Poetry and More

A West Country Christmas, edited by Chris Smith

This is another of Alan Sutton publishing's "Christmas Anthologies," which contain short excerpts of Christmas/Christmastide passages from various British novels, memoirs, and poetry books, with the action taking place in the shire or historical era denoted in the title.

Covering England's "West Country" (Cornwall and Somerset), known for their oft-parodied "z" accents, this particular volume is almost half-filled with poetry from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Herrick, Christina Rossetti, Charles Kingsley, and others. Contributors of prose include Conan Doyle with an excerpt from Hound of the Baskervilles (although it really had nothing to do with Christmas), Agatha Christie (Poirot celebrates the holidays), Daphne DuMaurier, Blackmore's Lorna Doone, and Thomas Hardy.

The Glastonbury Thorn, the legendary tree that supposedly blooms every year on "the real Christmas" (by the Julian calendar, now January 7), has its own chapter, as does the West Country tradition of mumming. Other memoirs tell of old-fashioned Christmases with simple toys and reveling, there is—of course—a ghost story or two, there's a long chapter with Christmas excerpts from West Country newspapers, and even the amazing story of a shepherd who saves 66 sheep from freezing on a snowy night by carrying them back two by two to a barn. Old engravings, photographs, and advertisements complete this interesting volume.

Everything That's Christmas: Memoirs, Memories, and Ghosts!

A Warwickshire Christmas, edited by David Green
This is another in Alan Sutton publishing's line of Christmas books, either from English shires (their equivalent of a county) or during a certain time or literary period. Having picked up one (Worcestershire Christmas) at a book sale, I've collected one or two at the time when I can find them inexpensively. I've collected all the regional ones now, and this is the third from the last.

The contents of these books are kind of a coin toss. Sometimes it's obvious that there aren't a lot of Christmas writings from the particular shire and they have tossed in winter observances like the weather or references to cold weather or they've included the "St. George and the Dragon" play in its entirety. This volume, however is crammed with memoirs of holiday celebrations from the POV from all walks in life, from Daisy England, a poor child whose father left the family and who eventually ended up in the workhouse, to the Christmases celebrated by Frances, Countess of Warwick. Three contributions are from Ursula Bloom, a prolific writer of 560 books, from childhood memories to ghost stories she was told by a family servant. Vivian Bird recalls a chill, cheerless Christmas in which he was serving in the Army during the Second World War. There are excerpts from Silas Marner, another George Eliot novel Brother Jacob, and two excerpts from Washington Irving's Old Christmas (a part of The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon), as well as a short account of Christmas at Aston Hall, the prototype for Irving's Bracebridge Hall. There are accounts of meager Christmases in poor homes and bountiful Yuletides at manor homes, and even a fascinating article talking about stagecoaches—you are used to seeing stagecoaches in Western movies with passengers riding inside and the driver and the person "riding shotgun" on the outside, but, on British stagecoaches at least, passengers who paid less actually rode outside.

Plus there are illustrations and many many nostalgic photos of snowy lanes and old-fashioned sights like poultry shops and horse-drawn vehicles. One of the best Sutton Christmas anthologies!