Comments on: The Night City by W S Graham https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Mon, 06 Jan 2020 20:48:26 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.1 By: Mike Levy https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326576 Mon, 06 Jan 2020 20:48:26 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326576 Absolutely wonderful work! Thanks for posting!

]]> By: Edward Rekkers https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326564 Mon, 06 Jan 2020 13:07:44 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326564 Brilliant. Love this one. A happy new year to you.

]]> By: Rob Edwards https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326421 Sat, 04 Jan 2020 00:13:17 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326421 Ethereal city, blue-black buildings, blue-black people, yesterday’s light gone down darkening into the West, tomorrow’s bright dawn yet to rise shimmering in the East.

A moment turns and with it goes an old decade and in comes a new decade, Sweet Thames continuing to flow sublimely by in the depths of its opacity.

Nice nocturnal work Gentle Author, a photo essay to remember, built on a poem I’m glad – as I’m sure others are – to have been acquainted with.

Stroll on into the 2020s.

]]> By: Pimlico Pete https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326232 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 13:32:37 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326232 The photos evoke something older than last year don’t they? Each viewer will have an own favourite era to attach them to, either from their personal history or from a work such as the W S Graham poem.

If I may I will recall something from the late sixties. London was quiet after midnight. Walking home to Pimlico after a late shift in the West End. Down Bond Street, through Queen’s Walk by the side of Green Park. Buckingham Palace. Victoria Station. Oh the hush of it all.

A little disappointment when the walk was over as, when the nights were warm, I would have gladly done another hour’s worth. But making sure to reach the end before dawn broke and the spell of night was broken with it.

A retained image of such walks has lasted for all these years, decades. Not the very occasional passer by or a bread delivery van. It was the belisha beacons. Blinking for no one. Didn’t they deserve a rest? Some free time to compose themselves for the morning rush.

I was surprised to have this memory recently rekindled by a piece of music. It’s not of that time and I had never heard of Al Bowlly then. His song “Why Dream” certainly suggests the quiet of night, thoughtfulness, longings tempered by a sense of wellbeing. The song has a continuous and gentle trumpet motif of “doo wah… doo wah…”. Well I think it’s a trumpet. But it is certainly a belisha beacon flashing on and off for no one there. Just like London at night.

Al Bowlly’s “Why Dream” is on Youtube.

All the best from Pimlico Pete

]]> By: Pamela Traves https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326221 Wed, 01 Jan 2020 07:35:23 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326221 I am a Night Owl and these Dark Night Pictures are My Dreams.???

]]> By: Amanda https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326192 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 22:20:46 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326192 Such nostalgia for me.
Thank you Gentle Author for your magical clandestine stroll. l am blessed to have been to all these haunts in my twenties and again recently.

Tonight l drove home across spooky uninhabited forest roads guided only by the golden crescent of the moon, still feeling blessed l have lived this long to continue my hair brained escapades.

Blessings for the New Year to one and all.

]]> By: Nicholas Sack https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326189 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 20:34:51 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326189 Superb photographs, GA: brilliantly conceived and masterfully executed. Brimming with intrigue and foreboding, redolent of the great Bill Brandt. This is a rare triumph of poetry and images working together with potency preserved on both sides.

]]> By: Debra Matheney https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326188 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 20:25:18 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326188 So evocative. Happy New Year to one and all.

]]> By: Jill Wilson https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326185 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 20:01:19 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326185 Great images!

I particularly love these unexpected and inspired posts where imagery and words are combined so beautifully (my favourite blog of this year was the brilliant one from Dr Johnson’s house).

Happy new year, and keep up the good work…xx

]]> By: Peter https://spitalfieldslife.com/2019/12/31/the-night-city-by-w-s-graham/#comment-1326183 Tue, 31 Dec 2019 18:46:27 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=178661#comment-1326183 Exceptional images and poem. Thank you Gentle Author for this and all your work. Happy New Year.

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