In Cimmerian Darkness: An archaeological reading of J.H. Prynne

J.H. Prynne is well known for his sometimes oblique references to general issues in archaeology. ‘A Note on Metal’ contains some very specific references to both Childe and J.B. Griffin, and can be interpreted as a standalone example of archaeological theory as well as being a poem. This paper, however, explores one of his earlier poems where there is no apparent reference to anything archaeological: ‘In Cimmerian Darkness’. If the poem is ‘about’ anything (a general difficulty with any poem by Prynne) it is about astronomy. This paper argues that it also references, through its title, a variety of archaeological issues. The reference here is to something specific to be found in the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge (the Brough stone from Westmoreland). In this way, this poem too is saying something about the relationship between ‘time present and time past’. It is perhaps an illustration that, in poetry, time is not linear (like a string) but somehow crumpled up – points in time, in different periods, intersect. This paper will try to explore the implications of this for archaeological interpretation in general. James Whitley (Cardiff University)