Bernard Moore (poet)

Bernard Moore
Born Samuel Syrus Hunt
1873 (1873)
Greenwich[1]
Died 1953 (aged 79–80)
Hemel Hempstead[2]
Occupation Teacher[3]
Nationality British
Genre Cornish Poem, War Poem
Spouse Edith Emily Parsons (1901 - his death)[4]

Samuel Syrus Hunt (1873-1953) wrote poetry under the pseudonym Bernard Moore. He had six books published of both his own and collected works beginning in 1914. Its subject is mainly Cornwall, in particular its fishermen but he also wrote war poetry. Many of his poems are written in the Cornish dialect. He also collected some Cornish songs. He is probably best known for his poem 'Travelling' which contrasts the sights and sounds of a railway journey through grimy urban London with the tranquility of the Liskeard to Looe branch line.

Personal life

Hunt lived in Catford, London[5] and later near Tring, Hertfordshire.[6] While working as a teacher in London in 1918 he enlisted in the British Army and served as a Sergeant in the London and Middlesex Regiments from 1918-19.[3]

Travelling (poem)

In his poem written c. 1919, Hunt lists stations along the urban railway line to the City as called out by the Porter:

and contrasts them with idyllic sounding destinations on the rural Liskeard and Looe Railway:

The Bookman wrote of it in 1919 "There is sincerity in every line [...] a note of deep feeling in the seemingly lightly expressed poem 'Travelling'".[7]

In 1925 the Rev. T. W. Slater in the journal The United Methodist wrote "I wonder how many Cornishmen there are in and around London! I have no idea, but I am certain in all that vast number there's not one but shares Mr. Moore's feeling in 'Travelling'.[8]

The poem inspired the creation of a computer simulation of the Looe branch line in 2007.[9]

In 2012 the railway author Michael Williams called it "one of the most evocative, I reckon, ever written about a country branch line".[10]

When written these stations were part of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, now Thameslink. St. Paul's has since been renamed Blackfriars and Thameslink trains no longer call at Loughborough Junction.[11]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  2. ↑ Hunt, Samuel Syrus. "England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966". ancestry.com. Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England (as re-printed on Ancestry.com).
  3. 1 2 "London County Council Record of Service in the Great War 1914-18 by Members of the Council's Staff". London County Council. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  5. ↑ Moore, Bernard (1919). A Cornish Chorus. Sidgwick and Jackson. p. 108. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Moore, Bernard (1949). Cornish Crowsheaf. p. Title page.
  7. ↑ "A Cornish Chorus". The Bookman (Hodder and Stoughton) 55 (329): 149–150. July 1919.
  8. ↑ Slater, Rev T W (20 August 1925). "The World of Books". The United Methodist (Great Britain) (925): 408.
  9. ↑ "Looe Branch". UKTrainSim. Atomic Systems IP Ltd. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Williams, Michael (2012). On The Slow Train Again. Arrow Books. p. 56. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "Thameslink Route Map" (PDF). National Rail Enquiries. Association of Train Operating Companies. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
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