This is probably one of the best-known poems of John Clare. Again, it comes from the collection Asylum Poems that he wrote while he was interned in a lunatic asylum. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
First Love, by John Clare
Category: English
Some kisses exchanged by Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper
In a recent post, I gave some excerpts of love letters exchanged by Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper in 1885, the year they celebrated their private marriage. Today, I give two beautiful short quotes from further love letters. Again, they are taken from their complete correspondence edited by Sharon Bickle, and I will refer to these letters by their number in that collection. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
The Forest Maid, by John Clare
This sweet poem by John Clare comes from his beautiful collection Asylum Poems, written while he was interned in a lunatic asylum. It tells the love he shared with a young girl, and he gives her a lovely name: Mary Littlechild. It probably refers to his first love, Mary Joyce, whom he courted briefly at age 16, until her father put an end to their relation. She remained his ideal of love and beauty, and when he lost reason, Clare believed that Mary Joyce was his true wife. In July 1841, Clare absconded from the asylum and walked 140 km home, intent on returning to Mary. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Growth, by Ernest Dowson
In a post presenting the poem Ad Domnulam Suam by Ernest Dowson, I said that Dowson wrote it in October 1890, and that it was probably inspired by his beloved Adelaide Foltinowicz, then aged twelve years and a half. In it, he expressed his love for a young girl, and at the same time a desire to stop before this love could grow too strong; he also said that the girl would soon grow out of childhood, and this could spell the end of that love. He seemed to be afraid that his love for Adelaide would finally end as she grew into adulthood. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Some love letters between Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper in the year 1885
Katherine Harris Bradley (1846–1914) and Edith Emma Cooper (1862–1913) had a triple relation: aunt and niece, lovers, and collaborative authors of poetry and drama. Their correspondence has been gathered by Sharon Bickle, and I will refer to their letters by their number in that collection. Many of them express their love in a lyrical way, and this is most striking for the year 1885. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Love Lives Beyond the Tomb, by John Clare
Today, I present another beautiful little piece from the collection Asylum Poems that John Clare wrote while he was interned in a lunatic asylum. It is a message of hope, he tells us that love is everlasting, it “lives beyond the tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew,” and it can be found with “the fond, the faithful, young and true.” The genuine heart-love of a young maiden brings the poet eternal happiness. The secret of a fruitful life is a young heart full of love. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Ad Domnulam Suam, by Ernest Dowson
This beautiful poem, whose title means “to his little lady” (or “mistress”), expresses the poet’s love for a young girl, and at the same time a desire to stop before this love could grow too strong. Anyway, the girl will soon leave the “fairy-land” of childhood and grow into adulthood, and this could spell the end of that love’s magic. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Arisen
Poets and Lovers exists since three years, having been through many difficulties. One year ago, our host provider in the UK, after repeated persecution by the police, was railroaded into a guilty plea (for possessing or having possessed material totally legal in any other country in Western Europe), then his server was forcibly closed down after a police raid. Fortunately, we soon found another host provider in another country. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
A Love Letter
All the Year Round was a weekly literary magazine founded and owned by Charles Dickens, published between 1859 and 1895 throughout the United Kingdom. It was edited by Dickens until shortly before his death in 1870, and then his eldest son Charles Dickens, Jr. took over the magazine.
The following poem was published anonymously in its issue of August 21, 1886. It is a beautiful declaration of love addressed to a child. Although the author does never tell the child’s gender, the words “like a Queen” make it clear that it is a girl. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Yvonne of Brittany, by Ernest Dowson
In his lifetime, Ernest Dowson published two volumes of poetry, Verses in June 1896, and Decorations: in Verse and Prose in December 1899, two months before his death. Except the poems in prose at the end of Decorations, they were included in The Poems and Prose of Ernest Dowson, With a Memoir by Arthur Symons, available on the web as a Project Gutenberg Ebook, and they can also be seen on ELCore.Net, Website of E. L. Core.
The volume Verses is dedicated to Adelaide Foltinowicz, a Polish girl born in 1878, with whom Dowson was in love. Having had hopes for a common future, many poems have a light and happy side, contrasting with the dark ones at the end of Decorations, written in bitter disappointment after Adelaide’s marriage with another man. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…