This is Episode 53 of Poems for the Speed of Life. Today's poem is "When I set out for Lyonnesse" by Thomas Hardy.

Thomas Hardy was an English writer who lived and worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

He was an exceptional novelist, with enduring classics such as Far From The Madding Crowd and Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Less well known as a poet during his lifetime, he nevertheless produced a vast amount of poetry. 

His work was seen as a bridge between the 19th century of Dickens, Jane Austen and the Brontes, and the modernism of the likes of TS Eliot, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. 

This short song-like poem offers a tiny glimpse into the life of the artist: the transformation from the person you are into the person you become. 

Lyonnesse serves as a double-meaning here: it was a mythical place off the coast of England, associated with King Arthur and his wizard Merlin, and also the name of the home of his first wife, Emma Gifford.

You can read the poem here

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Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | https://onsound.eu/  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com