Beckley & Area Community Benefit Society
‘More than a Pub’ programme
A Dorset Year: the Poetry and Prose of William Barnes and Thomas Hardy
Presented by members and friends of the William Barnes Society and the Thomas Hardy Society, with Oxford's Stanza 2 poetry group and local contributors.
Poets of the Victorian era, Barnes and Hardy wrote about rural Dorset and wider subjects in very different styles. Their work is complementary. Hardy's prose draws on the Dorset dialect and is better known, but Barnes’ poetry championed the local dialect. His verse is both evocative of rural life and a legacy of expressions and words that otherwise might have been lost forever.
Taking us through the seasons, readers and musicians from Dorset will perform poems and prose by Barnes and Hardy, including Barnes' well-known 'Linden Lea' - which was set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. In addition, Oxfordshire poets will read their own poems, inspired by Barnes, Hardy and the seasons.
The event, which was held on Sunday 10th January 2021, was recorded and is available on YouTube. Click on the button below: