Authors Electric

 An Introduction to Romantic Poetry This month I was completely out of ideas but then I remembered Elizabeth Kay's excellent piece about poetry on AuthorsElectric last month. I looked back on the subject in my files and there I found A n Introduction to Romantic Poetry, relating to a course I taught in Northampton not so very long ago. I was also reminded of a fantastic group of poetry students, some of whom I still meet up with on Zoom. We read through this introduction together at the beginning of the course, breaking off to discuss various points, such as my visit to Christchurch Priory below in 1970, so here goes... Christchurch Priory   ‘Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive/But to be young was very heaven’, so wrote Wordsworth in his 13 book poem,  The Prelude , which was subtitled,  Growth of a Poet’s   Mind , and which wasn’t published in its entirety until after his death in 1850. The lines are about the French Revolution and in 1791 Wordswor...

“Byron, is that you?” John Murray shook the receiver in the hope of clearing the line. “These international lines are bloody terrible …” “ Murray ,” Byron shouted back down the line, “what do you want? Things are pretty hectic here.” “How’s the holiday going?” “Oh, you know what the foreigners are like. Lots of good swimming though. Just planning a trip to attack some Turks who are holed up in this castle. What can I do for you? Books selling alright?” “Yes, sales are good." "Public still think I'm a genius?" "Up to a point ... but we have a bit of a problem, old man.” “Problem?” “We’re going to have to let you go, I’m afraid, pulp what we’ve got left of your scribblings.” “What are you talking about, man?” “It’s the media you see. They’re kicking up a bit of a fuss about your private life, the way you treat people … it’s all very silly, I know.” “What do you mean, the way I treat people? You’re not making s...

My dad, Edward Carroll Wouldn't it be nice to get so famous that the Who Do You Think You Are? TV team did a programme on your ancestors? They make it look so easy with allocated genealogists and historians doing all the leg work then coming up with the results effortlessly. Ah, if only! Although doing the research is half the fun. There's something fascinating about tracing your family tree, discovering your roots, seeing what skeletons are lurking in the cupboards. And of course, the great thing is, with self publishing there's nothing stopping anyone from producing the finished story as a book or website without any major financial outlay should they want to.  My research has taken me back to the mid 1800s so far and I was lucky in that my mum wrote her life story in notebooks, which I'm busy transcribing. I just wish I'd asked her more questions when she and my dad were still around. My mum, Violet Carroll (nee Hardy) I'm also sc...