Misplaced Pages

#883116

50-662: Beach began composing her symphony in November 1894. Although Beach would later become more accepting of music from North American traditions—such as Native American themes—Beach chose to incorporate songs of the European influence into her early works. One such (Celtic) tune was her song entitled, "Dark Is the Night!" which she set to the words of the English poet William Ernest Henley . She borrowed this song for her symphony. Beach

100-501: A Piece in Bloom (1877): Madam Life's a piece in bloom     Death goes dogging everywhere: She's the tenant of the room,     He's the ruffian on the stair. Henley's 1887 Villon's Straight Tip to All Cross Coves (a free translation of François Villon's Tout aux tavernes et aux filles ) was recited by Ricky Jay as part of his solo show, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants (1994). The poem

150-477: A considerable influence on the literary culture of his time." For a short period in 1877 and 1878, Henley was hired to edit The London Magazine , "which was a society paper", and "a journal of a type more usual in Paris than London, written for the sake of its contributors rather than of the public." In addition to his inviting its articles and editing all content, Henley anonymously contributed tens of poems to

200-564: A correspondence of sorts did resume later after mutual friends intervened. As Andrzej Diniejko notes, Henley and the "Henley Regatta" (the name by which his followers were humorously referred) "promoted realism and opposed Decadence " through their own works, and, in Henley's case, "through the works... he published in the journals he edited." Henley published many poems in different collections including In Hospital (written between 1873 and 1875) and A Book of Verses , published in 1891. He

250-484: A journalist and publisher. The sum total of Henley's professional and artistic efforts is said to have made him an influential voice in late Victorian Britain , perhaps with a role as central in his time as that of Samuel Johnson in the eighteenth century. As an editor of a series of literary magazines and journals, Henley was empowered to choose each issue's contributors, as well as to offer his own essays, criticism, and poetic works; like Johnson, he said to have "exerted

300-495: A letter of sympathy, the childless Stevenson wrote to Henley: ‘There is one thing I always envied you, and that I envy you still ’. After Robert Louis Stevenson received a letter from Henley labelled "Private and Confidential" and dated 9 March 1888, in which the latter accused Stevenson's new wife Fanny of plagiarising his cousin Katharine de Mattos ' writing in the story "The Nixie", the two men ended their friendship, though

350-484: A letter to Beach: saying that he and Horatio Parker , a fellow member of the unofficial Second New England School of leading composers, had heard and liked the Gaelic Symphony, and: "...I always feel a thrill of pride myself whenever I hear a fine work by any of us, and as such you will have to be counted in, whether you will or not—one of the boys." Not long afterward Beach herself became recognized as one of

400-404: A piece about her impression of Henley, saying of him, "There was in him something more than the patient resignation of the religious sufferer, who had bowed himself to the uses of adversity. Deep in his nature lay an inner well of cheerfulness, and a spontaneous joy of living, that nothing could drain dry, though it dwindled sadly after the crowning affliction of his little daughter's death." Henley

450-594: A railway carriage. This accident caused his latent tuberculosis to flare up, and he died of it on 11 July 1903, at the age of 53, at his home in Woking , Surrey. After cremation at the local crematorium his ashes were interred in his daughter's grave in the churchyard at Cockayne Hatley in Bedfordshire . At the time of his death Henley's personal wealth was valued at £840. His widow, Anna, moved to 213 West Campbell-St, Glasgow, where she lived until her death. There

500-539: A second amputation was the only means to save his life, seeking treatment from the pioneering late 19th-century surgeon Joseph Lister at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh , commencing in August 1873. Henley spent three years in hospital (1873–75), during which he was visited by the authors Leslie Stephen and Robert Louis Stevenson and wrote and published the poems collected as In Hospital . This also marked

550-638: Is a bust of Henley in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral . During his lifetime Henley had become fairly well known as a poet. His poetry had even made its way to the United States, inspiring several different contributors from across the country to pen articles about him. In 1889 the Chicago Daily Tribune ran an article about the promise that Henley showed in the field of poetry. After Henley's death in 1903 an acquaintance in Boston wrote

SECTION 10

#1732797482884

600-532: Is remembered most for his 1875 poem " Invictus ", one of his "hospital poems" that were composed during his isolation as a consequence of early, life-threatening battles with tuberculosis ; this set of works, one of several types and themes he engaged during his career, are said to have developed the artistic motif of the "poet as a patient" and to have anticipated modern poetry "not only in form, as experiments in free verse containing abrasive narrative shifts and internal monologue, but also in subject matter." Forming

650-511: The First World War as a piece of patriotic verse, containing the following refrain What have I done for you, England, my England? What is there I would not do, England my own? The same poem and its sentiments have since been parodied by those unhappy with the jingoism they feel it expresses or the propagandistic use to which it was put during WWI to inspire patriotism and sacrifice in

700-600: The New Review (December 1897): "He was singularly kind to me at a moment when I needed kindness even more than I needed encouragement". Nevertheless, Henley was disappointed in the school itself, considered an inferior sister to the Cathedral School , and wrote about its shortcomings in a 1900 article in The Pall Mall Magazine . Much later, in 1893, Henley also received an LLD degree from

750-570: The University of St Andrews ; however, two years after that he failed to secure the position of Professor of English literature at the University of Edinburgh . From the age of 12, Henley had tuberculosis of the bone that resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee in 1868–69. The early years of Henley's life were punctuated by periods of extreme pain due to the draining of his tuberculosis abscesses . However, Henley's younger brother Joseph recalled how after draining his joints

800-601: The British public and young men heading off to war. The poem is referenced in the title, " England, My England ", a short story by D. H. Lawrence , and also in England, Their England , a satiric novel by A. G. Macdonell about 1920s English society. Nelson Mandela recited the poem " Invictus " to other prisoners incarcerated alongside him at Robben Island , some believe because it expressed in its message of self-mastery Mandela's own Victorian ethic. This historical event

850-536: The Caged Bird Sings (1969), Maya Angelou writes in passing that she "enjoyed and respected" Henley's works among others such as Poe 's and Kipling 's, but had no "loyal passion" for them. Joe Orton , English playwright of the 1960s, based the title and theme of his breakthrough play The Ruffian on the Stair , which was broadcast on BBC radio in 1964, on the opening lines of Henley's poem Madam Life's

900-619: The School, thereupon called the Boston Six . The Symphony was "forgotten during the 1920s" but "made a comeback in the 1930s and 1940s," being performed by multiple orchestras, some multiple times each, although not by "major" orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic or Boston Symphony . The symphony has received continued praise from modern critics as well, such as Andrew Achenbach of Gramophone , who in 2003 lauded

950-469: The ancient woods, and the brow and eyes of the Olympians." After hearing of Henley's death on 13 July 1903, the author Wilfrid Scawen Blunt recorded his physical and ideological repugnance to the late poet and editor in his diary, "He has the bodily horror of the dwarf, with the dwarf's huge bust and head and shrunken nether limbs, and he has also the dwarf malignity of tongue and defiant attitude towards

1000-506: The beginning of a fifteen-year friendship with Stevenson. Throughout his life, the contrast between Henley's physical appearance and his mental and creative capacities struck acquaintances in completely opposite, but equally forceful ways. Recalling his old friend, Sidney Low commented, "... to me he was the startling image of Pan come to Earth and clothed—the great god Pan...with halting foot and flaming shaggy hair, and arms and shoulders huge and threatening, like those of some Faun or Satyr of

1050-555: The brink of human endurance. In part, the poem reads: Lack of work and lack of victuals,     A debauch of smuggled whisky,     And his children in the workhouse     Made the world so black a riddle That he plunged for a solution;     And, although his knife was edgeless,     He was sinking fast towards one,     When they came, and found, and saved him. After his recovery, Henley began by earning his living as

SECTION 20

#1732797482884

1100-427: The captain of my soul. Latin for "unconquered", the poem "Invictus" is a deeply descriptive and motivational work filled with vivid imagery. With four stanzas and sixteen lines, each containing eight syllables, the poem has a rather uncomplicated structure. The poem is most known for its themes of willpower and strength in the face of adversity, much of which is drawn from the horrible fate assigned to many amputees of

1150-414: The condition of his leg. The second edition of Henley's Book of Verses added a dedication "To R. T. H. B."—a reference to Robert Thomas Hamilton Bruce, a successful Scottish flour merchant, baker, and literary patron. The 1900 edition of Henley's Poems , published after Bruce's death, altered the dedication to "I. M. R. T. Hamilton Bruce (1846–1899)," whereby I. M. stands for "in memoriam." The poem

1200-421: The day— gangrene and death. Each stanza takes considerable note of William Ernest Henley's perseverance and fearlessness throughout his early life and over twenty months under Lister 's care. In the second stanza, Henley refers to the strength that helped him through a childhood defined by his struggles with tuberculosis when he says "I have not winced nor cried aloud." In the fourth stanza, Henley alludes to

1250-560: The derivations of Dvořák's New World Symphony , Beach heartily responded, "[w]e of the North should be far more likely to be influenced by old English, Scotch or Irish songs, inherited with our literature from our ancestors." When her symphony premiered, Beach was barely 30 years old and in the throes of forming her own compositional style; in contrast, her later years brought maturity and an openness to infuse Native-American, specifically Inuit, and African-American songs into her music. The work

1300-400: The fact that each individual's destiny is under the jurisdiction of themselves, not at the mercy of the obstacles they face, nor other worldly powers. Those who have taken time to analyze "Invictus" have also taken notice of religious themes, or the lack thereof, that exist in this piece. There is agreement that much of the dark descriptions in the opening lines make reference to Hell . Later,

1350-461: The fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate I am

1400-448: The first movement of Dvořák's New World Symphony . The Gaelic themes are introduced in variation. The third movement is melodic and slow in nature. The last movement of the symphony is brisk and thematic. The Gaelic Symphony was well received. Critic Philip Hale "was generally enthusiastic about the work" although he "felt that Beach's orchestration was at times excessively heavy." Composer George Whitefield Chadwick ' wrote

1450-483: The foot. While recovering in the infirmary, he was moved to write the verses that became the poem "Invictus". A memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism—the " stiff upper lip " of self-discipline and fortitude in adversity, which popular culture rendered into a British character trait—"Invictus" remains a cultural touchstone. INVICTUS Out of the night that covers me Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In

1500-510: The fourth stanza of the poem alludes to a phrase from the King James Bible , which says, at Matthew 7:14 , "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Despite Henley's evocative tellings of perseverance and determination, worry was on his mind; in a letter to a close companion, William Ernest Henley later confided, "I am afeard my marching days are over" when asked about

1550-428: The horizons of modern music, Beach's Gaelic Symphony set her apart as a prominent female composer at the turn of the twentieth century. The four movements of the symphony are as follows: The symphony begins with a low chromatic rumble in the strings which provides the basis on which the romantic melody is built. Rich orchestration establishes the romantic style of the symphony. Its unusual key choices mirror those in

Gaelic Symphony - Misplaced Pages Continue

1600-469: The journal, some of which were described by contemporaries as "brilliant" (later published in a compilation by Gleeson White ). In his selection White included a considerable number of pieces from London, and only after he had completed the selection did he discover that the verses were all by one hand, that of Henley. In the following year, H. B. Donkin, in his volume Voluntaries For an East London Hospital (1887), included Henley's unrhymed rhythms recording

1650-432: The knee owing to complications arising from tuberculosis . In the early 1870s, after seeking treatment for problems with his other leg at Margate , he was told that it would require a similar procedure. He instead chose to travel to Edinburgh in August 1873 to enlist the services of the distinguished English surgeon Joseph Lister , who was able to save Henley's remaining leg after multiple surgical interventions on

1700-495: The misfortunes of his father's business may also have contributed. In 1867, Henley passed the Oxford Local Schools Examination. Soon after passing the examination, Henley moved to London and attempted to establish himself as a journalist. His work over the next eight years was interrupted by long stays in hospitals, because his right foot had also become diseased. Henley contested the diagnosis that

1750-586: The name Wendy for the heroine of his play Peter Pan (1904). Henley was born in Gloucester on 23 August 1849, to mother, Mary Morgan, a descendant of poet and critic Joseph Warton , and father, William, a bookseller and stationer. William Ernest was the oldest of six children, five sons and a daughter; his father died in 1868. Henley was a pupil at the Crypt School , Gloucester , between 1861 and 1867. A commission had recently attempted to revive

1800-590: The poet's memories of the old Edinburgh Infirmary. Later, Alfred Nutt published these and others in his A Book of Verse . In 1889, Henley became editor of the Scots Observer , an Edinburgh journal of the arts and current events. After its headquarters were transferred to London in 1891, it became the National Observer and remained under Henley's editorship until 1893. The paper had almost as many writers as readers, as Henley said, and its fame

1850-676: The renewed availability of his work, through online databases and archives have meant that Henley's significant influence on culture and literary perspectives in the late- Victorian period is not forgotten. George Butterworth set four of Henley's poems to music in his 1912 song cycle Love Blows As the Wind Blows . There are many other musical settings, including songs by Maurice Blower , Harry Burleigh , Rebecca Clarke , Frederick Delius , Cecil Forsyth , Ivor Gurney , Fritz Hart , Roger Quilter , Ernest Walker and Charles Willeby. Henley's poem "Pro Rege Nostro" became popular during

1900-401: The school by securing as headmaster the brilliant and academically distinguished Thomas Edward Brown (1830–1897). Though Brown's tenure was relatively brief ( c.  1857 –1863), he was a "revelation" to Henley because the poet was "a man of genius—the first I'd ever seen". After carrying on a lifelong friendship with his former headmaster, Henley penned an admiring obituary for Brown in

1950-459: The subject matter of the "hospital poems" were often Henley's observations of the plights of the patients in the hospital beds around him. Specifically the poem "Suicide" depicts not only the deepest depths of the human emotions, but also the horrid conditions of the working class Victorian poor in Britain. As Henley observed firsthand, the stress of poverty and the vice of addiction pushed a man to

2000-637: The work for its "big heart, irresistible charm and confident progress." William Ernest Henley William Ernest Henley (23 August 1849  – 11 July 1903) was a British poet, writer, critic and editor. Though he wrote several books of poetry, Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem " Invictus ". A fixture in London literary circles, the one-legged Henley was an inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson 's character Long John Silver ( Treasure Island , 1883), while his young daughter Margaret Henley inspired J. M. Barrie 's choice of

2050-637: The world at large. Moreover, I am quite out of sympathy with Henley's deification of brute strength and courage, things I wholly despise." Henley married Hannah (Anna) Johnson Boyle (1855–1925) on 22 January 1878. Born in Stirling , she was the youngest daughter of Edward Boyle, a mechanical engineer from Edinburgh , and his wife, Mary Ann née Mackie. In the 1891 Scotland Census, William and Anna are recorded as living with their two-year-old daughter, Margaret Emma Henley (b. 1888), in Edinburgh. Margaret

Gaelic Symphony - Misplaced Pages Continue

2100-404: The young Henley would "Hop about the room, laughing loudly and playing with zest to pretend he was beyond the reach of pain". According to Robert Louis Stevenson 's letters, the idea for the character of Long John Silver was inspired by Stevenson's real-life friend Henley. In a letter to Henley after the publication of Treasure Island (1883), Stevenson wrote, "I will now make a confession: It

2150-554: Was a sickly child, and became immortalised by J. M. Barrie in his children's classic, Peter Pan . Unable to speak clearly, young Margaret had called her friend Barrie her "fwendy-wendy", resulting in the use of the name "Wendy" for a feminine character in the book. Margaret did not survive long enough to read the book; she died in 1894 at the age of five and was buried at the country estate of her father's friend, Harry Cockayne Cust , in Cockayne Hatley , Bedfordshire. In

2200-685: Was captured in fictional form in the Clint Eastwood film Invictus (2009), wherein the poem is referenced several times. In that fictionalised account, the poem becomes a central inspirational gift from actor Morgan Freeman 's Mandela to Matt Damon 's Springbok rugby team captain Francois Pienaar , on the eve of the underdog Springboks' victory in the post- apartheid 1995 Rugby World Cup held in South Africa. In Chapter Two of her first volume of autobiography, I Know Why

2250-463: Was confined mainly to the literary class, but it was a lively and influential contributor to the literary life of its era. Serving under Henley as his assistant editor, "right-hand man", and close friend was Charles Whibley . The journal's outlook was conservative and often sympathetic to the growing imperialism of its time. Among other services to literature, it published Rudyard Kipling 's Barrack-Room Ballads (1890–92). In 1902, Henley fell from

2300-880: Was heavily influenced by her contemporary Antonín Dvořák ; naturally, she looked to Dvořák's compositions and publicized philosophies on American music while composing her symphony. Though Dvořák's nationality was Czech, he was in the United States for much of 1892–1895 as head of the National Conservatory in New York . He represented American art music in the late nineteenth century—specifically through his New World Symphony and American String Quartet . Dvořák wove pentatonic scales from Native-American and African-American music and rhythms of slavic dances along with his European romantic style to create works unique to America—the melting pot. The "native" elements were not as readily embraced by Beach. Upon hearing of

2350-427: Was known as a man of inner resolve and character that transferred into his works, but also made an impression on his peers and friends. The loss of his daughter was a deeply traumatising event in Henley's life but did not truly dampen his outlook on life as a whole. While it has been observed that Henley's poetry "almost fell into undeserved oblivion," the appearance of " Invictus " as a continuing popular reference and

2400-400: Was published by Schmidt in 1897, and was dedicated to "herrn Capellmeister Emil Paur ". In keeping with tradition passing through Haydn , Mozart , Beethoven , Mendelssohn , Schumann , and Brahms , a symphony is divided into four contrasting movements. The Gaelic Symphony is typically performed in thirty-five to forty minutes. With a full romantic harmonic structure and a glimpse of

2450-600: Was set to music and release with a video in July 2020 by the folk band Stick in the Wheel . Invictus " Invictus " is a short poem by the Victorian era British poet William Ernest Henley (1849–1903). Henley wrote it in 1875, and in 1888 he published it in his first volume of poems, Book of Verses , in the section titled "Life and Death (Echoes)". When Henley was 16 years old, his left leg required amputation below

2500-527: Was the sight of your maimed strength and masterfulness that begot Long John Silver ... the idea of the maimed man, ruling and dreaded by the sound, was entirely taken from you." Stevenson's stepson, Lloyd Osbourne, described Henley as "... a great, glowing, massive-shouldered fellow with a big red beard and a crutch; jovial, astoundingly clever, and with a laugh that rolled like music; he had an unimaginable fire and vitality; he swept one off one's feet." Frequent illness often kept Henley from school, although

#883116