“We that are of purer fire
Imitate the Starry Quire,
Who in their nightly watchful Spheres,
Lead in swift round the Months & Years.
The Sounds & Seas with all their finny drove
Now to the Moon in wavering morrice move,
And on the Tawny Sands & Shelves,
Trip the pert Fairies & the dapper Elves;
By dimpled Brook & Fountain-brim,
The Wood-Nymphs decked with Daisies trim,
Their merry wakes & pastimes keep:
What hath night to do with sleep?“
- Milton
My day walking Warton Crag Nature Reserve ended at the Old School Brewery, for a much needed cold orange juice (I needed a cider more🍺, but I was driving afterwards) a bit of Milton's poetry, and far too many salt and pepper chips, which I left half of but which I reckon still undid all the benefit I might have accrued from my exercise! Oh, well... 😏
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#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude
#TheBeatles Abbey Road is one of my favourite albums, and Golden Slumbers one of my favourite tracks, which, I discover, should have a third composer listed: Lennon-McCartney-Dekker. The refrain at the end of each verse feels quite modern in this context.
I love finding stuff like this 😊📚🎼
"Every man hath his free will.
The best ensue,
The worst eschew;
My mind shall be, --
Virtue to use,
Vice to refuse,
Thus shall I use me."
- Good Company, by Henry VIII
Nice sentiment, Harry; sorry to be judgemental, but how do you think this worked out for you? ?
I've finished the first two sections on early anonymous ballads & songs, which I really liked & was surprised to recognise a couple of survivals into modern times.
I've just completed the Chaucer selection, which is inclining me to read his Works which I have tbr. This selection featured The Friar's Tale, which was unexpectedly hilarious, & which I got to discuss with my daughter as we had a family day yesterday, & she read Chaucer last year 👥
"True Thomas lay on Huntlie Bank;
A marvel he did see;
For there he saw a lady bright,
Come riding down by the Eildon tree.
...
'All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven!
For thy peer on earth could never be.'
'O no, O no, Thomas,' she said,
'I'm but the Queen of fair Elfland,
That hither am come to visit thee.'"
- True Thomas, medieval Border Ballad
Having just finished the last of Warner's Elfin tales, before moving on to her cat ones, I ⬇️
The Albatross Book of Living Verse: English and American Poetry from the Thirteenth Century to the Present Day | 
