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W.H.AUDEN


I am still not able to give the blog the attention and concentration  it deserves, but for the moment my computer is working and I have yet to have a petulant temper tantrum because I have done something stupid with it  which I take as a very  encouraging sign. Alas I remain gnat brained so forgive me.

You all seemed to have contributed to writing and thinking about Auden in my absence so I will merely add a rather interesting article about his school days at Gresham which hopefully will be new to the group. Here is the link below.

https://www.greshams.com/archives/historical-articles/w-h-auden/

It’s hard to imagine Auden as a little boy and  all too easy to imagine him born with a craggy, even monumental presence, he writes with such assured authority. One contemporary describes him  as “a small, slightly puffy little boy with pink and white cheeks and almost colourless hair” long before the wedding cake began to dissolve.

I can’t see a caption to the photograph in the article and infer it must  Auden playing the part of Caliban.


T. S. ELIOT

I hope everyone has been able to track down the T. S Eliot readings. I think some time ago now, I forgot to recommend The Book Cat by Polly Faber and illustrated by Claire Vulliamy partly because I don’t want to fully inhabit the role of Poetry Group’s Old Cat Lady and partly because I am sure many people make distinctions between adult’s and children’s books which I don’t. The hero of the book is based on Morgan, a stray cat who adopted the Faber and Faber Offices and for many years greeted and escorted visiting writers. 

The blurb says “This is a classic wartime tale of a (real!) cat who made his home at the Faber offices and decided he'd never leave…Morgan is a young orphan who lives off scavenging - until he finds a cosy home at a famous London publishing house. Over time he learns a trade - and soon becomes the very best book cat in the business. And then the Blitz begins. Morgan finds himself training up twenty odd kittens to be book cats, and then there is the small matter of secretly evacuating them out of London. Happily, Morgan has a plan.

Set in war-torn London, charmingly illustrated, and full of heart and verve.”

THE ROMANTICS

I am currently obsessed by Wordsworth and Coleridge and there is  a project at the Dove Cottage, Grasmere Museum, once the home of Wordsworth.

“In 1798, Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge sparked a literary revolution. Poems in everyday language told of people on the margins of society. Our new exhibition, Refuge from the Ravens: Wordsworth rewritten by homeless Britain, is a twenty-first century remix — new Lyrical Ballads made by people with experience of homelessness, and other vulnerable people, in poetry, art and song.”  The times are so dire it is not just  cheering to celebrate poetry, art and song but should be made obligatory.

Here is a link to the Museum 

https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/events/refuge-from-the-ravens/

If you look up Refuge from The Ravens on You Tube there are a number of interesting clips etc.

FINALLY

Mary is bringing the poem and we will be upstairs at Prideaux House. I hope everyone thrives. Best Wishes,

Elizabeth




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