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Jane 3024 posts |
Aug 03, 2006, 07:42
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:-) J x
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Littlestone 5386 posts |
Aug 09, 2006, 21:30
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The poem, Two Visits to the Men-an-Tol by Penelope Shuttle is now up on Meg Poems at http://megalithicpoems.blogspot.com/ Thanks to Andy Norfolk for sending me the poem, and to Mr Hamhead for permission to use his illustration to accompany it.
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Littlestone 5386 posts |
Aug 17, 2006, 10:35
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As the sun, so shy, speeds on to hide behind the western hills I stand within this Ancient circle with its rugged stones Pointing to the sky Like the digits on the clock of time - The time that has refused to move, As if the keeper of this heather hearth has gone to bed Remembering not to lift The fallen weights of Time and Space. And as I rest upon this stone I see a ladder too - like Jacob did Reaching far into the end of Time, and I seem to touch that void where there was only Love That brooded on the great abyss Giving birth to Life. And as the painful pangs of birth subside I hear in the wind a mighty voice commanding through eternal space, "Let there be Light", and Light there Was. The Light was good, And it kissed the earth, they fell in love And made a promise to be true for ever and for Ever. They're still in love, for As I rest upon this stone tonight I spy them kissing in their Purple gowns As touch they do on that horizon bed Where they'll embrace 'till dawn I know they will not part For as tomorrow comes they'll wake, and walk together through another day, While all the children of the living earth Will call them blessed as they pass. And as I touch this stone I feel the hands of those My brothers Who at dawn of human life Erected to that same Old Sun This temple of eternal praise, and thanked the Source of Light and Love for just Another day - to be alive. And now I hear in the stillness of this hill, Where there's no time, The voice of him who said, "Let there be Light" And light there was, There is, And will be tomorrow for my sons, And their children too. Iolo Morgannwg (1747-1826) More about this colourful character at - http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Iolo%20Morgannwg
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moss 2897 posts |
Aug 17, 2006, 12:51
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There's a 19th c stone circle (the rocking stone, Pontypridd) to go with this "make believe artist" though I noticed a Chief Constable is the latest bard... its in "Gathering the Jewels" hopefully the link works. http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup1/2839
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Littlestone 5386 posts |
Aug 17, 2006, 13:10
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moss wrote: There's a 19th c stone circle (the rocking stone, Pontypridd) to go with this "make believe artist" though I noticed a Chief Constable is the latest bard... its in "Gathering the Jewels" hopefully the link works. http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup1/2839 Thanks moss, the link does work (fascinating site) and I noticed another lovely old photo (1880s) of the Rocking Stone at - http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/subjects/2018
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Littlestone 5386 posts |
Aug 17, 2006, 19:21
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High on a mountain's highest ridge, Where oft the stormy winter gale Cuts like a scythe, while through the clouds It sweeps from vale to vale; Not five yards from the mountain-path, This thorn you on your left espy; And to the left, three yards beyond, You see a little muddy pond Of water, never dry; I've measured it from side to side: 'Tis three feet long, and two feet wide. And close beside this aged thorn, There is a fresh and lovely sight, A beauteous heap, a hill of moss, Just half a foot in height. All lovely colours there you see, All colours that were ever seen, And mossy network too is there, As if by hand of lady fair The work had woven been, And cups, the darlings of the eye, So deep is their vermilion dye. Ah me! what lovely tints are there! Of olive-green and scarlet bright, In spikes, in branches, and in stars, Green, red, and pearly white. This heap of earth o'ergrown with moss, Which close beside the thorn you see, So fresh in all its beauteous dyes, Is like an infant's grave in size As like as like can be: But never, never any where, An infant's grave was half so fair.* William Wordsworth Compare this with Stukeley's, "...findings at several sites, as recorded in Stonehenge, a Temple Restor’d to the British Druids: “About three foot below the surface, a layer of flints... about a foot thick, rested on a layer of soft mould another foot: in which was inclos’ed an urn full of bones... The bones had been burnt, and crouded all together in a little heap, not so much as a hat would contain... We made a cross-section ten foot each way, three foot broad over its center... At length we found a squarish hole cut into the solid chalk, in the center of the tumulus. It was three foot and a half, i.e., two cubits long, and near two foot broad, i.e. one cubit: pointing to Stonehenge directly. It was a cubit and a half deep from the surface... Regarding “one of the small ones, 20 cubits in diameter,”... A child’s body (as it seems) had been burnt here, and cover’d up in that hole: but thro’ the length of time consum’d. From three foot deep, we found much wood ashes soft and black as ink..."" "...there is no evidence as to when Wordsworth first read Stukeley, or that Wordsworth himself subscribed to Stukeley’s fatuous theories, we know from poems like “Salisbury Plain” that he was fascinated by Druid lore, and in the 1805 version of The Prelude he even characterized himself, during his studies at Cambridge (Stukeley’s alma mater), as a youthful initiate into the Druid class of Bards..."** * From The Thorn by William Wordsworth. Complete poem at - http://theliterarylink.com/thorn.html ** Abstracts from, From Relics to Remains: Wordsworth’s “The Thorn” and the Emergence of Secular History by Charles J. Rzepka. More at - http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2003/v/n31/008696ar.html
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Littlestone 5386 posts |
Aug 17, 2006, 21:03
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Stukeley's prose is actually so beautiful as to be poetic. Rearranged it might look like this - About three foot below the surface, a layer of flints... about a foot thick, rested on a layer of soft mould another foot: in which was inclos’ed an urn full of bones... The bones had been burnt, and crouded all together in a little heap, not so much as a hat would contain... We made a cross-section ten foot each way, three foot broad over its center... At length we found a squarish hole cut into the solid chalk, in the center of the tumulus. It was three foot and a half, i.e., two cubits long, and near two foot broad, i.e. one cubit: pointing to Stonehenge directly. It was a cubit and a half deep from the surface... Regarding one of the small ones, 20 cubits in diameter... A child’s body (as it seems) had been burnt here, and cover’d up in that hole: but thro’ the length of time consum’d. From three foot deep, we found much wood ashes soft and black as ink.
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nigelswift 8112 posts |
Aug 17, 2006, 21:20
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Great stuff. As I mentioned to you, there is an unpublished volume of poetry by Stukeley that I'm scheming to see. 'Course, it might be about non-stone subjects, I don't know. But if its about Stonehenge and Avebury, wow!
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Littlestone 5386 posts |
Aug 17, 2006, 21:25
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As I mentioned to you, there is an unpublished volume of poetry by Stukeley that I'm scheming to see. 'Course, it might be about non-stone subjects, I don't know. But if it's about Stonehenge and Avebury, wow! I hadn't forgotten; that sounds like a scheme to be set down over a table in the Lion :-)
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nigelswift 8112 posts |
Aug 17, 2006, 21:40
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Absolutely. I know nowt about the publishing game but it always puzzles me how manuscripts by prominent people can languish in the safes of crusty societies or stately homes for centuries and not be seen by a wider public. There's always the hope that there are "specialists" out there who would see significance that's been missed by the few curators that have seen them. A "new" Stukeley manuscript was published about a year ago, complete with diagrams on stone-moving, a variation on stone rowing, filched from Newton I suspect. Fancy that being unavailable for centuries! Gordon Pipes should have had that available to him.
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