- DP/VD
- Series
- 20th century - onwards
Part of Dymock Poets Special Collection
Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education
Part of Dymock Poets Special Collection
Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education
Photographs of a visit to Dymock and Ledbury by University of Gloucestershire staff
Part of Dymock Poets Special Collection
Includes the interior of St Mary's Church Dymock, The Garland Hut at Ryton and The Market Theatre at Ledbury
University of Gloucestershire
Part of Dymock Poets Special Collection
Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education
Dymock Poets Special Collection
On the north-west borders of Gloucestershire, in the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the First World War, a literary community was formed which came to represent a significant development in the modern poetic tradition. By August 1914, the poet and playwright Lascelles Abercrombie, Wilfrid Gibson, and the American poet Robert Frost had all taken up residence in and around the village of Dymock. Inspired by the beauty of their surroundings and encouraged by a succession of visitors, including Rupert Brooke, John Drinkwater, Edward Thomas and Eleanor Farjeon, a new literary currency was established during that final summer before the outbreak of war.
Their writings represented a movement away from the prevailing literary idiom, regarded by many as rhetorically ornate and emotionally restricted. Instead the Dymock Poets sought inspiration in natural settings and everyday experiences. In this, and their desire for a more direct, authentic register, their work can be located within the traditions of Wordsworth and the principles set out in Lyrical Ballads.
It was a productive time for all concerned, with four issues of a periodical, New Numbers, being written and printed as a true cottage industry. This period was also to see the emergence of Edward Thomas as a gifted and prolific writer of verse and to lead to Robert Frost’s formation of a new poetic philosophy.
This brief idyll was to prove short lived. Within three years both Brooke and Thomas were dead, Frost had returned to North America, and Abercrombie, Drinkwater and Gibson were involved in war work. Their writings, however, continue to form an important literary legacy to this day.
The institution has actively sought to collect material from various sources that centres on the Dymock Poets (Edward Thomas, Robert Frost, Wilfrid Gibson, Lascelles Abercrombie, John Drinkwater, Rupert Brooke) and related authors such as Eleanor Farjeon. Items are donated or deposited by a wide range of people, including some of the families of the poets. Material has also been deposited by both The Edward Thomas Fellowship and Friends of the Dymock Poets regarding the administration of both societies.
The collection is comprised of original paper-based documents, monographs, journals, articles, photographic material and multi-media. Secondary-source material is catalogued on the University’s library catalogue https://glos.on.worldcat.org/search?sortKey=LIBRARY&databaseList=1080%2C2375%2C3384%2C2272%2C251%2C197%2C1855%2C199%2C1996%2C1875%2C2007%2C233%2C950%2C3313%2C2585%2C217%2C239%2C638%2C2507%2C1715%2C2462%2C2262%2C1271%2C283%2C285%2C143%2C1842%2C2897%2C1621%2C245%2C203%2C3909&queryString=B8%3AGloucestershire&changedFacet=language&overrideStickyFacetDefault=&clusterResults=on&subscope=wz%3A18387%3A%3Azs%3A37348
Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education
Documents from the "New Numbers: New Approaches" conference at the University of Gloucestershire
Part of Dymock Poets Special Collection
Includes printed poster and flyer for the conference, programme for 6 June 2015, list of artwork displayed at the "Walking the Land" exhibition, and flyer and programme for the student production of "Voices from the Forest" at The Everyman Theatre
University of Gloucestershire
Articles and flyer relating to the Dymock Poets
Part of Dymock Poets Special Collection
Magazine article "The origin of a famous war poet" on Wilfred Owen by John W Foster c.1990s
Newspaper article "Poetic injustice" on the decision not to name a road "Farjeon Way" in Ledbury. Published in the Western Daily Press on 22 February 1997
"Dymock Poets: The Four Churches of The Windcross Parishes" flyer c.1990s
University of Gloucestershire
Part of Dymock Poets Special Collection
This series covers the internal administration of the collection, including minutes of the Dymock Poets Archive and Study Centre Advisory Group, events, publicity and the Occasional Papers Series
Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education