aBurntShip

             'The Uncommon Prayer Book' and Psalm 109                                                                   M.R.James in 1900 courtesy of 'Wikipedia' New years greetings to all visitors this blog and hope that you all have an inspiring 2019. Have spent a great deal of the festive season researching my other interest, World War 2 poetry, and also have written a short article for  The Cromwell Association  newsletter. To start the year off with a consideration - how should the Psalms be treated when considering whether or not there is such a genre as 16th or 17th century war poetry ?  Of course  Psalters, personal collection of selected  psalms, sometimes illustrated, had been in circulation for centuries, often copied out by hand. But ...

                                                     James Shirley 1596-1666 James Shirley's house was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666; He and his wife managed to escape the blaze but both died a few weeks later. His life, even his date of birth, are disputed. In 'Ben Johnson and the Cavalier Poets' selected & edited by Hugh Maclean( 1974), , we are informed that Shirley was educated at the 'Merchant Taylors' School, studied at Saint John's College at Oxford in 1612, but soon transferred to Saint Catherine's Hall in Cambridge. James Shirley graduated in 1646 and was a minister in and then a headmaster of a Grammar School in St. Albans, converting to the Roman Catholic faith around 1623. From 1625 -1636, Shirley wrote fifteen comedies, four tragedies, and two masques. He then spent four years in Dublin, with two further play...

                                                       Concluding part of Jemahl Evans Interview                                                                                                                  Samuel Butler -Poet- 1613- 1680 . Portrait by Pieter Borsseler courtesy Wiki Commons Continuing my interview with novelist Jemahl Evans .  Part One is here    To recap slightly Jemahl's lead character is one Sir Blandford Candy- " an irascible old drunk with a hatred of poets and a love of hats"  : In fact 'hatred' is probably too m...

                                      Visit to Worcester September 2018                                                                                                                                                  Bronze relief sculpture of Battle of Worcester at Fort Royal                                        by Ken Potts, courtesy of the Battle of Worcester Society The 3rd September was significant  for...

                       Jemahl Evans interview part one                                                                                          Jemahl Evans -pic supplied by the author                               I was delighted to interview author  Jemahl Evans via Email recently. His lead character -Sir Blandford Candy- " an irascible old drunk with a hatred of poets and a love of hats" , was ninety five years old in 1719, and  the sole surviving Roundhead.  One enthusiast summed up Jemahl's 2015 novel, 'The Last Roundhead', as '"Flashman meets the Three Muskateers in a picaresque romp through Stuart...

             The Works both Humane & Divine of Robert Herrick Esq                           On this blog, there have been posts about the use of panegyrics in honour of luminaries such as Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. But probably not enough has been written about Royalist poets- besides Richard Lovelace.However I  recently found a work title d 'Ben Johnson and the Cavalier Poets. Selected and Edited by Hugh Maclean ( with Authorative Texts Criticism)  and published in 1974 i n a local charity booksho p.   So this post will be one of series of features to help redresses the balance. And I will start with  Royalist clergyman Robert Herrick ( 1591- 1674) .                                                        ...

                  Edmund  Waller (1606- 1687) Poet and Plotter                     Recently finished reading 'The Last Roundhead' , a superb novel by Jemahl Evans and was reminded that poet Edmund Waller was a leading figure in a doomed Royalist rebellion that hardly got off the ground in London in 1643. The capital was firmly in the hands of the Parliamentarian forces. Waller was MP for  Agmondesham, Buckinghamshire, and related to both Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden, but had sent money to King Charles in Oxford in 1642. Waller and leading co-conspirator Nathaniel Tomkins were arrested on 31st May 1643. They were betrayed, most likely due to being naive and indiscreet, and totally underestimating the rudimentary intelligence service that Parliament was starting to assemble. In the aforementioned novel, Waller is portrayed as breaking down completely, offering bribes and be...