Joni Rendon's Blog, page 3

5 Curious Literary Connections

The classic literary world includes some curious connections between scribes who lived decades, and sometimes centuries, apart.

Frederick Douglass and Charles Dickens

On the grounds of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, D.C., is a tiny stone cabin where Douglass retreated to read and write in solitude. He dubbed the one-room dwelling the “Growlery,” a termed coined by Charles Dickens in Bleak House. In the novel, Mr. Jarndyce speaks with his ward, Esther, in a small room filled with books and papers, boots and shoes, and hat-boxes. “This, you must know, is the Growlery. When I am out of humor, I come and growl here,” says Mr. Jarndyce. “When I am deceived or disappointed in—the wind, and it’s Easterly, I take refuge here. The Growlery is the best-used room in the house.”

[image error]

Frederick Douglass’ “growlery,” or writing cabin. Photo: © NPS/Johnson.

Charles Dickens and Shakespeare

American circus owner P.T. Barnum once proposed buying Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, dismantling it brick by brick, and relocating the Tudor-style dwelling to the United States. Literary luminary Charles Dickens and others objected, forming a committee and raising funds to save the Bard’s birthplace from such an undignified fate. A facsimile copy of a visitors’ book with Dickens’ signature is on display there today, along with that of John Keats and other famous visitors. Art later imitated life in Dickens’ novel Nicholas Nickelby as Mrs. Wititterly declares, “I don’t know how it is, but after you’ve seen the place and written your name in the little book, somehow or other you seem to be inspired; it kindles up quite a fire within one.”

[image error]

Shakespeare’s birthplace.

Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, and Emily Brontë

In 1956, newlywed poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes ventured to Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters, in West Yorkshire, England. The couple spent the day visiting the Brontë Parsonage Museum and rambling on the desolate, brooding moors, the setting of Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights. Plath and Hughes each later wrote a work titled “Wuthering Heights.” Plath crafted her darkly haunting version in 1961, one year before she split with Hughes and seventeen months before her suicide. Hughes’s poem “Wuthering Heights,” in which he compares his wife to the mythic and tragic Emily Brontë (who died of tuberculosis at age thirty), appeared the year he died in 1998 in the collection Birthday Letters.

[image error]

The West Yorkshire Moors. Photo: © http://www.brontewalks.co.uk

Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Arthur Conan Doyle

“A Woman Novelist Vanishes” was one of the headlines trumpeted by newspapers across England in December 1926, after Agatha Christie disappeared and sparked a massive nationwide manhunt. Christie’s fellow mystery writers, Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers, were among those that consulted on the case. Doyle enlisted the aid of a medium, who handled one of Christie’s gloves and pronounced that the wearer would be found alive. Sayers got in on the action by visiting the wooded area where Christie was last seen and writing a piece about the case for a newspaper. She correctly contradicted police brass by declaring that she didn’t believe Christie’s body would be found in the woods. Although neither Doyle nor Sayers cracked the case, a possibly amnesiac Christie was discovered at a hotel eleven days later.

[image error]

The Old Swan hotel, Harrogate, England, where Agatha Christie was discovered after an 11-day disappearance. Photo: © Old Swan.

John Steinbeck and Robert Louis Stevenson

The title of John Steinbeck’s road trip memoir Travels with Charley: In Search of America was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, an account of his trek through the mountains in south-central France. But before Steinbeck even got behind the wheel of his camper-truck and drove the U.S. from coast to coast, he gave a nod to his literary predecessor in The Pastures of Heaven. In the story, avid reader Junius Maltby believes Stevenson’s essays are “nearly the finest things in English; he read Travels with a Donkey many times.”

[image error]

Rocinante, John Steinbeck and Charley’s ride, is parked at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California.

Literary Travel Talk at the NYPL October 24

Interested in literary travel tales and trivia? Come hear Shannon speak about Novel Destinations at the New York Public Library’s 53rd Street branch in New York City on October 24 at 6:30 p.m.

This entertaining presentation features photographs of literary landmarks in the United States and Europe, stories about classic writers and the places that inspired them, and some of her own tales from the road. Six-toed cats, volcanoes, Edith Wharton’s library, and more!

Where: The New York Public Library, 18 W. 53rd Street, New York, NY.

When: Tuesday, October 24, 6:30 p.m. in the theater.

Take a (Literary) Hike

[image error]

Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau’s milieu.

Put on your walking shoes and explore these eight literary trails, following in the footsteps of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jack London, and other writers in the landscapes where they lived, wrote, and found inspiration.

Brontë Waterfall and Top Withens Walk, Haworth, England

The dramatically scenic Yorkshire Moors, where Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights unfolds, is one of the most atmospheric places for a literary hike. A 2 ½-mile walk from the sisters’ former home, now the Brontë Parsonage Museum, leads across heather-dotted hills to their favorite destination, a gentle waterfall and stream. Venture on a mile farther to see the ruins of an isolated farmhouse, Top Withens, credited as being the setting of Heathcliff’s domain in Wuthering Heights.

Dylan Thomas Trail, New Quay, Wales

“I walked on to the cliff path again, the town behind and below waking up now so very slowly,” Dylan Thomas wrote in the radio sketch “Quite Early One Morning.” In the Welsh town of New Quay, where the poet moved in 1944, the Dylan Thomas Trail traces the route along the coastal walkway above town he referenced. Other Thomas-related places in the city center are noted as well, like the restaurant and bar at the Black Lion Hotel—a perfect stop for a post-hike restorative.

Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond Walks, Concord, Massachusetts

Henry David Thoreau staked out a spot on a secluded piece of land near Walden Pond owned by his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, living there for two years and turning out his most famous work, Walden. To reach the site where the naturalist’s one-room cabin once stood, take the Pond Path for a gorgeous view of the lake he described as “lying between the earth and the heavens.” Return via the Ridge Path through oak and pine woodlands where Louisa May Alcott and her sisters accompanied family friend Thoreau on nature walks. A replica of Thoreau’s abode can be seen near the Walden Pond State Reservation visitor center.

Jack London’s Beauty Ranch Trail, Glen Ellen, California

The adventure writer’s 1,400-acre Sonoma Valley ranch was situated on the site of a former winery and is now Jack London State Historic Park. The park’s trail network ranges from back country hikes to easily accessible pathways, including the Beauty Ranch Trail, which leads through the heart of London’s property past landmarks such as the cottage where he wrote many of his short stories and novels.

Millay Poetry Trail, Austerlitz, New York

Two years after winning the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1923 (the first woman to do so), Edna St. Vincent Millay and her husband bought a former blueberry farm they named Steepletop in rural eastern New York State. Along with touring the white clapboard farmhouse and sunken gardens landscaped by Millay, visitors can take a walk to the poet’s grave site along the Millay Poetry Trail, located in a forest dotted with white birch trees and signposted with excerpts from her nature poems.

Sir Walter Scott Way, Moffatt to Cockburnspath, Scotland

If you have several days and lots of stamina, this 92-mile cross-country walk winds through lowland valleys and sheep farms, over Borderland hills, and past lochs and rivers as it connects sites associated with novelist Sir Walter Scott’s life and work. Noteworthy stops along the way include the Tibbie Shiels Inn, a 19th-century stagecoach stop that has served up drams to Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Thomas Carlyle, and Abbotsford, the turreted, castle-like manor house Scott designed and filled with antique furnishings and historic relics like Rob Roy’s sword.

Stevenson Memorial Trail, Calistoga, California

While in the Napa Valley, newlyweds Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, Fanny, ran low on money and left a hotel cottage for Silverado, an abandoned mining town. For two months in 1880 they lived in a ramshackle bunkhouse on the slopes of Mount St. Helena, an adventure Stevenson recounts in the memoir THE SILVERADO SQUATTERS. A 10-mile round trip hike in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park leads to the site where the couples’ cabin once stood. At the summit of the challenging trek, stunning views of the San Francisco Bay Area await.

Tennyson Trail, Isle of Wight, England

Lord Alfred Tennyson once said the salty sea air on this English Channel isle was “worth sixpence a pint.” Traverse the Tennyson Trail to emulate the poet, who took long morning walks each day on the isle, where he settled in 1853 and spent the last 40 years of his life. The 15-mile trail runs through forests and above chalky white cliffs with sweeping vistas of the Atlantic Ocean and mainland England.

W.B. Yeats’ Countryside Retreat

[image error]

A century ago, in 1917, bard William Butler Yeats purchased a 15th-century Norman tower in the Irish countryside as a summer home. “I shall make it habitable … It is certainly a beautiful place,” he informed his father.

For Yeats, Thoor Ballylee was “a place full of history and romance” that inspired some of his later masterful works, including “The Tower” and “The Winding Stair.” While today the abode—which has been prone to winter flooding due to its riverside location—is mostly devoid of decorations or furnishings, there is atmosphere aplenty in the four-story structure with a stone staircase winding through the tower and leading to a roof platform.

[image error]

Thoor Ballylee is located in County Galway and best reached by car. For an off-the-beaten-path location, the tower sees plenty of activity. On the day I visited last summer, a local television station was filming a travel segment, and recent visitors had included the novelist Colum McCann and former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd.

[image error]

In the now-restored dining room, the Yeats family would fish out the window, which opens above the Streamstown River.

Visitors can explore the tower at their leisure and also peruse some illustrated exhibits that shed light on Yeats’ personal and professional lives. One exhibit is devoted to the women who greatly influenced the wordsmith—like his wife, George Hyde-Lees, who feigned episodes of spirit-guided writing to prompt his poetry, and Maude Gonne, the unrequited love of his life.

Thoor Ballylee is open during the summer months and well worth a stop when literary traveling on the Emerald Isle.

Summer-Only Events for Literary Travelers

Bibliophiles, get ready for a road trip. Summer is the perfect time to visit author houses and other literary landmarks. Some are only open seasonally this time of year, while others offer special events and activities—yoga, live music, improv, and more.

Do Yoga at Scott and Zelda’s Place

[image error]Get zen at the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. Before hitting the mat for a fundraising yoga class, tour the only museum dedicated to the Jazz Age pair. They lived in this house in the city’s historic district for several months in 1931, Scott toiling over Tender is the Night and Zelda writing the novel Save Me the Waltz. Yoga @ The Fitzgerald Museum takes place on Saturday, June 17 from 4:30-6 p.m. and costs $10.

Listen to Live Music at Edith Wharton’s Abode

[image error]Be part of the Gilded Age grandeur at Edith Wharton’s estate, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts. On weekends in July and August, live music takes place on a terrace overlooking the French- and Italianate-style gardens (like the house, the gardens were designed by the novelist). Or stop by for another summertime series, Wharton on Wednesdays, as professional actors read Wharton’s writings on the terrace.

Voyage on the Mark Twain Riverboat

[image error]Cruise the Mighty Mississippi like Mark Twain, who once made his living as a riverboat pilot (a profession he claimed to love “far better than any I have followed since”). The Mark Twain Riverboat offers one-hour sightseeing cruises and two-hour dinner excursions, along with weekend music cruises in the summer. Outings leave from Hannibal, Missouri, Twain’s childhood home and the model for the fictional St. Petersburg in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Groove to Show Tunes at Jack London’s Ranch

[image error]Open-air winery ruins make a scenic backdrop for “Broadway Under the Stars,” a series of concerts at Jack London State Historic Park in the Sonoma Valley. Literature meets nature at the 1,400-acre park—once the adventure writer’s ranch land—where visitors can picnic, hike, bike, and horseback ride, as well as view London’s homes and grave site. “Broadway Under the Stars” takes place from June 16-September 10. Ticket prices vary.

Watch a Play about Helen Keller at Her Family Home

The drama “The Miracle Worker” is being staged on the grounds of Ivy Green, Helen Keller’s birthplace in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on Friday and Saturday evenings through July 8. The play unfolds Keller’s remarkable life, from her early struggles with blindness and deafness, to the transformation that took place under the tutelage of the “miracle worker,” teacher Anne Sullivan. Performances take place at 8 p.m. and cost $15. Ticket holders can arrive at 6:30 p.m. for a free tour of the house and grounds.

Experience an Emily Dickinson-Era Circus

[image error]Held on the lawn at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, the 19th Century Children’s Circus recreates a home-grown extravaganza put on by the poet’s niece and nephews and other youngsters in the neighborhood in the late 1800s. Enjoy games, crafts, a parade, and more. July 1, 1-4 p.m. Admission charge for non-members.

 

Get Creative at Flannery O’Connor’s Farm

[image error]“Bring yer thang, get yer five minutes of fame.” Every third Thursday through September at Andalusia, Flannery O’Connor’s former home, is open mic night. Take a turn in the spotlight to perform whatever stokes your creative fire—music, reading, dancing, or storytelling. O’Connor spent the last years of her life here in Milledgeville, Georgia, writing and raising peacocks on her mother’s family farm. 5 p.m. on June 15, July 20, August 17, September 21.

Classic Writers Were Literary Travelers, Too

[image error]

“I still cherish the dream of returning for another revel in dear, dirty, delightful London, for I enjoyed myself there more than any where else,” wrote Louisa May Alcott in an 1868 letter to the friend who had shown her around Dickensian London.

Visiting the homes and haunts of famous writers is a time-honored tradition—one that intrigued some of the very authors whose own houses are now popular destinations for literary travelers.

After the publication of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women in 1868, fans of the book began trekking to Concord, Massachusetts, where the boldest ones knocked on the door of Orchard House, the Alcott family abode, looking for the author. Publicity-shy Louisa sometimes pretended to be a servant to deflect the attention, but she probably understood their curiosity. During a trip to London three years earlier, she visited sites featured in Charles Dickens’ tales. She revealed in her diary, “I felt as if I’d got into a novel while going about in the places I’d read so much of.”

[image error]

Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, a destination for early literary travelers.

Two decades before Louisa’s London sojourn, Charles Dickens helped raised funds to preserve Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His signature appears in a facsimile copy of a visitors’ book along with those of other early sightseers, including Romantic poet John Keats. A glass windowpane also bears the etched signatures of other literati who stopped by to pay their respects to the Bard, one of whom was Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott.

[image error]

Make like Dickens, Keats, and other literary luminaries and visit Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon.

I’m not sure how Nathaniel Hawthorne could fail to be impressed with Sir Walter Scott’s striking home, Abbotsford, in the Scottish countryside. “Its aspect disappointed me; but so does everything. It is but a villa, after all; no castle, nor even a large manor-house, and very unsatisfactory when you consider it in that light,” he petulantly penned in Passages from the English Notebooks of Nathaniel Hawthorne. He did like aspects of the interior, including the weapons room where Rob Roy’s sword is on display, and the cozy study, where a servant invited him to sit in Scott’s writing chair so that he might “catch some inspiration.”

[image error]

Seriously? Nathaniel Hawthorne was underwhelmed by Sir Walter Scott’s “conundrum castle.”

Close friends Edith Wharton and Henry James were much more enthusiastic about their spring 1907 pilgrimage to the 18th-century château of French feminist writer George Sand, whom they both admired. In her travelogue A Motor-Flight Through France, Wharton reminisced about the visit (her second) to Nohant. The house, she believed, led “straight into the life of George Sand.” While strolling through the dining room, Wharton imagined the conversations that took place there among Sand’s “illustrious visitors,” among them Gustave Flaubert and Alexandre Dumas.

[image error]

Beginning in the 1830s, George Sand’s home was a hub of literary, artistic, and musical creativity.

Wharton and James also stood in the garden, gazing at the house and guessing which rooms famous guests might have occupied (some of whom, like composer Frederic Chopin, were also Sand’s lovers). True literary travelers, Wharton and James even christened the car in which they motored through France “George” in their predecessor’s honor.

[Photos: London, Orchard House, Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Abbotsford © NovelDestinations.com; Nohant Wikimedia Commons/By SiefkinDR]

Toasting Emily Dickinson and A QUIET PASSION

The wine will be flowing tomorrow evening at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, a toast to coincide with the opening of the feature film A Quiet Passion. Sex and the City alum Cynthia Nixon plays the part of Emily Dickinson in this biopic about the intriguing and famously reclusive poet’s life.

The movie was primarily shot in Belgium, where a replica of the Dickinson family residence, The Homestead, was recreated. The actual abode, a 200-year-old yellow brick house in Amherst where Dickinson lived for all but 15 of her 55 years, features in exterior scenes in A Quiet Passion.

Visitors to the museum can tour The Homestead—including Dickinson’s bedroom, where she did much of her writing—as well as The Evergreens, an Italianate-style house next door that was built for her brother and his wife in 1856.

Summertime visits are ideal for a stroll around the grounds, accompanied by an audio tour that integrates Dickinson’s poetry with the landscape. The green-thumbed wordsmith liked to garden, and more than a third of her poems feature floral references.

If you can’t make it when the flora is at its finest, consider stopping by in December for the annual Dickinson birthday festivities. The celebration includes coconut cake made from the poet’s own recipe.

The particulars: “A Toast to A Quiet Passion” takes place  at the Emily Dickinson Museum on April 14 from 5-6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. No reservations required. http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org

5 Must-Do Pastimes in Brontë Country

[image error]

Watching the drama To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters is likely to cause literary wanderlust. (It airs Sunday, March 26, on PBS-Masterpiece.) The backdrop is the Yorkshire village of Haworth and the surrounding moors, a dramatically scenic landscape that helped inspire the novelist sisters’ page-turners Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Here are five things for bibliophiles to do in Brontë Country.

Visit the Brontë Parsonage Museum. Home to Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, along with their brother Branwell, was a Georgian parsonage in Haworth, where their father, Patrick, was appointed curate in 1820. Don’t miss the ink-stained table in the dining room, where the novelists gathered in the evenings to read aloud from their works-in-progress and brainstorm plot ideas. A replica of the c. 1800s parsonage, along with a side street and neighboring buildings, was created on a set outside of Haworth. www.bronte.org.uk

Ramble on the moors. Venture into Wuthering Heights territory as you follow in the sisters’ footsteps across the wind-swept moorland around Haworth. A 2.5-mile walk from town leads to the Brontës’ favorite destination, “the meeting of the waters.” There, Emily would recline on a slab of stone, today dubbed the “Brontë chair,” to play with tadpoles in the water. Continue on another mile to reach the stone ruins of an isolated farm known as Top Withens, credited as being the setting of Heathcliff’s domain in Wuthering Heights.

Have a pint at the Black Bull. At the top of a steep cobblestone street in the center of Haworth is the cozy, 300-year-old watering hole where wayward Branwell Brontë frequently whiled away the hours. Though a talented painter and poet, he was unable to hold a steady job and increasingly found solace in alcohol and opium. In an alcove up the stairwell, his favorite chair has been given pride of place.

Take the Passionate Brontës Tour. Stroll along Haworth’s historic cobbled streets and hear all about the village’s most famous family. Guides use the Brontës’ own letters, poems, and stories to illuminate their literary achievements, shed light on their personal passions and tragedies, and reveal what life was like in this tiny Yorkshire town during their day. www.brontewalks.co.uk

Read a book in the Brontë Meadow. Break out the dog-eared copy of your favorite Brontë novel that you toted along and read a passage or two. Adjacent to the museum, the Brontë Meadow has gorgeous views of the countryside and is a perfect introduction to the novelists’ territory, especially if you don’t have time for a lengthy walk on the moors.

 

For more about the Brontë sisters and the landscape that inspired them, check out the expanded and updated edition of NOVEL DESTINATIONS, which has a brand-new, in-depth narrative chapter about Brontë Country. Available May 2nd.

Agatha Christie’s Adventurous Honeymoon

After Agatha Christie tied the knot with archaeologist Max Mallowan at an Edinburgh cathedral in 1930, they set out on an adventuresome journey. “Max had planned the honeymoon entirely himself; it was going to be a surprise,” Christie penned in An Autobiography.

Romantic Venice was the first stop for the newly wed crime writer. Christie had passed through the Italian city previously while traveling on the Orient Express from London to the Middle East, where she met her future husband on an archaeological dig.

[image error]

“I resolved…that if ever I am so fortunate I shall spend my honeymoon here!” Max Mallowan once vowed about Venice. And indeed he hid.

The honeymoon tour continued in dazzling Dubrovnik. Christie gives the seaside walled city just a brief mention in An Autobiography. But then words hardly do this dreamy destination justice.

[image error]

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Next up on the newlyweds’ itinerary was Split, another wonderfully atmospheric city that, like Dubrovnik, lies along the Adriatic Sea. Mallowan and Christie—who was intrigued by archaeology even before marrying into the profession—no doubt made like other tourists in town and admired Split’s main attraction: the ruins of a palace built by a Roman emperor.

[image error]

Diocletian’s Palace, Split, Croatia

An intrepid traveler, Christie then climbed aboard a cargo boat to travel down the Dalmatian coast to Greece. Once back on land, the couple made their way by train to Olympia, founded in the eighth century BC and site of the original Olympic Games. Christie’s verdict? “Olympia was as lovely as I thought it would be.”

[image error]

Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece

The next day, though, a rigorous outing tested even Christie’s fortitude and “very nearly tore the fabric of our married life,” she reported. An estimated eight-hour mule ride to a hilltop town turned into fourteen. After two days spent recovering, Christie “admitted that I was not sorry to have married [Max] at all, and that perhaps he could learn the proper way to treat a wife—by not taking her on mule rides until he had carefully calculated the distance.”

For Christie, the highlight in Greece was Delphi, where ruins cascade down the side of a mountain. “It struck me as so unbelievably beautiful,” she recalled. It’s no wonder then that in ancient times, Delphi was considered the center of the world and home to an important oracle. In Greek mythology, Zeus released two eagles in opposite directions, and Delphi was where they met after circling the world.

[image error]

Treasury of the Athenians, Delphi, Greece

The honeymooners stopped to admire more ruins and views of azure waters in Nafplio. Looming over the town is a fortress built under the Venetians’ rule and reached via 857 steps.

[image error]

Overlooking Nafplio from atop the Palamidi Fortress.

Christie and Mallowan explored a few other places before ending their honeymoon in Athens, where they parted ways—she back to London via the Orient Express and he to an archaeological site.

[image error]

The Acropolis, Athens

It’s doubtful that they got out and about to the Acropolis and other popular sites in Athens, as Christie was felled by an illness that lasted several days. Still, even being sick didn’t dampen her enthusiasm for the nuptial trek. As she declared in An Autobiography, “I am sure nobody enjoyed a honeymoon better than we did.”

 

If you’d like to know more about Agatha Christie’s love life, check out Writers Between the Covers .

Memorable Gifts from Scribes and Their Significant Others…and Where to See Them

These writers and their partners had a flair for memorable gift-giving, from presents that pulled at the heartstrings to gifts that stirred up drama on and off the page.

Scarlett Fever: Margaret Mitchell

[image error]

Margaret Mitchell received a life-altering gift from her husband while she was housebound recovering from a car accident. He presented her with a secondhand typewriter, a sheaf of paper, and the declaration, “Madam, I greet you on the beginning of a great new career.” That typewriter, which Mitchell used to craft her masterpiece, Gone with the Wind, is on view at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library.

Pay It Forward: O. Henry

[image error]

When struggling scribe O. Henry saved up money for his wife to attend the Chicago World’s Fair, she instead used the funds to spruce up their sparse home with muslin curtains and a pair of wicker chairs. This selfless act helped inspire his most famous short story, “The Gift of the Magi.” The chairs are on display at the Queen Anne-style cottage the couple shared, now the O. Henry Museum in Austin.

Poetry in Motion: John Keats

[image error]

“I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days—three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain,” proclaimed romantic poet John Keats to his fiancée, Fanny Brawne. The two met while living in adjoining abodes in London, but before they exchanged vows Keats died of tuberculosis. On display at the Keats House museum is the garnet engagement ring the poet gave to Fanny. Brokenhearted, she never married and wore the ring for the next four decades until her own passing.

Shakespearean Drama

[image error]

When the Bard passed away, he ignited a four-hundred-year controversy by leaving his “second-best” bed to his wife, Anne. Contrary to appearances, the bequest was probably a romantic gesture rather than a slight. Tudor custom dictated the best bed be reserved for guests while the second-best would have been the one on which their children were conceived. What is believed to be the second-best bed is on display at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Gambler: Ernest Hemingway

[image error]

While living in Paris, struggling writer Hemingway hit up friends for cash to buy his wife, Hadley, a colorful gift: Joan Miró’s oil painting The Farm. A roll of the dice between Hemingway and an acquaintance decided who had dibs on buying the coveted canvas, which he victoriously toted home to Hadley in a taxi. Today The Farm is on view in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

 

[Photos: Mitchell Typewriter, O. Henry Museum and Hathaway Cottage © NovelDestinations; Keats House © Keats House/City of London; The Farm © National Gallery of Art]