{"id":64,"date":"2010-12-30T19:03:52","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T19:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/?p=64"},"modified":"2015-05-17T17:18:28","modified_gmt":"2015-05-17T17:18:28","slug":"the-western-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/?p=64","title":{"rendered":"‘The Western Shore’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In an accompanying note to his poem ‘The Western Shore’, first published in 1836, Hawker writes:<\/p>\n

My glebe occupies a position of wild and singular beauty: its western boundary is the sea, skirted by tall and tremendous cliffs, and near their brink, with the exquisite taste of Ecclesiastical antiquity, is placed the church. The original and proper designation of the parish is Morwenstow – that is, Morwenna’s Stow or Station – but it has been corrupted by recent usage, like many other local names. Halfway down a precipitous cliff near the church there still survives, with its perpetual water but ruined walls, the Well of Morwenna, an old baptismal fount; and another, the vicarage Well of St John, is used in the church in regeneration to this day.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE WESTERN SHORE<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Nunc scio quid sit amor, duris in cotibus illum’<\/em>
\n

\nThou lovely land! where, kindling, throng
\nScenes that should breathe the soul of song;
\nHome of high hopes that once were mine
\nOf loftier verse and nobler line!<\/p>\n

‘Tis past – the quenched volcano’s tide
\nSleeps well within the mountain-side;
\nHenceforth shall time’s cold touch control
\nThe warring Hecla of my soul.<\/p>\n

Welcome! wild rock and lonely shore,
\nWhere round my days dark seas shall roar;
\nAnd thy gray fane, Morwenna stand
\nThe beacon of the Eternal Land!
\n

\nFrom Cornish Ballads and Other Poems, <\/em>by R. S. Hawker, ed. by C. E. Byles, (p. 56).\u00a0 This poem was entitled ‘Cornwall’\u00a0 in Records of the Western Shore<\/em>, 1836. The version given here is from Ecclesia<\/em>, 1840, where it stands as the opening poem.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

When I first read ‘The Western Shore’ I had no idea of the meaning of the quotation at the start, but an internet search for a translation throws up some worthwhile results, including a beautiful poem by J. N. Cameron (I can’t reprint it here due to copyright restrictions but I’ve added a link below). The line ‘Nunc scio quid sit amor, duris in cotibus illum’ comes from Virgil’s Eighth Eclogue<\/em> and the commonest translation seems to be ‘Now know I what Love is: ‘mid savage rocks…’. Although this is appropriate enough for Hawker’s purposes, the passage from which it comes is full of words like ‘frenzy’, ‘ruthless’ ‘cruel’, etc. and suggests that love is all those things. Another source describes the Eclogues <\/em>as featuring ‘a mix of visionary politics and eroticism that made Virgil a celebrity; legendary in his own lifetime.’ This certainly alters the tone somewhat, and J. N. Cameron’s short piece – a response to the Eighth Eclogue<\/em> rather than a translation of it – captures the mood brilliantly.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

LINKS<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Poem: “Nunc Scio Quid Sit Amor” by J. N. Cameron<\/a> <\/strong>at The Poetry Library<\/p>\n

– Virgil’s Eighth Eclogue – an English translation <\/a><\/strong>at The Internet Classics Library<\/p>\n

– St Morwenna’s Well – an excellent page at The Megalithic Portal website<\/a>:<\/strong> includes OS grid reference, several photos of the well and its surroundings, and some interesting comments from people who’ve managed the climb down to visit it.<\/p>\n

– St John’s Well – at The Megalithic Portal website<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

– Meyn Mamvro – Ancient Stones and Sacred Sites in Cornwall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

FURTHER READING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fentynyow Kernow: in Search of Cornwall’s Holy Wells<\/em>, by Cheryl Straffon. Meyn Mamvro Publications, 2005.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Text and photos \u00a9 Angela Williams 2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A poem by Robert Stephen Hawker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":87,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,63],"tags":[23,29,33,9,28,17,32,34,31,16],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holy-wells","category-poetry","tag-cornwall","tag-glebe","tag-hennacliff","tag-morwenstow","tag-poem","tag-st-johns-well","tag-st-morwennas-well","tag-sunset","tag-the-western-shore","tag-vicarage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3778,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/3778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robertstephenhawker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}