Poetry of the M25 Motorway
In January 1935 a poem by one A. Lennox was published in the Observer newspaper:
I walk from Surrey into Kent
And there find no impediment;
No sentinel to bar the way,
No foe to fear, no tax to pay.
And yet, beyond the New Year’s gate,
Who knows what perils might await:
We cross the frontier to explore
A land we had not known before.
Can we catch a double meaning in the poem? A possibility of conflict in Europe was starting to seep into the public consciousness. We know how that turned out. At start of the New Year 2025 given the escalating conflicts in Ukraine, the Gaza and Syria we might be feeling similar qualms about the future.
On a lighter note however let’s fast-forward to envisage Mr (if it was a he) Lennox travelling by car along the M25 motorway? To the chagrin of night-owl motorists an impediment is encountered when crossing the border from Surrey into Kent. Suddenly the street lamps disappear! Is Kent to be scorned for its penny-pinching or applauded for its energy conservation? The explanation is that for ten long years before the M25 motorway finally became fully open in October 1986 there was a bitter campaign by conservationists to prevent spoilage of the beautiful Darent Valley. The eventual compromise saw some substantial re-routing of the motorway combined with a decree that there must be no electric lighting.
Crossing from Surrey into Kent there is no ‘tax’ to pay but one further county on a toll must be paid to reach Essex on the other side of the Thames. In 1935 the respective authorities of Essex and Kent were at loggerheads over the funding of a proposed road tunnel. War caused the project to be shelved. The debate straggled on afterwards until a tunnel was eventually opened in 1963. A second tunnel followed in 1980. (Its tiles change from blue in Kent to green in Essex!). The giant Queen Elizabeth Bridge opened in 1991. Electronic non-cash payment of the toll was introduced in 2015.
Roy Phippen's delightful little book Travelling Clockwise (Pallas Athene, 2005) is packed with fascinating information about the M25 motorway.
In January 1935 a poem by one A. Lennox was published in the Observer newspaper:
I walk from Surrey into Kent
And there find no impediment;
No sentinel to bar the way,
No foe to fear, no tax to pay.
And yet, beyond the New Year’s gate,
Who knows what perils might await:
We cross the frontier to explore
A land we had not known before.
Can we catch a double meaning in the poem? A possibility of conflict in Europe was starting to seep into the public consciousness. We know how that turned out. At start of the New Year 2025 given the escalating conflicts in Ukraine, the Gaza and Syria we might be feeling similar qualms about the future.
On a lighter note however let’s fast-forward to envisage Mr (if it was a he) Lennox travelling by car along the M25 motorway? To the chagrin of night-owl motorists an impediment is encountered when crossing the border from Surrey into Kent. Suddenly the street lamps disappear! Is Kent to be scorned for its penny-pinching or applauded for its energy conservation? The explanation is that for ten long years before the M25 motorway finally became fully open in October 1986 there was a bitter campaign by conservationists to prevent spoilage of the beautiful Darent Valley. The eventual compromise saw some substantial re-routing of the motorway combined with a decree that there must be no electric lighting.
Crossing from Surrey into Kent there is no ‘tax’ to pay but one further county on a toll must be paid to reach Essex on the other side of the Thames. In 1935 the respective authorities of Essex and Kent were at loggerheads over the funding of a proposed road tunnel. War caused the project to be shelved. The debate straggled on afterwards until a tunnel was eventually opened in 1963. A second tunnel followed in 1980. (Its tiles change from blue in Kent to green in Essex!). The giant Queen Elizabeth Bridge opened in 1991. Electronic non-cash payment of the toll was introduced in 2015.
Roy Phippen's delightful little book Travelling Clockwise (Pallas Athene, 2005) is packed with fascinating information about the M25 motorway.
'Pylon Forest'
In our modern times, can there be poetry of the M25 motorway? Plato once said ‘At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.’ But what is there to love about the M25 motorway as harassed motorists thump along its monotonous, soulless stretches of concrete and tarmac?
Here is a poem by Michael Pinney (1909 – 2001) that was published in his book River in Light (Bettiscombe Press, 1971).
MOTORWAY
PYLON FOREST
SHRUBS TRANSFORMERS
ONCE THE GREENWOODS
OF WHAT GODS
COLD RAIN BLOWS
ACROSS NO SUNSET
ROADS ARE LIT
TO NEON MUD
Michael Pinney’s poems were often ones of observation and contemplation. With their economy of words and punctuation, and stark capital letters, the poems sometimes have the appearance of a sparse, bare-leaved tree in winter. Does this poem MOTORWAY look like a small pylon, even? It is a poem of strong aural and visual impact.
In our modern times, can there be poetry of the M25 motorway? Plato once said ‘At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet.’ But what is there to love about the M25 motorway as harassed motorists thump along its monotonous, soulless stretches of concrete and tarmac?
Here is a poem by Michael Pinney (1909 – 2001) that was published in his book River in Light (Bettiscombe Press, 1971).
MOTORWAY
PYLON FOREST
SHRUBS TRANSFORMERS
ONCE THE GREENWOODS
OF WHAT GODS
COLD RAIN BLOWS
ACROSS NO SUNSET
ROADS ARE LIT
TO NEON MUD
Michael Pinney’s poems were often ones of observation and contemplation. With their economy of words and punctuation, and stark capital letters, the poems sometimes have the appearance of a sparse, bare-leaved tree in winter. Does this poem MOTORWAY look like a small pylon, even? It is a poem of strong aural and visual impact.
London Orbital
The geo-social historian Iain Sinclair is not exactly a poet but some of his descriptions of the M25 motorway have a poetical flourish? ‘A dull silvertop’ ... ‘a grim necklace’ ... ‘a tourniquet to choke the living breath from the metropolis.’
I’m quoting from Iain Sinclair’s book London Orbital (Granta Books, 2002). It is an erudite work but its lucid and sometimes spiky prose keeps you moving – unlike the M25 on a traffic-jam day! And for example after climbing the tower of West Drayton church his description of the view has a lyric quality to it? ‘The crop pf torpedo graves. The M25 with its constant flickering movement. We descended and headed through a tunnel of pink blossom towards the sequestered principality of Heathrow.'
The geo-social historian Iain Sinclair is not exactly a poet but some of his descriptions of the M25 motorway have a poetical flourish? ‘A dull silvertop’ ... ‘a grim necklace’ ... ‘a tourniquet to choke the living breath from the metropolis.’
I’m quoting from Iain Sinclair’s book London Orbital (Granta Books, 2002). It is an erudite work but its lucid and sometimes spiky prose keeps you moving – unlike the M25 on a traffic-jam day! And for example after climbing the tower of West Drayton church his description of the view has a lyric quality to it? ‘The crop pf torpedo graves. The M25 with its constant flickering movement. We descended and headed through a tunnel of pink blossom towards the sequestered principality of Heathrow.'