[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ custom_padding_last_edited=”off|desktop” admin_label=”Page Header” _builder_version=”4.9.3″ background_enable_color=”off” use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”rgba(255,244,201,0.95)” background_color_gradient_end=”#fff4c9″ background_color_gradient_start_position=”94%” background_color_gradient_overlays_image=”on” background_image=”https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Study-scaled.jpg” custom_padding=”30px||27px|||” custom_padding_tablet=”0vw||” custom_padding_phone=”0vw||” locked=”off”][et_pb_row custom_padding_last_edited=”off|desktop” _builder_version=”3.25″ max_width=”80%” custom_margin=”||” custom_padding=”27px|0px|0|0px|false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”||40px|0%” use_custom_width=”on” width_unit=”off”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”||||||||” header_font_size=”4vw” header_line_height=”1.2em” header_2_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”|||on|||||” header_3_font_size=”12px” header_3_letter_spacing=”10px” header_3_line_height=”2.4em” header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_color=”rgba(34,34,34,0.4)” header_4_font_size=”23px” header_4_letter_spacing=”8px” header_4_line_height=”1.6em” max_width=”80%” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”right” animation_duration=”2000ms” animation_intensity_slide=”2%” header_font_size_tablet=”45px” header_font_size_phone=”21px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_3_font_size_tablet=”10px” header_3_font_size_phone=”10px” header_3_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_3_letter_spacing_tablet=”” header_3_letter_spacing_phone=”3px” header_3_letter_spacing_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_4_font_size_tablet=”” header_4_font_size_phone=”14px” header_4_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_4_letter_spacing_tablet=”” header_4_letter_spacing_phone=”3px” header_4_letter_spacing_last_edited=”on|phone”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”About” _builder_version=”4.9.3″ background_color=”RGBA(0,0,0,0)” width=”95%” custom_margin=”0vw||||false|false” custom_padding=”35px|||||” locked=”off”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”||14px|||”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/1.jpg” alt=”Chanctonbury” title_text=”Chanctonbury” _builder_version=”4.9.3″ max_width_tablet=”400px” max_width_phone=”” max_width_last_edited=”on|tablet” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin=”||4px|||” custom_margin_tablet=”0px|||” custom_margin_last_edited=”off|phone” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ background_color=”#C7E78B” text_orientation=”center”]<\/p>\n
Chanctonbury Hill<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Blunden started writing poetry at school. His first poem was published in the school magazine\u00a0<\/span>The Blue<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>in February 1913. By October 1914 he had 44 poems to his name and he took them to a private printer \u2013 Mr. Price of Horsham, Sussex. 100 copies were printed at sixpence each.<\/p>\n In March 1916 50 copies of his poem \u2018The Barn\u2019 were printed privately by J. Brooker of Uckfield, Sussex. We show a verse below.<\/p>\n \u2018The Barn\u2019 can be found in Poems 1914-30 published by Cobden-Sanderson in 1930.<\/p>\n \u2018By Chanctonbury\u2019 was published in\u00a0<\/span>Pastorals<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>by Erskine Macdonald, London, in June 1916. It is included in\u00a0<\/span>Edmund Blunden Selected Poems<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>edited by Robyn Marsack and published by Carcanet 2018.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#81AE64″]<\/p>\n BY CHANCTONBURY<\/p>\n We shuddered on the blotched and wrinkled down, [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#81AE64″]<\/p>\n THE BARN<\/p>\n Rain-sunken roof, grown green and thin [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Early PoemsChanctonbury HillBlunden started writing poetry at school. His first poem was published in the school magazine\u00a0The Blue\u00a0in February 1913. By October 1914 he had 44 poems to his name and he took them to a private printer \u2013 Mr. Price of Horsham, Sussex. 100 copies were printed at sixpence each. In March 1916 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":562,"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405\/revisions\/562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
So gaunt and chilled with solitary breeze.
Sharp stubborn grass, black heather-trails, wild trees
Knotting their knarred wood like a thorny crown \u2013
Huge funnelled dips to chalklands straked with brown,
White railway smoke-drifts dimming by degrees,
Slow ploughs afield, flood waters on the leas,
And red roofs of the small, ungainly town:
And blue fog over all, and saddening all \u2013
Thus lay the landscape. Up from sea there loomed
A stately airship, clear and large awhile:
Then gliding grandly inland many a mile,
It left our Druid height that black groves plumed,
Vanishing fog-like in the foggy pall.<\/p>\n
For sparrows\u2019 nests and starlings\u2019 nests;
Dishevelled eaves; unwieldy doors,
Cracked rusty pump and oaken floors,
And idly-pencilled names and jests
Upon the posts within.
The light pales at the spider\u2019s lust,
The wind tangs through the shattered pane:
An empty hop-poke spreads across
The gaping frame to mend the loss
And keeps out the sun as well as rain,
Mildewed with clammy dust.
The smell of apples stored in hay
And homely cattle-cake is there.
Use and disuse have come to terms,
The walls are hollowed out by worms,
But men\u2019s feet keep the mid-floor bare
And free from worse decay.<\/p>\n