the church clock

Whenever I see a church clock, I always think of the lines in this poem, 'The Old Vicarage, Grantchester':

"Is dawn a secret shy and cold
Anadyomene, silver-gold?
And sunset still a golden sea
From Haslingfield to Madingley?
And after, ere the night is born,
Do hares come out about the corn?
Oh, is the water sweet and cool,
Gentle and brown, above the pool?
And laughs the immortal river still
Under the mill, under the mill?
Say, is there Beauty yet to find?
And Certainty? and Quiet kind?
Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain?... oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?

Rupert Brooke, 1912 (Cafe des Westens, Berlin)

Following the break-up of a relationship, Rupert Brooke had suffered a nervous collapse and he went to Germany to recuperate. He died, aged 27, in 1915 during WW1 from blood poisoning.

My church clock is in Bishops Waltham.

[Claire]

Good to see the whole verse I only know the last two lines:0)
Lovely blue sky

[Hazel]

@claireuk

I didn't know much more but I found that there is even more than I have posted here!

[Lin]

A lovely capture with a great pov - this is a fav for me.

[🐞Lucy Dolittle]

Wonderful. How sad!! I know Bishops Waltham, my granny lived in North Boarhunt and a good friend of mine in your village. It's a small world!

[Emilie Cartoun]

What a wonderful poem and perfect clock tower to go with it.

[Ivan]

Lovely church/tower.blue-faced clock. Super image, love the blue sky, and the poem, sad/nostalgic though it is.

[Molly]

Nice capture. I'm lucky to live quite near Grantchester.

[Hazel]

@lucypics

Lucy, it is a small world! We live about 4 miles from Bishops Waltham and I find it a really nice place to go for a little photoshoot.

[Margaret Brown]

Nice POV lighting and textures

[Richard Hickey]

Incredible picture and poem.

[Pete]

I love old clocks and clocktowers - great shot

[What's for dessert?]

Beautiful sky! Beautiful poem!

[Mary]

Very good pov. Thanks for sharing the poem--I wasn't familiar with it.

[Pyrrhula]

Beautiful poem, beautiful capture. Those two goes beautiful together.
Very creative find . love that church tower/clock

[tony gig]

A lovely church and capture Hazel.

[Rachel Holbrook]

My father used to quote those last two lines a lot :)

[Chris]

I remember studying the "war poets" when 16 at school and was very taken by this poem and read a lot of background literature on Rupert Brooke. I confess I now find his work rather twee and was to discover what an odd crowd the "War Poets" were. But it takes all sorts and they lived and many died in those dreadful times.

Love the photo.

[Linda]

Terrific pov - it looks so tall! Beautiful sky - it really sets it off nicely.

[Sandy]

So sad that he died so young. Great POV.

[Nita]

Wonderful POV, cool church.

[Hazel]

@gooner46

Thanks, Chris and that's interesting. I read a bit about Rupert Brooke for this post and found that some of his poems were not really classed as war poems because written too early. I studied Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est 'with my English GCSE students. I like learning bits and pieces for/on 365.

[🐓 Patricia Fletcher]

Great perspective shot of a very unusual church tower - haven't seen anything quite like the round turret on the top. Nicely done with fabulous blue sky!