Black Down and Tennyson - Our Literary Landscape

Last month we had a look at the start of the West Sussex Literary Trail so as this is the end of the year (and who will be sorry to see the back of 2020?) we’ll also have a look at the last stages of the walk.  Instead of going all the way down into Chichester, though, we can make a stop on Blackdown, at 918ft the highest point in Sussex.  From here you can enjoy a panoramic view of the county, and the Isle of Wight too, the reason for Alfred Lord Tennyson to build his final home, Aldworth, where he died on 6th October 1892.  Take time out to sit on the curved stone seat where he often sat at the Temple of the Winds, named after a Bronze Age circular bank.

Tennyson, in addition to being a poet, and indeed Poet Laureate from 1850 until his death, held strong views on many aspect of life.  In politics, an adherent to the Whigs (there’s quite a good page in Wikipedia on that party), believing that universal suffrage should only be granted once people had been properly educated.

Julia Margaret His religious beliefs were also unorthodox, revealing later in life that his "religious beliefs also defied convention, leaning towards agnosticism and pandeism"

As with most Victorians, he had a great interest in science and was a close friend of Julia Margaret Cameron, the eminent Victorian photographer, who bought a house next to his on the Isle of Wight. Charles Darwin and John Herschel numbered among the many famous people from the worlds of science, literature, art and theatre who visited and had their portraits taken.  Tennyson also has the distinction of having his voice recorded on wax cylinder by Edison’s English agent, so it is still possible to hear a distant crackly voice reciting  “The Charge of the Light Brigade” or “Come into the Garden, Maud”. 

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

 If you want to find out more about Southwater over the centuries, Southwater Local History Group have a few copies left of their excellent book, “Southwater A to Z – A Miscellany”  at a very affordable £13.50! Contact Jeremy Senneck 01403 731247 for this and for any other SLHG information while group meeting are suspended during the Covid19 restrictions.