“The embrace of present and past time, in which English antiquarianism becomes a form of alchemy, engenders a strange timelessness. It is as if the little bird which flew through the Anglo-Saxon banqueting hall, in Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, gained the outer air and became the lark ascending in Vaughan Williams's orchestral setting. The unbroken chain is that of English music itself.” IfsLittlesPastFormAirStrangeBirdEmbraceSettingSettingsChainsHallsFlewAlchemyUnbrokenTimelessnessLarksAscendingAnglo SaxonEnglish Music Author:Peter Ackroyd
“The busy chatter of the heat Shrilled like a parakeet; And shuddering at the noonday light The dust lay dead and white As powder on a mummy's face, Or fawned with simian grace Round booths with many a hard bright toy And wooden brittle joy: The cap and bells of Time the Clown That, jangling, whistled down Young cherubs hidden in the guise Of every bird that flies; And star-bright masks for youth to wear, Lest any dream that fare Bright pilgrim past our ken, should see Hints of Reality.” ShouldHardDreamRealityLightPastFacesYoungJoyStarsWhiteGraceYouthBirdLaysRoundsBusyDustHeatMaskBellsToysClownHintsCapsPilgrimPowderGuiseChatterMummyShudderingCherubsParakeets Book:The canticle of the rose: poems: 1917-1949 Source: The canticle of the rose: poems: 1917-1949
“Years and years ago, when I was a boy, when there were wolves in Wales, and birds the color of red-flannel petticoats whisked past the harp-shaped hills, when we sang and wallowed all night and day in caves that smelt like Sunday afternoons in damp front farmhouse parlors, and we chased, with the jawbones of deacons, the English and the bears, before the motor car, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced horse, when we rode the daft and happy hills bareback, it snowed and it snowed.” YearsPastNightBoysCarFrontsColorBearsBirdRedYears AgoHorseHillsWheelsSundayAfternoonCavesAll NightMotorWalesHarpsDampParlorDuchessDaftFlannelsSunday AfternoonsMotor CarsDeacons Book:A Child's Christmas in Wales Source: A Child's Christmas in Wales