The Wessex of Llewelyn Powys

Home , Alyse Gregory

The Wessex of Llewelyn Powys Yorkshire may have the Brontes, a striking painting by local artist trafficker the clearness with and London the Sitwells and Nicholas Hely Hutchinson of the which I recalled walking by Bloomsbury Group, but it is Dorset cliff path -- a path on the side of the very boy for Dorset that has claim to the most which still stands the memorial whom, as he confided to me, remarkable family in the history stone to Llewelyn Powys carved he had never ceased to mourn, of English arts and letters -- the by the sculptress Elizabeth walking by his side in what prodigiously talented Powys Muntz. The arrangement of the seemed to me a mirage world, family. The Writers' Gallery at essays suggests a sort of tour of quivering with yellow sunshine the Dorset County Museum in Wessex, covering as they do a and hayfield grasses by the idle Dorchester pays tribute to the wide range of places and topics, waters of the Yeo?” How three brothers John Cowper, from Corfe Castle to Lyme deftly those falling cadences Theodore and Llewelyn, but the Regis, from Cerne Abbas to carry one off to the very scene. eleven children of the Rev. Studland. But this is no mere To read Powys is to slow time Charles Powys also included tourist handbook, rather an ideal down and step back into a Littleton, headmaster of companion to one. Powys was a world more gentle and well- Sherborne Prep., Gertrude, an wonderfully observant writer, mannered, one of the many accomplished artist, architect A. whether contemplating the pleasures these informative R. Powys, lacemaker Marian, delicate imprints of deer hooves and often poignant essays who wrote an authoritative book in the parklands of Sherborne or offer. on the subject, and poet and aerial battles between ravens and When Llewelyn Powys moved novelist Philippa. Both John falcons, or recalling the to Chydyok in 1931 with his Cowper Powys and T. F. Powys “pantaloon trousers” of his wife Alyse Gregory, his sisters were undoubtedly touched by grandfather at Stalbridge Rectory Gertrude and Philippa were genius, abundantly evident in carrying primroses for his wife already living there. Gertrude their prolific outputs of or the “round shining belly” of a provided woodcut illustrations startlingly distinctive fiction. But kitchen kettle that Thomas Hardy for several of his books and of the three noted writers, it is said was his earliest memory. her surviving portraits of Llewelyn Powys perhaps Llewelyn Powys who is family members and local the most easily accessible, the Slowing down time landscapes have an enduring individuals are sched- Durdle Door to eloquence and candour of his The skill with which Powys appeal. Philippa was another uled for next year and Dartmoor is writings inspiring a confidant blends such details with personal extraordinary personality, a information can be available at £9.99 intimacy with his reader. reminiscence, reflections on popular figure frequently to be obtained direct from from independent One of many sites in Dorset historical events, and met with riding on the downs the publishers. In the Dorset bookshops, with Powys associations is the ruminations on the transience of or making the long walk into meantime, readers the Dorset County farm cottage known as Chydyok, life is one of his hallmarks as a the village for essential with a keen interest in Museum, and Dorset, and those who set in isolation on Chaldon Down great stylist. The pathos in supplies. In 1930 she had seen directly from the admire finely crafted near the cliffs at Bats Head. It human destiny always compelled the publication of her novel publishers, either was here Llewelyn wrote most of The Blackthorn Winter, a prose, will find much his empathy, whether relating the via their website or the pieces for local papers in the death of William Wordsworth’s passionate, sometimes brutal to admire in Durdle by phone on 01935 1930s that were collected in his brother in a shipwreck off tale of a Dorset milkmaid’s Door to Dartmoor. A Dorset Essays and Somerset Portland or undertaking a walk love for a gypsy. The following CD recording, narrated 814113. Or write to: Essays and that have established across the Quantocks to see the year Alyse Gregory published by actor Christopher The Sundial Press, his bond with the region as very hotel room where a young her novel Hester Craddock, a Wilkinson, will follow 46 The Sheeplands, indelibly as Gilbert White’s with friend had suddenly died. Most wryly observed psychological in the New Year. Sherborne, Dorset Selborne or Francis Kilvert’s moving of all, in an essay on the drama that, like her sister-in- DT9 4BS with the Welsh Marches. River Yeo, is when Powys relates law's story, was also set in Now a new selection of his a chance meeting with an elderly rural Dorset and focused on the writings, titled Durdle Door to English merchant in New York, theme of possessive desire. Dartmoor: Wessex Essays of who proved to be the father of an These long-neglected works by Llewelyn Powys, has been old school acquaintance who had two remarkable women have published by the Sundial Press. It tragically drowned thirty years also been reissued by the brings together twenty-six of his earlier: “I remained reticent – for Sundial Press. Further titles best essays in a paperback how could I hope to convey to from members of this volume, the cover adorned with the imagination of this quaint old remarkable family of diverse