I recently had the privilege of reading and hearing local writer Marilyn Ricci talking about her new book “Dancing at the Asylum”. This book of poems looks at the life and relationships of two fictitious patients at Carlton Hayes Hospital. The patients, Mary Warburton and Edward Smythe, find themselves in the hospital through no fault of their own, but because of circumstances which were outside of the accepted social norm and because of mis-understood trauma. The book is set in the 1960s but even so, the attitudes to mental health appear outdated by today’s standards.
Another poet and writer with first-hand experience of asylum life was John Clare. Clare was born near Stamford in the late 18th century to a poor labouring family. However, he became outcast from his own village because of his success, and outcast from fashionable London society because of his humble upbringing. John was a victim of the social change brought about by the Industrial Revolution. He spent 28 years of his life in lunatic asylums and believed that he was married to his childhood sweetheart as well as to his long-suffering wife. He was an intimate observer of nature and “he wrote many poems, essays, journals and letters about love, corruption and politics, environmental and social change, poverty, and folk life. A talented fiddler, he became, in effect, one of the first collectors of “folk” tunes”.
John Clare will be the subject of the November Literary Talk at Enderby Community Library on Saturday 19th November. For more details, please contact Enderby Community Library or phone 0116 3053523 or 2841978.
I recently had the privilege of reading and hearing local writer Marilyn Ricci talking about her new book “Dancing at the Asylum”. This book of poems looks at the life and relationships of two fictitious patients at Carlton Hayes Hospital. The patients, Mary Warburton and Edward Smythe, find themselves in the hospital through no fault of their own, but because of circumstances which were outside of the accepted social norm and because of mis-understood trauma. The book is set in the 1960s but even so, the attitudes to mental health appear outdated by today’s standards.
Another poet and writer with first-hand experience of asylum life was John Clare. Clare was born near Stamford in the late 18th century to a poor labouring family. However, he became outcast from his own village because of his success, and outcast from fashionable London society because of his humble upbringing. John was a victim of the social change brought about by the Industrial Revolution. He spent 28 years of his life in lunatic asylums and believed that he was married to his childhood sweetheart as well as to his long-suffering wife. He was an intimate observer of nature and “he wrote many poems, essays, journals and letters about love, corruption and politics, environmental and social change, poverty, and folk life. A talented fiddler, he became, in effect, one of the first collectors of “folk” tunes”.
John Clare will be the subject of the November Literary Talk at Enderby Community Library on Saturday 19th November. For more details, please contact Enderby Community Library or phone 0116 3053523 or 2841978.