Penelope, by Francis Thompson

John Singer Sargent - The Honourable Victoria Stanley
John Singer Sargent – The Honourable Victoria Stanley

Volume 2 of The works of Francis Thompson, Poems contains a section titled A Narrow Vessel, starting with the following description:

Being a little dramatic sequence on the aspect of primitive girl-nature towards a love beyond its capacities

It consists mostly of poems about unhappy love affairs with girls; they are often bitter and reproachful, sometimes telling of “sin.” CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Dream-Tryst, by Francis Thompson

Léon Bazille Perrault - Out in the Cold
Léon Bazille Perrault – Out in the Cold (1890) – from Wikimedia Commons

This is one of the first two published poems of Thompson; it first appeared in 1888 in Merry England, the journal edited by Wilfrid Meynell. While he was a vagrant and beggar in London, Thompson had sent to Meynell a dirty envelope containing two poems, one of which was ‘Dream-Tryst,’ and a prose essay; Meynell put them aside for a few weeks, then published the three texts in the issues of April, May and June 1888. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

To Monica: After Nine Years, by Francis Thompson

Bertha Wegmann - Portrait of a girl
Bertha Wegmann – Portrait of a girl (1880) – from tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com

Another poem of Francis Thompson published posthumously. Addressed to Monica Meynell, it alludes to an earlier poem dedicated to her, “The Poppy,” which was probably written in 1891 when the girl was 11 years old. Hence this one can be dated around 1900, written for a 20 years old Monica. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

To Olivia, by Francis Thompson

Bryce Cameron Liston - Can Spring be Far
Bryce Cameron Liston – Can Spring be Far – from tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com

Wilfrid and Alice Meynell had eight children: Sebastian, Monica, Everard, Madeleine, Viola, Vivian, Olivia, and Francis. In the “Biographical Note” introducing the book Selected Poems of Francis Thompson, Wilfrid Meynell writes of Francis Thompson:

The children of the family in London, into which he was received, were the subjects of Poppy, The Making of Viola, To Monica Thought Dying, To my Godchild—all in the first book of Poems; while two of their number have a noble heritage in Sister Songs. Constant to the end, when he died some newly pencilled lines were found, addressed “To Olivia,” a yet younger sister, recalling the strains of fifteen years before.

Indeed, this poem dedicated to the youngest Meynell daughter, born in 1890, was published by Wilfrid Meynell several years after Thompson’s death in 1907. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Daisy, by Francis Thompson

Jules-Cyrille Cavé - Girl with a Bouquet of Daisies (1897)
Jules-Cyrille Cavé – Girl with a Bouquet of Daisies (1897) – from Wikimedia Commons

After being rescued from vagrancy, the poet Francis Thompson was brought by Wilfrid and Alice Meynell to Our Lady of England Priory in Storrington, West Sussex, where he stayed in order to recover from his opium addiction. In his “Biographical Note” introducing Selected Poems of Francis Thompson, Wilfrid Meynell wrote: CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…