Ralph Hodgson

Ralph Edwin Hodgson (9 September 1871 – 3 November 1962) was an English poet of the Georgian school, and an animal-rights activist.

Left to right, standing: Mark Gertler, Hewy Levy, Walter J. Turner, Edward Arthur Milne; sitting: Ralph Hodgson, J.W.N. Sullivan, S. S. Koteliansky. London, 1928

Quotes

Poems (1917)

Quotations are cited from the 1st edition (London: Macmillan, 1917).

• Time, you old gipsy man,
  Will you not stay,
  Put up your caravan
  Just for one day?
  • "Time, You Old Gipsy Man", p. 4.

• 'Twould ring the bells of Heaven
  The wildest peal for years,
  If Parson lost his senses
  And people came to theirs,
  And he and they together
  Knelt down with angry prayers
  For tamed and shabby tigers
  And dancing dogs and bears,
  And wretched, blind, pit ponies,
  And little hunted hares.
  • "The Bells of Heaven", p. 25.

• Reason has moons, but moons not hers
  Lie mirror'd on her sea,
  Confounding her astronomers,
  But, O! delighting me.
  • "Reason Has Moons", p. 64.

• I saw with open eyes, Singing birds sweet, Sold in the shops, For the people to eat, Sold in the shops of, Stupidity Street.
  • "Stupidity Street"

• God loves an idle rainbow, Not less than labouring seas.
  • "A Wood Song"

Criticism

• Hodgson, a man of steadfast integrity and strong personality, possessed true distinction.
  • Martin Seymour-Smith Guide to Modern World Literature (London: Hodder & Stoughton, [1973] 1975) vol. 1, p. 237.

• '...one of those men who seem commonplace when first met but then prove to be completely original both in their work and their lives... Apparently slight and unpretentious, his work has a queer magic, which is what I want from poetry.
  • J.B. Priestley The Edwardians (London: Heinemann, 1970. SBN 434 60332 5. P.125.)

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Ralph Hodgson on Wikipedia
• Works related to Author:Ralph Hodgson on Wikisource