Gurney already knew Novello, as they were fellow pupils of the organist at Gloucester Cathedral, where a third pupil, Herbert Howells, used to be bribed by Novello to do his counterpoint exercises for him. This is not to deny that both Graves and Gurney also sought commercial success, but it never came to Gurney; and to Graves only after publication of in 1929, Goodbye to All That by which time Gurney had been in the asylum at Dartford for four years. Of the other residents of Hill in 1920, Robert Bridges was Boar’s the then Poet Laureate, and founder of the Society for Pure English before the war, to which Graves had contributed a piece, in 1921; following which he wrote to Bridges that ‘On Hyphens’, it would be far better for the language to remain […] slipshod & cloudy than to become hag-ridden by an Official Academy. the purification is essential if, as I expect […] But & hope, English is to become the World-Language […]. Although he liked Bridges, he was not uncritical of his poetry, as is apparent in a letter to Robert Nichols in February 1917: Yes, Bridges is just what you claim for him, a nice common little geranium flower from the nursery gardens better than – the tea roses of the nineties or the passion flowers of these bad fellows like Byron and Co., but there are harebells […] and rowan-trees on your own hills, what need ye more? Bridges fell short of essential prescription for modern Graves’s poetry, which was that it should use the language of everyday speech. He was still writing lines such as mine ‘Thou didst delight eyes’. Gurney, on the other hand, was not put off by the antiquated language, admiring the poems for their lyrical qualities, which he had started to set to music as early as 1909. Indeed, he was to set
Gurney already knew Novello, as they were fellow pupils of the organist at Gloucester Cathedral, where a third pupil, Herbert Howells, used to be bribed by Novello to do his counterpoint exercises for him. This is not to deny that both Graves and Gurney also sought commercial success, but it never came to Gurney; and to Graves only after publication of Goodbye to All That in 1929, by which time Gurney had been in the asylum at Dartford for four years. Of the other residents of Boar’s Hill in 1920, Robert Bridges was the then Poet Laureate, and founder of the Society for Pure English before the war, to which Graves had contributed a piece, ‘On Hyphens’, in 1921; following which he wrote to Bridges that […] it would be far better for the language to remain slipshod & cloudy than to become hag-ridden by an Official Academy. […] But the purification is essential if, as I expect & hope, English is to become the World-Language […]. Although he liked Bridges, he was not uncritical of his poetry, as is apparent in a letter to Robert Nichols in February 1917: Yes, Bridges is just what you claim for him, a nice common little geranium flower from the nursery gardens – better than the tea roses of the nineties or the passion flowers of these bad fellows like Byron and Co., but […] there are harebells and rowan-trees on your own hills, what need ye more? Bridges fell short of Graves’s essential prescription for modern poetry, which was that it should use the language of everyday speech. He was still writing lines such as ‘Thou didst delight mine eyes’. Gurney, on the other hand, was not put off by the antiquated language, admiring the poems for their lyrical qualities, which he had started to set to music as early as 1909. Indeed, he was to set
3613_richard_carder,_%5c'songs_of_graves%e2%80%99s_and_gurney%e2%80%99s_friends%5c'_(final).docx