enjoy it equally. Stom called his work “An old woman and a boy by candlelight” and like all great pieces of art it is both simple and complex. The light of the candle illuminating the old woman and the boy’s face in the darkness is pure Caravaggio. The concentration on the old woman’s face as she shields the candle flame from any draughts and the boy’s face as he gazes at it are a delight but at the same time their concentration suggests that the light of the candle is important; it seems to be a tense moment as they gaze at the flickering flame. As one looks at the painting one can make up all sorts of stories and questions – who are they, is it grandmother and grandson, where are they going with their candle, is it bedtime or are they in a room or just about to go to bed; the boy carries his hat, so are they stepping outside – and if so where are they going and why.......? The list of possibilities is endless. But throughout runs a different theme and that is the obvious closeness between the two; although there are no outward signs of affection the two are clearly close to each other, there is a bond. The candle flame itself is only half visible but one can see its effect as it lights their faces and shines through the gaps in the old woman’s fingers giving her skin an orange translucent effect. The whole captures a very profound moment and the warmth of the scene created by the warm colours and the intimacy of the occasion draws the viewer in and makes one feel secure and good about what is pictured. It is almost a picture that makes one hold one’s breath because you are a silent observer on this very personal moment – breathing will give your presence away and maybe blow out the candle.

The little treasure trove that is Artvine at the end of my street 

And during these last few days of this new year as I sit in my armchair looking at the scene in the painting I am reminded of Janus and of George VI’s New Year poem and the words "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown". The painting, for me, seems a suitable metaphor for where we are on the planet at the moment – in dire need of some warmth, security and light as we anticipate some very dark times ahead. I’m reminded that our world of today is one of fine balances – with the global nature of the world, the internet, social media and all the rest what happens in one small corner of the world can impact greatly upon what happens elsewhere. In the late 19^th century American writer and philosopher William James commented that “There can be no difference anywhere that does not make a difference somewhere”; he was right and in the modern world he would be even more right. As 2017 develops the impact of decisions and actions anywhere in the world will make difference across the world – be they about Brexit, Donald Trump, extremism, poverty, austerity, refugees, Syria, Palestine, Wall Street, global warming, inequality, or any of the other great issues that face the world – and each of these issues or the decisions that we make about them has the capacity to bring nations or mankind as a whole to its knees. Just as the old woman’s candle flame can be easily snuffed out so too much of what mankind has built up over thousands of years can be easily snuffed out if we are not careful; a wrong action, a moment of madness or worse, our own apathy, ignorance or a lack of care and responsibility can easily tip the fine balance and bring a world of chaos, fear and darkness.

In a modern world that for me seems to have increasingly become self centred, selfish, materialistic,  and  devoid of ethical or spiritual underpinnings it seems that we need a guiding light in the darkness and the unknown. In 2016 Pope Francis commented “When people become self-centred and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality.....The lack of physical (and not virtual) contact is cauterising our hearts and making us lose the capacity for tenderness and wonder, for pity and compassion.....[But]....we are not interchangeable items of merchandise or information processors. We are children, we are family, we are God’s People......We fail to see that some are mired in desperate and degrading poverty, with no way out, while others have not the faintest idea of what to do with their possessions, vainly showing off their supposed superiority and leaving behind them so much waste which, if it were the case everywhere, would destroy the planet. ... We continue to tolerate that some consider themselves more human than others.”

The view from the armchair!

I am not overly religious but it seems to me that Pope Francis has got it right. He speaks of physical contact, of compassion, tenderness, of family and humanity and I think, looking at Stom’s painting, these are very much qualities inherent in the painting's narrative and in the relationship between the old woman and the boy. The Pope says how, if we are not watchful ,we might easily destroy the planet by our views and actions; just as the old woman in the painting does, we need to concentrate, watch and guard the flame which is both our humanity and our guide so that it is not snuffed out in the unknown storms of the coming year.