Dweller in Shadows by Kate Kennedy

Author:Kate Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2021-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

It was a sleepy little village, just far enough from Gloucester to feel separate from home, but near enough for frequent visits to friends. Gurney could cycle out in any direction and be in the landscape he loved within moments; on one side were the Cotswolds, on the other the Severn flowed by. Aunt Marie’s house was surrounded by meadows, which in spring were full of daffodils, and Gurney had moved in at just the right time to see them flower. It seemed, superficially at least, to be ideal, but both nephew and aunt knew the arrangement was unlikely to be permanent. He was painfully aware that he was prevailing upon her kindness, and the sense of debt ran deep. His return to Gloucestershire should have been to his own little cottage, a dream that had briefly seemed so close to realisation the previous summer.65

The tranquillity of the place gave Gurney the chance to work at some considerable speed, although being surrounded by such countryside was a temptation and inspiration. He would often abandon work late at night to roam out into the fields or down to the river, and revel in the sunrise, the slowly changing skies so much more beautiful than the watery imitation of sunrise over London. His poem ‘Longford Dawns’ begins:

Of course not all the watchers of the dawn

See Severn mists like forced-march mists withdrawn

London has darkness changing into light

With just one quarter hour of any weight.66

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