more on Sir Henry Newbolt's private life

[miriamjoyce]

Having taken an interest in the unexpected discovery of the poly family of a stuffy Victorian war poet, I went to see if I could find more information than was in the stilted little Wikipedia paragraph that I copyedited.

Sadly, the biography referenced is quite expensive, even used, so I probably won't be picking that up in the very near future, but

Comments

[mistergoat]

Yeek--those quotes were recent! I was hoping that they'd be from his contemporaries.

How did you find his story in the first place?

[miriamjoyce]

I found a poem of his in my junior classics poetry volume that was clearly being referred to in one of the songs our folk crowd sings regularly, so I memorized it for a night of recitations that group held this past Saturday. I looked him up on Wikipedia so I'd know who he was if anyone asked.

[mistergoat]

So you'd had no idea that he was poly previously (to use a term that he likely never heard)? That's very cool.

[miriamjoyce]

Nope, I had no idea.

And I'm certain he not only didn't use a term that was coined in the 1980s, but likely didn't identify as anything particular, except perhaps lucky.

[exceptinsects]

You can probably get the book through interlibrary loan. Ask your local library!

[anonymous]

When in 1986 I read a poem of Newbolt´s entitled simply "To E.C" in which he refers to that person as "Dearest" I began to think something rather unusual was going on...