(i) Poetry. John Clare was the poet I was thinking about. He lived from 1793 to 1864 through times of great change in rural England - including the land enclosures, came from a peasant family and had a deep love of nature and the countryside. Appropriate to this time of year - here's an extract from his poem November taken from here (thanks to Simon Kovesi).
The landscape sleeps in mist from morn till noon;
and, if the sun looks through, 'tis with a face
beamless and pale and round, as if the moon,
when done the journey of her nightly race,
had found him sleeping, and supplied his place.
For days the shepherds in the fields may be,
nor mark a patch of sky - blindfold they trace,
the plains, that seem without a bush or tree,
whistling aloud by guess, to flocks they cannot see
John Clare's work has quite a following today and is ranked with the greats. His relationship with the land and the countryside is an interesting example of a kind of environmental values possibly atypical of that time. Some say the disturbance of that relationship with the land caused by the enclosures contributed to the mental illness of his later years. Sadly he ended his days in Northampton Lunatic Asylum. In searching for more about him I even found this John Clare blog.
(ii) The other very engaging piece of audio I remembered was Max Nicholson at aged 91 on Desert Island Discs. There's a transcript online and I remember how lucid he was and the strength and expression of his voice....and now I see this was some 12 years ago! It struck me as quite remarkable at that time. Again it was his environmental values (and his interest in birdwatching) I found interesting.
What I'm keen on here is to find a few clips of audio of relevance to our course that might be engaging, remarkable and memorable.....as so much I listen to these days goes in one ear and out the other.
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