On Birds’ Nests
Paul Nash, “The Orchard” (c. 1914) Today’s poetry and painting piece features Edward Thomas, Paul Nash, W.H. Davies and birds’ nests… In addition to their intrinsic beauty, the bare trees of late...
View ArticleEaster with the Thomases
Gaw explores a flower-covered car wreck and a rain-sodden graveyard to consider what Easter has meant to two of our grumpiest poets… I keep returning to the two Thomases – Hardy and R.S. – even though...
View ArticleOf Growing Old
Robert Kirkland Jamieson, “Early Spring” (c. 1930) In today’s poetry feature Stephen Pentz considers the business of growing old – not that he’s complaining, mind… As a preface to the following poem, I...
View ArticleT.E. Brown in the Garden
Luxuriating in his suburban idyll, Nige considers the blackbird, and an effusive Victorian poet… There are sometimes nights when the sun is out, the air is warm, and one is able to enjoy that supreme...
View ArticleStepping Westward
James McIntosh Patrick, “Boreland Mill, Kirkmichael” (1950) Stephen Pentz on a poem that shows how revolutionary Wordsworth’s poetry was in its day, even though it seems very traditional to us now… In...
View ArticleSmall Trifles
Stanley Spencer, “Lilac and Clematis at Englefield” (1954) Meaning in life can be found in the small details that we too often miss… I would not describe William Wordsworth as a succinct poet. He...
View ArticleConvergence of the Twain: Thomas Hardy on the Titanic
Originally published on The Dabbler in April 2012 – centenary month of the sinking of the Titanic – this long read analysis by literary professor and blogger Mark Richardson on a poem that dips into...
View ArticleThe Destination
Mary Dawson Elwell, “The Front Door” (1940) Where are we all headed?, asks Stephen (rhetorically)… We are often advised to take heed of the old saw “life is a journey, not a destination.” I can see...
View ArticleSong of the Cicada
Nige brings us this week’s poetry feature: the ‘thin uncomprehended song’ of a swarming insect… A few years ago I heard a report on the radio about the spectacular mass hatching of Periodical Cicadas...
View ArticleThe Unsettling Gull
Gulls are getting a bad press lately, with even the Prime Minister expressing his disapproval of the seaside menaces. Here’s a poem about them, and Welsh homesickness… I think we can all agree that...
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