In these verses, probably written around 1885, Dowson tells us that there is no sweeter music than a child’s name, it illuminates the poet’s life and relieves his heart of all sorrow. It is a sacred charm that guards him from harm. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
As the 7 other sonnets in this series, this one was probably written around 1885. Again it tells us that only a little girl can relieve the poet’s heart from bitterness and sorrow. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Ernest Christopher Dowson was born on August 2, 1867 in Lee (now part of Lewisham), in the Kent region of the UK. Throughout his life he suffered from poor health, and he died from tuberculosis and neglect on February 23, 1900, aged 32. He was buried in Ladywell Cemetary. Here is an old picture of his grave, scanned from The Letters of Ernest Dowson (Desmond Flower & Henry Maas, editors): CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Ernest Dowson wrote around 1885 a series of 7 “Sonnets of a Little Girl,” followed by an 8th called “Epilogue.” In his lifetime, only two were published: the 4th in November 1886 and a modified version of the 8th in November 1896; the latter with the title “A Last Word” is the last poem in verse in his final collection Decorations: in Verse and Prose(1899). CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
The English writer Ernest Christopher Dowson (1867–1900) remains famous for his poetry, but he also wrote novels (with Arthur Moore) and short stories, and translated in English several works of French literature. He belonged to the group of writers and artists who called themselves ‘Decadents,’ ‘the movement’ or ‘fin de siècle. With a vague feeling of the decay of civilisation and of its imminent collapse, they rejected Victorian moralism and sentimentality, and strove for the beauty of art for art’s sake. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
