JohnBradburnePoems.com

 

Editorial
conventions

Catalogue number

Each poem has been assigned its own catalogue number. In a few cases, where a poem was given a significant revision at a later date, or for a special collection, two numbers are given, referrring to the two versions.

In the manuscript archive, poems are grouped according to their year and number, e.g. 78.1, 78.2, etc. These numbers are purely arbitrary, and have no correlation with chronological sequence.

Poems which have no known date are assigned the prefix 00: 00.1, 00.2 etc. Poems which have been transcribed from tape recordings are prefixed with T: T.1, T.2 etc.

Other abbreviations, referring to various named collections of poems, are as follows:
AUB An Unusual Book
EDD M'Temwa or Every Day has its Doggerel
IC In Calicem
LM Liturgical Movement
OBS O Beata Solitudo / O Sola Beatitudo
OE Odds and Ends
PT The Plain Truth magazine used as a folder for poems
RPPP Rainbowed Parabola over Promised Pastorale
TPC The Poets Cornered
WJ The Wandering Jew

Date

Where possible, a poem has been assigned a date. This is usually the date of the poem as it is given in the original manuscript - John Bradburne usually ended a poem with the date (and sometimes even the time at which he wrote it) or feastday. In cases where he didn't, it is usually possible to work out the date from another poem on the same page or on an adjacent page. In a number of cases, this is not possible, and I have had to rely on similarities in the typeface or page colour in order to suggest a likely date. In a few cases, no date at all can be assigned with confidence. All uncertain cases are shown by a question-mark.

Any other information John Bradburne adds about the provenance of a poem (such as where it was written) is given alongside the date.

Format

A brief description is given of the physical nature of the text - the page colour and size, whether the text is manuscript, original typescript, photocopy (a term I use to include roneos, and stencils, as well as poems which have been photocopied more recently), and so on.

Structure

In order to provide a quick guide about the length of a poem, I have given a summary of the number of verses and the rhyme structure of each verse, using a traditional classification: for example, '6-line ababcc' means that in a verse of six lines, the first and third lines rhyme, as do the second and fourth and the fifth and sixth.

Any other points of rhetorical interest are also indicated under this heading - for example, John Bradburne's occasional use of acrostics.


Theme

Each poem has been given one or more thematic classifications. As some poems are extremely diverse, thematically, this exercise can be only a first approximation. I am not suggesting that the whole of any one poem is on the stated theme, but simply that this theme is an important element in that poem.

Here follows a list of themes, grouped into broad categories, along with their explanations:

  • Theological
  • Church - pope, infallibility, religious orders, vocations, Rome, documents, denominations, church history
  • Death
  • Faith - and its practices, penance, sacrifice, monastic life, beliefs, music, Mass, evolution, Islam
  • God the Father - creator, being, Spirit
  • God the Son - incarnation , eucharist, crucifixion
  • Jews - Judaism, Christ as Jew
  • Mary
  • New Testament - Nativity, Apocalypse, parables
  • Old Testament - Eden, characters, events, ancestry of Jesus, Israel history
  • General reflection - on life, resurrection, eternity, heaven, rosary, love, evil, time, solitude
  • Social - issues, such as birth control, race, relationships
  • Trinity
  • Local and nature
  • Fauna - bees, birds, eagles... alone or as a stimulus for reflection
  • Landscape - flora, landscape, weather, stars, space, tribes, described or used as a stimulus for reflection
  • Mtemwa - and its inhabitants, leprosy, gifts to the lepers, Mashonaland, Silveira House
  • Local politics - landowner rows, local practices, maladministration
  • Political - national political events, other peoples
  • Events and Objects
  • Day - commemorating a feast day or festival
  • Month - commemorating a time of year
  • Objects - and what they do, e.g. musical instrument, tune, painting
  • Travel
  • SW England - Devon, Somerset
  • England - outside the SW - Cambridge, Norfolk, Cumbria, London
  • Europe (general travel, including the Mediterranean)
  •   Greece
  •   Italy
  •   Malta
  • Guinea
  • India
  • Israel
  • Japan
  • Mozambique
  • Scotland
  • SE Asia
  • South America
  • Tripoli

  • Biographical
  • Domestic - people John Bradburne knows or to whom he's related
  • Fantasy - ghosts, dreams, imaginary characters, mythical beings
  • Jocular
  • Letters - in poem form, or addressed to someone directly, letters of thanks
  • Personal - his own appearance, likes and dislikes, activities, biography, memories
  • Literary
  • Anecdote
  • People - famous individuals or groups used as stimulus for reflection
  • People: literary (other than Shakespeare) including fictitious characters
  • Poetry - reflections on his own poetry and on poetry or writing in general, or on the nature of language; also, a poem showing a particular technique
  • Shakespeare - either alone or linked with Francis Bacon
  • Prose texts
  • Comment
  • Prayer
  • Proseletter
  • Story
  • Title page
  • Travelogue
  • Other poems
  • Multiple - a very long poem with a variety of themes
  • Unclear - a poem which proved difficult to classify

Editorial comment

Under this heading are noted all cases where I have had to interpret the text (e.g. because the writing or copying is unclear) or where I have changed the text in any way (e.g. to correct a spelling error). For example, '2.7 shal' means that in verse 2 line 7 the spelling 'shal' appears in the original manuscript.

I have not attempted a systematic commentary. However, whenever I noticed a point of particular biographical, poetic, or linguistic significance, I have made a brief reference to it.

In many cases, a textual allusion is obscure - for example, a reference to a particular person or place, whose significance would be known only to those who knew the author. Readers who can add further notes by way of textual clarification are invited to do so, using Contact Us.

Links to related poems

Several poems were written as part of a sequence. The related poems are noted here, either by their catalogue number or by the title of the collection of which they form a part.

Titles

When a poem has no title, I have used some or all of the first line of the poem instead.

 

© John Bradburne Memorial Society