John Keble was born on 25 April 1792 at Fairford in Gloucestershire, into a household where religion, learning, family affection, and the rhythms of rural England were closely joined. He would become one of the most widely read poets of nineteenth-century Britain, a distinguished Oxford scholar, a parish priest of unusual devotion, and a formative figure in the movement that sought to recover the Catholic and sacrame…
“Once you make up your mind never to stand waiting and hesitating when your conscience tells you what you ought to do, and you have got the key to every blessing that a sinner can reasonably hope for.”
Neighbourhood:
Devotional Poets, Victorian Poets, Women Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Longing, Spirituality
1 live poem · Old English
In the dim, torch-lit mead hall of a seventh-century Northumbrian monastery, a solitary figure slipped quietly away from the gathering. While his companions sat in warm camaraderie, passing around the harp and singing verses of praise and legend, Cædmon, the cowherd, chose exile over embarrassment. He could not sing. He knew no poetry. And in a culture where the art of song was the highest expression of human creativ…
“I cannot sing; and for this reason I left the feast and went to the stable when I saw the harp coming towards me.”
Neighbourhood:
Classical & Ancient Poets, Devotional Poets, Hymn Writers, Medieval Poets, Mystical & Spiritual Poets
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Wonder, Peace
