Born in 1762 in the village where I live on the borders of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire was a poet. He was one of the earliest, perhaps the first, of the English Romantics. I wrote about him briefly in April.
His name, now substantially forgotten, was William Lisle Bowles.
In his own lifetime, as his biographer Robert Moody puts it, “… had any educated person been asked whether he or she had heard of William Lisle Bowles the answer would surely have been a resounding ‘But, of course!’.”
He was a major influence on the young Coleridge, Wordsworth and others. He did battle with Byron.
To celebrate his 250th birthday and to re-assess his work we shall be holding a reading (with music) in the parish church of King’s Sutton, where his father was vicar.
SUNDAY 30 SEPTEMBER at 3:00pm.
Do come and join us!
Posts
