“If ever a book came out of the depths of a life it is this.” — William Sharp | V2Melody

“If ever a book came out of the depths of a life it is this.”

Claiming the work as lived, not invented · Letter on The Dominion of Dreams

About William Sharp

William Sharp

12 September 1855–12 December 1905

William Sharp was born on 12 September 1855 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, at a time when Scotland’s industrial towns were expanding rapidly but remained surrounded, in memory and imagination, by older rural worlds. He would become one of the most energetic and versatile literary figures of the late Victorian period: a…

More by William Sharp

Poems by William Sharp

More remarks by William Sharp

“I feel another self within me now more than ever; it is as if I were possessed by a spirit who must speak out.”

Early sense of a second voice demanding utterance · Letter to Elizabeth Sharp, 1879

“I do not think the needs or nuances of one art should ever be imposed upon the free movement of another in alliance.”

Giving a composer leave to reshape verses for song · Letter as Fiona Macleod to Helen Hopekirk

“My truest self, the self who is below all other selves, must find expression, yet I cannot save in this hidden way.”

On secrecy as the condition of his inner life finding words · Letter to Catherine Janvier