Postcard 80: Thoughts sparked by Gray and a Country Churchyard

Cambridge, where 'Gray's Elegy' may have been composed

'The curfew tolls the knell ...' 

Many of us can recite this much of Gray's 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard'. How many of us, though, know anything much about the background to the poem? I was delighted to read the interesting feature by Carol Rumens in her 'Poem of the Week' column in 'The Guardian'.

In my mind's eye I do not see Cambridge, a place I know well, for it was my home town for five years. Instead, I picture a rural churchyard, full of greenery and perhaps dominated by a large Yew. This may be because the driveway up to my childhood home ran alongside a scene such as this, and childhood impressions are etched deep in our psyches. The view below captures something similar, although it is in a completely different part of the country. 

A Country Churchyard

This is actually the churchyard (and a beautifully mown one!) at Vowchurch in Herefordshire. It has nothing to do with Gray, but it represents the kind of place I associate with the poem.

St Bartholomew's, Vowchurch, Herefordshire

Vowchurch has interesting literary connections of its own. We visited it once on our way to the Hay Festival (on a rather round-and-about route).

As you approach Vowchurch from the road . . .

Lewis Carroll, of 'Alice' fame, was really Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. His brother, Skevington Hume Dodgson, was the incumbent here from 1895-1910. Their father, Charles Dodgson Senior, was an Archdeacon. You can read about the family on this site.

This beautiful part of Herefordshire, Golden Valley, is also associated with another Lewis, namely C.S. Lewis, creator of the wonderful 'Narnia' stories.

• 'Alice' comes to the Golden Valley
• Thomas Gray Archive
• Poem text and notes
• Stoke Poges site
• Genealogy: the Dodgson family

Postcard 67: Through the Wardrobe to Narnia!

The reflection in this lamp post
(in the Cathedral Close at St Davids, adjacent to the Thirty-Nine Steps*)
reminds me of Lucy's meeting with Mr Tumnus in 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'.

Those who read this blog will know that my postcards are usually about places I have enjoyed visiting on my literary quests. This postcard is a bit different. I have just read two excellent posts by Rosie of Leaves 'n Bloom about her trip on the C.S. Lewis trail. I feel sure that you will enjoy these posts as much as I have. The embedded YouTube video gives an excellent overview in Part II.

• Part I
• Part II

The wardrobe that inspired Lewis is on display in the Wade Center in Wheaton College, USA. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is one of my all time favourite books. You will remember Mr Tumnus the faun, with his 'strange but pleasant little face' and his cloven hooves. Later on, of course, he is turned into a stone statue by the White Witch. But can Aslan the lion come to the rescue...?



* These steps are known locally, as the 'Thirty-Nine Articles', after the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571 given in English and Latin, the assent of which is still required of clergy in the Church of England. They form the "authorised standard of doctrine". The steps are not named after the John Buchan thriller!

Postcard 59: The Holy Land

My thanks to David Gill for the use of his photographs.
Click on the image to enlarge.

Above: desert travellers...
Below: The Church of the Nativity, Manger Square, Bethlehem


'This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'
Luke 2:12

'We saw his star in the east...'
Matthew 2:2

Nadolig Llawen!

Postcard 25: A Gander's Tale from Gower, South Wales

Book cover of 'A Gander's Tale', showing Burry Green and Bethesda Chapel

'Consider the birds ... but listen to the message behind the Gander's Tale' David Gill

The Gower Peninsula - known locally simply as 'Gower' - was the first area to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Many vistors to Burry Green approach this lovely Gower village from the rise known as Cefn Bryn, with its sweeping views across the Loughor Estuary. The building of Bethesda Chapel was financed in some measure by Lady Diana Barham. It opened for worship in 1814. William Griffiths, a Calvinistic Methodist who later became known as the 'Apostle of Gower', served as Minister from 1823 until 1861.

As you can see from the photograph, the village is dominated by the fine white-washed chapel and by the pond. Chapel Elder, Miss Eleanor Jenkins, has had an eye on both these features: her book is the culmination of her astute observations of the geese who live on the green. Eleanor's aim, however, in writing about the gander and his friends was to link these avian observations with Biblical truths about Jesus Christ. 'A Gander's Tale' is made up of fifty short chapters or 'goose fables' (in the sense that Paul White used the term for his 'Jungle Doctor' series), which began as monthly articles in the Bethesda magazine.

We were delighted to attend the launch of the book last week at Old Walls Leisure: it was a wonderful occasion, and there was a good crowd. 'A Gander's Tale' is adorned with Eleanor's beautiful colour photographs. Each 'chapter' contains a Christian message in addition to unusual insights into the life of the geese themselves. Did you know, for example, that a Frizzley Sebastapol is a breed of extra-feathery goose? If you buy a copy of the book, you will discover the joys of life in a Gower village and why Goosey should perhaps have been called Gandalf!

The link below will allow you to purchase a copy of the book or to opt for a free download.

• The publisher's site: 'A Gander's Tale'

Postcard 22: Wordsworth at Tintern

Tintern Abbey on the River Wye

Chris Tally Evans has been presenting a four-part BBC Radio programme on the River Wye, called 'My Mile of the River'. This may be what sowed our seed of thought to revisit Tintern Abbey. We left the traffic on the M4 behind us, and drove on through beautiful countryside until we dropped down into the village. Wordsworth (1770-1850) was much on our minds, and his lines were ringing in my ears, as we enjoyed the 'wild green landscape' he described in Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey (13 July 1798). The poem was penned on the poet's second visit to the site. He was in a buoyant frame of mind and was accompanied on this occasion by his beloved sister, Dorothy. Wordsworth's previous visit had not been under such auspicious circumstances. He had travelled alone some five years earlier in the summer of 1793, after the French had declared war on England, shortly after the death of Louis XIV on the guillotine. Wordsworth's daughter, Caroline, had been born to Annette Vallon in 1792: Wordsworth had returned home, leaving his daughter and her mother in France.

A few facts about Tintern

• 1536: the beginning of the dissolution of the monasteries.
• 1566: the iron industry began in the adjoining Angidy valley.
• 1782: the publication of Observations on the River Wye by William Gilpin.
• 1792-1798: Turner visited Tintern on a number of occasions.
  
• 1793: Wordsworth's first visit.
• 1794: Turner painted the ruined abbey in watercolour and Edward Dayes painted Tintern Abbey from across the Wye.
• 1796: Wordsworth left London with his copy of Gilpin's guidebook.
• 1798: Wordsworth's second visit
• 1798: Wordsworth wrote his Tintern poem.
  
• 1804: William Havell painted Tintern Abbey and the River Wye.
• 1815: William Havell's aquatint of Tintern Abbey.

• Stella and Rose's Books in Tintern
• Literary Trail: Tintern to Hay
  

Postcard 3: Mwnt and the Bardsey Island Trail

The little church of the Holy Cross at Mwnt, near Cardigan Island

We love coming to Mwnt for a picnic, and it was good to see the little church featuring on S4C's 'Dechrau Canu, Dechrau Canmol' programme last night. We joined the Friends of Mwnt Church some months ago, and enjoy receiving a calendar of events. The 12th century font is older than the current church.

Mwnt has a splendid coastal position, and we have often seen a seal or two. We watched a couple of bottlenose dolphins on one occasion. Cardigan Island, home to a number of seals, is nearby: the Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park is well worth a visit.

I have selected Mwnt, not so much on its own literary merit, but on account of the fact that it marks a convenient resting point on the ancient pilgrimage route (a) between St Davids and Bardsey Island - aka Enlli - and (b) between St Davids and the beautiful abbey of Strata Florida. Poets R.S. Thomas, Gillian Clarke, Fflur Dafydd and Christine Evans have all had close links with the island.

• 'Pilgrimage Wales' and Mwnt Church, The Western Mail, 29 Nov 2008
• BBC panoramic view of Mwnt Church and Foel y Mwnt
• Mwnt Church in Wales's Best Hundred Churches, T.J. Hughes (Seren)
• Directions to Mwnt from activitywales.com
  
• Read about Island of Dark Horses by Christine Evans
• The Poetry Society: Gillian Clarke at Bardsey Island
• Enlli and the Arts
• Visit Bardsey: Enlli Charters