John Wells Exhibitions, Poetry

Paul Claudel and Audrey Parr: a Cambridge exhibition

To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the poet and playwright Paul Claudel (1868–1955), a new exhibition in the Cambridge University Library’s main Entrance Hall displays highlights from a collection of letters, postcards, verses and books sent or presented by Claudel to his friend and collaborator Audrey Parr (1892–1940), and donated to the … Continue reading Paul Claudel and Audrey Parr: a Cambridge exhibition

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John Wells Exhibitions, Poetry

On display: ‘Poems by Siegfried Sassoon’

The friendship formed by the poet Siegfried Sassoon with the literary hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell was among the most formative of his life. Begun by correspondence early in 1916 while he was serving on the Western Front, the relationship introduced Sassoon to the circle of pacifist intellectuals centred on the Morrells’ home at Garsington in Oxfordshire. … Continue reading On display: ‘Poems by Siegfried Sassoon’

John Wells Exhibitions, Poetry

‘The first of rural bards’: Robert Bloomfield in Cambridge University Library

The poet Robert Bloomfield, author of The farmer’s boy, was born in Suffolk two hundred and fifty years ago, in December 1766. Of humble parentage, he worked briefly as a labourer on a nearby farm before moving to London to take up the trade of cobbler. The success of The farmer’s boy, a poem of … Continue reading ‘The first of rural bards’: Robert Bloomfield in Cambridge University Library

John Wells Exhibitions, Poetry

Virtual exhibitions from Cambridge University Library

Cambridge University Library has recently been using a generous grant from the Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation to augment its provision of online exhibitions. The re-designed Exhibitions homepage has links to the resources in the new format, which have been created using a customised platform based on WordPress. Two recent virtual exhibitions in particular may be of interest … Continue reading Virtual exhibitions from Cambridge University Library

John Wells Exhibitions, Poetry

Peter Scupham at Eighty

  A new exhibition in Cambridge University Library celebrates the eightieth birthday of the distinguished poet Peter Scupham. Born in Bootle in 1933, Scupham read English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. While working as a schoolteacher, and later in semi-retirement as a bookseller, Scupham has produced eleven full-length collections of poetry in addition to volumes of Selected … Continue reading Peter Scupham at Eighty

Zoe Wilcox Acquisitions, Poetry

British Library acquires the archive of poet James Berry

The British Library has acquired the archive of the Caribbean British poet and writer, James Berry OBE. One of the first black writers in Britain to be widely recognised for his work, James Berry came to Britain as part of the first major wave of immigrants from the Caribbean in 1948. Berry's archive includes poetry … Continue reading British Library acquires the archive of poet James Berry

John Wells Exhibitions, Poetry

Showing Their Hands at Cambridge University Library

Dawson Turner, the banker, antiquary, and leading light of autograph collectors in the early nineteenth century, claimed that he had ‘never met with the man who was not gratified to see how Newton wrote, or how Milton and Bacon formed their letters’. Since poetry is the most intense and heightened mode of language, fascination with … Continue reading Showing Their Hands at Cambridge University Library

Zoe Wilcox Poetry, Publications

Macmillan Archive looks back on 150 years of The Golden Treasury

Francis Turner Palgrave's The Golden Treasury was originally published in 1861 and has been the standard anthology of poetry for over 100 years. The Golden Treasury series helped to popularise Wordsworth and other romantic poets and is a set text for students of English Literature across the world. The volume has been in print ever … Continue reading Macmillan Archive looks back on 150 years of The Golden Treasury