Tag: Death

Edward Thomas in Gower

April 23, 2021 2 Comments
Edward Thomas in Gower

At last some warmth returned with the sun, and I took the rough path along the top of the cliff between Rotherslade and Limeslade.  The sea was calm, empty and quiet, except for one thing: the bell of a floating buoy, its clear sound carried over the water by a light onshore breeze.  I’ve been […]

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Emily Dickinson’s ‘What care the Dead’

July 24, 2020 4 Comments
Emily Dickinson’s ‘What care the Dead’

When I’m distracted or glum I often reach for the poems of Emily Dickinson. I’ve an old copy of Thomas H. Johnson’s complete edition, published in this country by Faber.  It’s less of a book and more of a box.  With its stocky build and 770 pages it looks like a box of postcards.  You […]

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Shandy Hall and the Auxerre moment

August 30, 2015 0 Comments
Shandy Hall and the Auxerre moment

Shandy Hall is a house almost as eccentric as the mind of its once owner, Laurence Sterne, vicar of Coxwold and author of The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy. One of the highlights of the summer was a tour of the inside of the building in the company of its curator, Patrick Wildgust. My […]

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Beth yw diben angladd?

April 8, 2015 2 Comments
Beth yw diben angladd?

Dros y gaeaf buodd Dr Angau ar grwydr trwy’r wlad yn ei glogyn du, ac yn anarferol o brysur. O fewn y pythefnos diwethaf bues i mewn tri angladd, yn Lloegr ac yng Nghymru. Byddai’r cyfanswm wedi bod yn bedwar angladd mewn tair gwlad oni bai am y ffaith bod dau’n digwydd ar yr un […]

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The overcoat

February 5, 2014 1 Comment
The overcoat

I was sitting reading in the front room yesterday when a sharp rap on the window made me jump.  A man stood at the door.   Only the sharp features of his face were visible; the rest of his body was protected from the cold wind and rain by a thick shell of industrial yellow.  Behind […]

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