Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist. He is most notable for his Catholic faith, which had a strong impact on most of his works and his writing collaboration with G. K. Chesterton. He was President of the Oxford Union and later MP for Salford from 1906 to 1910. He was a noted disputant, with a number of long-running feuds, but also widely regarded as a humane and sympathetic man.
His most lasting legacy is probably his verse, which encompasses cautionary tales and religious poetry. Among his best-remembered poems are Jim, who ra ...
I have been reading his works for years and love his sense of humour and the ease with which one can memorize the words, even the very lengthy poems like Lord Lundy and Matilda. I have recommended them to a friend, a high school teacher, who finds they are ideal for her young students who find many other poets very uninspiring.
When we were about ages 8 and 11, my brother and I found 'Jim' in a textbook (one of many old ones my father, a high school history teacher, had on the shelf) . We memorized it and recited it often for friends and family. Now I'm teaching it to my grandchildren. It's a great poem! Lu
The poem was as if written by a child. I review poetry everyday on a poetry site. This was downright silly. I will read more, maybe they get better. THIs is just my opinion, nothing more.
Hilaire Belloc was a brilliant poet. My grandads dad read his poetry to him, my grandad read it to my mum and her sisters and my mum read it to me. I have my own book of 'Cautionary tales for children.' They are readable, morbid and witty all at the same time as capturing the essence of the time. I love his fables of naughty children, his fun dittys and of course I have just recently discovered that he wrote so much more. Have a browse, he is the best! Louise
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My father, who had a keen ironic sense of humor, read Belloc to me in the mid fifties, and I can still recite some of the poems, which are very much a part of my mental landscape. I used The Microbe, with its moral (Oh let us never, never doubt, what nobody is sure about) in a couple of essays on excessive reliance on the science du jour as the ultimate guide to behavior.
Tarantella
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
And the tedding and the spreading
Of the straw for a bedding,
And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,
And the wine that tasted of tar?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
(Under the vine of the dark veranda)?
Do you remember an Inn, Miranda,
Do you remember an Inn?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
Who hadn't got a penny,
And who weren't paying any,
And the hammer at the doors and the din?
And the hip! hop! hap!
Of the clap
Of the hands to the swirl and the twirl
Of the girl gone chancing,
Glancing,
Dancing,
Backing and advancing,
Snapping of the clapper to the spin
Out and in--
And the ting, tong, tang of the guitar!
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
Never more;
Miranda,
Never more.
Only the high peaks hoar;
And Aragon a torrent at the door.
No sound
In the walls of the halls where falls
The tread
Of the feet of the dead to the ground,
No sound:
But the boom
Of the far waterfall like doom.
It is sometimes necessary to lie damnably in the interests of the nation.
''Early Morning, The'' Nice poem from a creative and poetic poet.