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  The Fireside Poets - A...

  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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  This group of 19th Century American poets was the first to rival their British counterparts in popularity. 
   
  Gathered around their New England roots they were also known as the Schoolroom or Household poets,  and comprised of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell and Olivier Wendell Holmes Senior. Occasionally Ralph Waldo Emerson was included although his poetic philosophy differed in some key aspects.   
   
  Each of these poets lived long and productive lives ensuring the longevity of the movement into the early 20th century. Their activities in the academic world, newspapers, the diplomatic service and lecture tours ensured they were constantly in the public eye.   
   
  Their essential discipline was focused on domestic themes and morality. At the time one of the primary sources of entertainment for the family was to be gathered around the fireplace whilst poems were read. 
   
  The Fireside Poets did not write for the sake of other poets or critics or for posterity. Instead they wrote for a contemporary audience of general readers.  They were mass communicators. Today the Fireside Poets, along with the equivalent British poets of Victorian times, is still regarded as essential verse.

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  The Poetry Of William Cowper

  William Cowper

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  William Cowper was born 26th November 1731 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. Traumatically he and his brother, John, were the only survivors, out of seven, to survive infancy. His mother died when he was six. 
  His education, after several temporary schools, was stabilised at Westminster school. Here he established several life-long friendships and a dedication to Latin. Upon leaving he was articled to a solicitor in London and spent almost a decade training in Law.  In 1763 he was offered a Clerkship of Journals in the House of Lords. With the examinations approaching Cowper had a mental breakdown. He tried to commit suicide three times and a period of depression and insanity seemed to settle on him. The end of this unhappy period saw him find refuge in evangelical Christianity, becoming the inspiration behind his much-loved hymns. 
  This led to a collaboration with John Newton in writing ‘Olney Hymns’. 
  However dark forces were about to overwhelm Cowper. In 1773, he experienced a devastating attack of insanity, believing that he was eternally condemned to hell, and that God was instructing him to make a sacrifice of his own life. With great care and devotion his friend, Mary Unwin, nursed him back to health. 
  In 1781 Cowper had the good fortune to meet a widow, Lady Austen, who inspired a new bout of poetry writing including what some have considered his most substantial work, ‘The Task’. 
  In 1786 he began his translations from the Greek into blank verse of Homer's ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’. These translations, published in 1791, were the most significant since those of Alexander Pope earlier in the century. 
  Mary Unwin died in 1796, plunging Cowper into a gloom from which he never fully recovered though he did continue to write. 
  William Cowper was seized with dropsy and died on 25th April 1800.

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  Rathmines Road (NHB Modern Plays)

  Deirdre Kinahan

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  Will truth out?
  Set over one evening, Rathmines Road by Deirdre Kinahan is a play that rages in a tiny room. Fraught, funny and ferocious, it testifies to the pain of carrying the memory of sexual assault throughout a lifetime.
  A play about secret trauma and public revelation, Rathmines Road bristles with tension and interrogates catharsis to ask: when and how do we take responsibility?
  The play premiered at the Abbey Theatre as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival 2018, previewing at the Civic Theatre, Tallaght, in a co-production between Fishamble and the Abbey Theatre.

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  Second April

  Edna St. Vincent Millay

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  A collection of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

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  The Poetry of Elinor Wylie - One...

  Elinor Wylie

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  Elinor Morton Hoyt was born on 7th September, 1885 in Somerville, New Jersey and from age 12 grew up in Washington D C where her father served as assistant attorney general and later solicitor general.  Her early education together with her renowned beauty suggests she was being trained for life as a debutante but her life quickly found another route as she became absorbed in the world of books. 
   
  An early marriage following her graduation ended when, after being pursued by Horace Wylie, 17 years her senior and a married Washington lawyer with three children, she eloped to England with him.  His wife would not divorce him and the subsequent scandal was widely publicised further fueled by the suicide in 1912 of her abandoned husband. 
   
  With Wylie's encouragement she published in 1912, ‘Incidental Number’, assembled from poems of the previous decade. 
   
  Despite a child from her first marriage Elinor subsequently endured miscarriages, a stillbirth and a premature child who lived for only one week.  When Wylie’s deserted wife agreed to a divorce, the couple returned to the United States and married but they were already drawing apart. 
   
  In 1921, Elinor’s ‘Nets to Catch the Wind’, was published. It was an immediate success and a prize-winner.  In New York’s literary circles she found her next husband who acted as her agent – the poer William Rose Benét, brother of the famed Stephen. They married in 1923 and that same year ‘Black Armor’, was published. The New York Times said "There is not a misplaced word or cadence in it."  She also published her first of four novels, ‘Jennifer Lom’, to excellent reviews. 
   
  She worked for a time as the poetry editor of Vanity Fair, an editor of Literary Guild, and a contributing editor of The New Republic.  Her third book of poetry, ‘Trivial Breath’ arrived in 1928 as did the failure of her marriage with Benét.  
   
  She moved again to England and fell in love with a friend’s husband, to whom she wrote, and later published a series of 19 sonnets; ‘Angels and Earthly Creatures’. 
   
  Elinor Wylie suffered high blood pressure all her adult life and this eventually led to her death at Benet’s New York apartment on 16th December, 1928 where she suffered a stroke. She was 43. 
   
  1 - The Poetry of Elinor Wylie - An Introduction 
  2 - Wild Peaches by Elinor Wylie 
  3 - Escape by Elinor Wylie 
  4 - Ophelia by Elinor Wylie 
  5 - The Puritan's Ballad by Elinor Wylie 
  6 - Velvet Shoes by Elinor Wylie 
  7 - Parting Gift by Elinor Wylie 
  8 - Little Elegy by Elinor Wylie 
  9 - Love Song by Elinor Wylie 
  10 - Quarrel by Elinor Wylie 
  11 - Valentine by Elinor Wylie 
  12 - Les Lauriers Sont Coupee by Elinor Wylie 
  13 - Sunset on the Spire by Elinor Wylie 
  14 - Phases of the Moon by Elinor Wylie 
  15 - Full Moon by Elinor Wylie 
  16 - Nadir by Elinor Wylie 
  17 - Address to My Soul by Elinor Wylie 
  18 - The Child on the Curbstone by Elinor Wylie 
  19 - The Eagle and the Mole by Elinor Wylie 
  20 - The Falcon by Elinor Wylie 
  21 - A Proud Lady by Elinor Wylie 
  22 - Preference by Elinor Wylie 
  23 - Nancy by Elinor Wylie 
  24 - The Lion and the Lamb by Elinor Wylie 
  25 - Beauty by Elinor Wylie 
  26 - The Tortoise in Eternity by Elinor Wylie 
  27 - The Fairy Goldsmith by Elinor Wylie 
  28 - Innocent Landscape by Elinor Wylie 
  29 - A Madman's Song by Elinor Wylie 
  30 - Poor Earth by Elinor Wylie 
  31 - The Church Bell by Elinor Wylie 
  32 - Cold Blooded Creatures by Elinor Wylie 
  33 - Let No Charitable Hope by Elinor Wylie 
  34 - Little Joke by  Elinor Wylie 
  35 - Pretty Words by Elinor Wylie 
  36 - Incantation by Elinor Wylie 
  37 - Fire and Sle

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  Mumsy (NHB Modern Plays)

  Lydia Marchant

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  Sophie is about to become a single mum – a third-generation one – and she's terrified. How will she afford to feed her baby? Or a Deluxe Snuggle Pod? Can she hold on to her job? What if she's crap at parenthood? Surely she can count on her own mum and nan to help...
  Except her mum's got used to having a life of her own, and doesn't fancy giving up pole-dancing class and Tinder to go back to changing nappies and no sleep. Meanwhile, fresh out of hospital with a broken leg, her nan's having a three-quarter-life crisis of her own.
  From slammed doors to living-room karaoke, Lydia Marchant's play Mumsy is a sparky, soulful comedy drama about the highs and lows of motherhood. It premiered at Hull Truck Theatre in March 2023.
  'A brilliant bittersweet comedy with plenty of ribald humour... Without sermonising, Marchant demonstrates the impact of a decade of Tory austerity amid a cost of living crisis... It's a skill to write across generations like this... Marchant's play is a bundle of joy' - Guardian
  'A striking debut... beautifully balanced between comedy and tragedy... a tender exploration of the power of connection and perseverance' - The Stage
  'Raw, real and utterly Northern... as homely and refreshing as a mug of Yorkshire Tea' - Reviews Hub
  'Masterful... whip-crack funny... a play with a huge heart... a brilliant piece of theatre' - Hull Is This

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