St Georges Day - A Holiday in Verse

Written by Robert Browning, John Keats and William Wordsworth

Narrated by Ghizela Rowe, Jake Urry and Richard Mitchley

The United States has July 4th, Ireland St Patrick’s Day and France Bastille Day.

Most Nations celebrate a particular day as ‘theirs’. That day is when they turn to themselves; to reflect on the past, to revel in the present and to look forward to the future.

For England 23rd April is St George’s Day.

St George, a hero from bygone days, who slays Dragons and pursues other mythic deeds, is part of childhood. But for modern times, for modern Nations, a greater purpose is needed.

For England St George is best now described as a principle. A small Nation grown large and respected for its brainpower, brawn and ingenuity and fighting for beliefs, misguidedly or not, that others can’t or won’t.

Of course England’s role has changed many times over the centuries but perhaps its basic tenets and desires haven’t. Fair Play. A role for everyone on equal terms. Democracy. Tolerance. A safe haven for those oppressed. England ‘expects’ and sometimes succeeds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Copyright Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781787808829

Robert Browning

Robert Browning (1812-1889) was an English poet and playwright. Browning was born in London to an abolitionist family with extensive literary and musical interests. He developed a skill for poetry as a teenager, while also learning French, Greek, Latin, and Italian. Browning found early success with the publication of Pauline (1833) and Paracelsus (1835), but his career and notoriety lapsed over the next two decades, resurfacing with his collection Men and Women (1855) and reaching its height with the 1869 publication of his epic poem The Ring and the Book. Browning married the Romantic poet Elizabeth Barrett in 1846 and lived with her in Italy until her death in 1861. In his remaining years, with his reputation established and the best of his work behind him, Browning compiled and published his wife’s final poems, wrote a series of moderately acclaimed long poems, and traveled across Europe. Browning is remembered as a master of the dramatic monologue and a defining figure in Victorian English poetry.