Readers and poets have paid heartfelt tributes to Carol Rumens, the Guardian’s Poem of the Week columnist, who died this week at the age of 81. Her column, which ran for nearly 20 years, developed a loyal readership and was widely praised for its eclectic selections and insightful commentary.
‘Never predictable or dull’
Sheenagh Pugh from Shetland described Rumens as “an excellent commentator on poetry, shrewd and deep-thinking but able to express her thoughts in plain English rather than academic jargon. Her taste in poems was eclectic and very original; one didn’t always share it, but it was never predictable or dull.”
‘Carol made Mondays something to look forward to’
One anonymous reader noted: “Looking out for Carol Rumens’ poem of the week made Mondays something to look forward to. It was a weekly fixture to break off for a few minutes at some point in the day and be introduced to something or someone I inevitably didn’t know, but was glad to meet. I’ve been checking the culture section weekly since her last column and hoping Carol was enjoying a holiday somewhere. So I’m sad to hear we won’t be getting the benefit of her generous insights again, but what an archive to have left us. Thank you Carol.”
‘She was a sympathetic ear when snarky comments about my poem rolled in!’
David Ward, a retired poet from Virginia, recalled: “Carol was good enough to choose my poem, Material Culture, as a poem of the week in 2015. Not only did she give it an acute introduction – probably better than it deserved – she also was a sympathetic ear when the, shall we say, rather snarky comments rolled in below the line from the Guardian’s famous poetry reading public! Her kindness to me as well as the Guardian column led me to her own poetry, which is very fine. I’m surprised that she was 81: she seemed much younger.”
‘She lit the way for female poets’
Another anonymous reader shared: “I took workshops with Carol in University College Cork in the 1990s and she was an inspiration. Always very grateful for her support of my work and many other poets – and as a way-lighter for female poets – whose work I admire, and for her insight into poetry through the Guardian column. One of a kind. She will be much missed.”
‘A tremendous poet, cosmopolitan humanist, inspiring mentor and friend’
Naomi Foyle from Chichester wrote: “Carol was always politically relevant, always promoted poetry as a vital, nuanced, informed and emotionally intelligent discourse about world events. I’ll be for ever grateful for her attention to my work in the column and am glad I could help publish her work as well. Rest in poetry, Carol Rumens – tremendous poet, sparkling, generous, cosmopolitan humanist and my wonderful, inspiring mentor and friend. My deepest sympathies to Carol’s family and all her loved ones.”
‘She had a common touch that made her columns profoundly democratic’
Gwyneth Lewis, a poet from Wales, said: “How much of a loss Carol Rumens is to us poets and to the Guardian. I’m shocked by her sudden death (she used two of my poems in the column within the last 18 months). She was a uniquely even-handed appreciator of poems from all sectors of the poetry world but had a common touch that made her columns profoundly democratic. Her achievement was exceptional and remarkable. She was personally kind to me when a hostile poet upset me at one of my first festival readings, and I’ve never forgotten that humanity in her.”
‘Enormous generosity’
Billy Mills from Ireland commented: “I was amazed the first time that Carol featured my work in poem of the week. And when she did so a second time, I was beyond astounded. She also included me in the Smart Devices selection, which meant an awful lot to me. But these things are just personal examples of her enormous generosity. She will be missed by poets, publishers and readers of poetry.”
‘You will always be in my heart’
Patricia from England expressed: “I feel so sad tonight having just read this article about Carol Rumens’ death. I am sure all of us who followed and commented on her weekly poetry choices are feeling the same. I can’t write you a poem Carol, but you will always be in my heart for your words and wisdom and humour over the years. Thank you Carol.”
‘She featured a poet I recommended to her — then dedicated a poem to him after his death’
Idowu Omoyele from Kent recalled: “I never met Carol Rumens in person but, from May 2016 when she featured To a Nightingale by the English late-modernist poet RF Langley, I began posting comments below the line of poem of the week, sometimes engaging in discussions with her and others in that space. She became the most influential facilitator of poetic talent in the English-language media through her stewardship of poem of the week. In between, she wrote often astute critical commentaries introducing work by poets from all over the world. She may have been underrated or undervalued as a contemporary British poet and critic, but she never condescended to the unknown or unsung. She was generous enough to consider recommendations from others, as when, in June 2018, she featured Leaving home at 10, from Nigerian poet and literary scholar Harry Garuba’s final collection Animist Chants and Memorials (2017), a copy of which I had sent her. Garuba died of leukaemia, aged 61, in Cape Town, South Africa in February 2020, and Carol wrote the poem A Bed of Wild Strawberries, dedicated to him, and published in Chants, Dreams and Other Grammars of Love: A Gedenkschrift for Harry Garuba (2022).”
‘Carol’s choices were eclectic, not always to my taste but that didn’t matter’
Edward Taylor from Lancashire said: “I’ve always liked poetry but it hovered in the background playing second fiddle to novels and films. When I discovered the Guardian online 20 years ago, I noticed the PotW column and decided to join in to bring poetry in from the cold. Carol’s choices were eclectic, not always to my taste, but that often didn’t matter as it was a great insight into how work was created. She joined in too, so wasn’t aloof.”
‘I lacked confidence, then Carol chose one of my poems for her column’
An anonymous reader shared: “Carol chose one of my poems early on for her poem of the week: it was ahead of my first book publication and I was still a little confused about ‘how to poet’ and ‘whether to poet’: I lacked confidence and couldn’t feel my voice as actually mine. Every poem I wrote seemed to me a mishmash of other, older, better poems. It’s impossible to overstate how much the mere fact of being taken seriously, of having my poem delicately and seriously taken apart, each piece held up to the light, made me certain that I wasn’t going wrong or presuming too much. I have been grateful for more than 20 years for that sensitivity and insight.”
‘Many of her selections have become my favourite poems’
Douglas Kemp concluded: “I looked forward to Mondays with Carol’s choice of poem. So many of her selections have become favourite poems and she introduced me to many new poets.”
