{"id":9,"date":"2013-05-29T22:52:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T21:52:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-11-13T04:42:16","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T04:42:16","slug":"sweet-gale-or-bog-myrtle-myrica-gale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/2013\/05\/29\/sweet-gale-or-bog-myrtle-myrica-gale\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Gale, or Bog Myrtle (Myrica Gale)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sweet Gale, or Bog Myrtle (Myrica Gale)<\/b>.
\n(William James Linton was a radical engraver, artist, poet)<\/i><\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/i><\/div>\n

\nI.
\nLinton<\/i>, our artist poet, tells a tale,
\nHow \u201cthe sweet South Wind underground was frozen,
\nAnd only growth to save her could avail:\u201d
\nSo \u201cshe grew up a plant; the plant so chosen
\nWe call in our North Country the Sweet Gale.\u201d 5
\nIt is a pleasant plant, which I have seen
\nAdorn our moors; in many a rural dale
\nI too have found it; and it long has been
\nPrized by the people, who loved to give their ale
\nA flavour from the herb ere hops were known: 10
\nIts leaves hung in the houses, did not fail
\nTo yield them their sweet fragrance; most did own
\nIts powers medicinial; and its wax did form
\nFine scented tapers \u2018gainst dark Winter\u2019s storm.
\nII.
\nAnd can we learn no lesson from this plant,
\nTo guide us in our passage through the world?
\nHave we no offering from human want?
\nNo pleasant perfumes from our lives unfurl\u2019d?
\nIf the Sweet Gale can e\u2019en the bog adorn 5
\nWith beauty and with fragrance, cannot we
\nBring gifts to ev\u2019ry child of woman born,
\nAnd help to gladden poor humanity?
\nWe too can throw abroad some useful light,
\nDispelling mental darkness around; 10
\nCan help to put fell Ignorance to flight;
\nAnd aid in binding up each bleeding wound,
\nMental or physical, our fellows feel,
\nAnd cherish Virtue for our own and other\u2019s weal.<\/p>\n

George Markham Tweddell<\/b>
\n[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, pp. 7-8.] Also published in Leeds
\nMercury Weekly Supplement, May 3, 1884. Voice of Masonry, May,
\n1884. Northern Weekly Gazette, April 24, 1897.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

William James Linton<\/b>
\n(December 7, 1812 \u2013 December 29, 1897) was an English-born American wood engraver, landscape painter,political reformer and author of memoirs, novels, poetry and non-fiction. More here <\/i>http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/William_James_Linton<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Linton was prominent in the Chartist and Republican movements, and was very involved in the development of the utopian ideas based on the nobility of the worker that Morris and Ruskin later espoused. The English Republic, God and the People, a book published in 1851, seems to include his main political ideas. He was involved in the fights against Stamp Tax, and for parliamentary reform, and he edited the Chartist magazine, The Cause of the People. He was deeply immersed in the radical political culture of the times, a proto-Marxist. In America he edited magazines and a newspaper. More here <\/i>http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/dna\/place-london\/plain\/A515341<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are some examples of Tweddell’s use of some of WJ Linton’s<\/b> woodcuts – accompanying Poetry of an Old Besom – <\/i>
\n
<\/i><\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n


<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sweet Gale, or Bog Myrtle (Myrica Gale). (William James Linton was a radical engraver, artist, poet) I. Linton, our artist poet, tells a tale, How \u201cthe sweet South Wind underground was frozen, And only growth to save her could avail:\u201d So \u201cshe grew up a plant; the plant so chosen We call in our North […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/sonnetsonpoets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}