Jumping off the Page!
Keats house may still be closed, but the new Keats Education
Room in Heath Library (next door) is finally open for business! We
had our grand opening on World Book Day, Thursday, 6th March, in a
crowded session with Year 5 from Christ Church School called
‘Jumping Off the Page’.
The children arrived in costume, dressed as characters from their
favourite books or films: we had Pippi Longstocking, Darth Vader
and several wizards! Jane Healey, children’s librarian, started by
showing the group illustrations from some of the great
picture-books, from Where the Wild Things Are to The Snowman, and
reading them a sinister story of wolves and carnivorous pictures.
Then they hit the water-colours to design and paint their own story
illustrations, featuring journeys, aliens and strange
transformations.
A wonderfully colourful and messy time was had by all, and some of
the children’s best paintings can be seen on display at Heath
Library and in the Keats Education Room.
The Mulberry Tree at Keats House
Keats House recently received a
request for information about the Mulberry tree that stands in
the garden.
From: 'A Description and History of Vegetable Substances used in
the Arts and in Domestic Economy', published by Charles Knight.
London, 1829:
In this country, there are many old mulberry trees, of large
dimensions, and remarkable for the quantity of fruit they bear. It
is probable that some of these old trees were planted at the latter
end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries; for James
I endeavoured to render the cultivation of the tree general, in the
same way that Henry IV had tried to introduce it in France. The
first mulberry trees of England are said to have been planted at
silent House, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, in 1548; and
the trees, though decayed in the trunk, still bear fruit. mulberry
gardens were common in the 17th century, in the neighbourhood of
London; but either from the climate or the prejudices of the
people, the growth of silk never prospered.
The Mulberry tree at Keats House is a Common or Black Mulberry and
is believed to date from the 17th century. As there were other
fruit trees in the grounds of the house, it may have been part of
an orchard. Mulberry trees are not native to this country. They are
'small bushy-headed trees, with large alternate, deciduous, toothed
and often variously lobed leaves. They grow to '20 to 30 feet high,
of rugged, picturesque appearance, forming a dense, spreading head
of branches usually wider than the height of the tree, springing
from a short, rough trunk.' The juicy purple fruit is about an inch
long but extremely messy when picked carelessly. The trees are
known to have been cultivated in England since the early sixteenth
century, and possibly before.
At Syon House, Brentford there is an
example which is said to be the oldest of its kind in England,
being introduced from Persia in 1548; it is perhaps one of the
largest in the country. There are also a number of Mulberry
trees associated with famous people. There is a tree in the
grounds of Christ Church College, Cambridge, which is supposed
to have been planted by Milton, and the same is claimed for
another at Stowmarket. Shakespeare is connected with a tree
which he is supposed to have taken from the Mulberry garden of
James I and planted in his garden at New Place, Stratford upon
Avon. Apparently there are descendants of this tree at Kew.
Shakespeare's tree was cut down by the Rev. Mr. Gastrell
around 1752 to 'save himself the trouble of showing it to
those whose admiration of the poet led them to visit the
ground on which it stood.' There is a mulberry tree at the
site of David Garrick's villa, visible from the pavement by
the bus stop on the north side of the Hampton Court Road. This
tree is said to be have been grown from a tree originally
planted by the Garricks, which was itself a cutting from
Shakespeare's mulberry in Stratford.
There are also trees associated with William Morris at Kelmscott
Manor, Gloucestershire; Charles Darwin at Down House, Kent; William
Hogarth at Hogarth’s House, Chiswick; and William Wilberforce at
Wilberforce House, Hull, East Yorkshire.
If the tree at Keats House is as old as it is thought to be,
then John Keats would have seen it, although he does not mention
it, even though he began visiting the house in 1817 and lived there
between 1818 and 1820. Keats mentions the other type (the white
mulberry) once in his surviving letters, when writing to his friend
John Hamilton Reynolds in July 1818. Keats has been walking in
Scotland with his friend Charles Brown through the country that
Burns knew:
We were talking on different and
indifferent things, when on a sudden we turned a corner upon
the immediate County of Ayr - the Sight was as rich as
possible - I had no Conception that the native place of Burns
was so beautiful - the Idea I had was more desolate […] - O
prejudice! It was rich as Devon - I endeavour'd to drink in
the Prospect, that I might spin it out to you as the silkworm
makes silk from Mulberry leaves […]
You might like to try making Mulberry Juice. You will need fresh
washed mulberry leaves and a juicer. Apparently, ‘Mulberry leaf
juice is broadly similar to wheatgrass juice. It is not as sweet -
and the taste is reminiscent of mulberries. Both seem to make me
shake my head involuntarily during consumption. Both are probably
best consumed diluted. It is also very very green.' You have been
warned. Best to eat the fruit or make some jam.
Visit
http://mulberrytrees.co.uk/
for more information.
"An Awkward Bow"
On 31 October Keats House opened to the public for the very last
time before closing for a refurbishment thanks to a
Heritage Lottery funded grant. Over the next
twelve months work will begin on the internal restoration of the
Grade 1 listed building, meaning that more of the collection can be
displayed. To bid farewell to Keats House as we know it we
organised an afternoon of events and an evening reception,
commemorating our highest visitor figures since 1996 and what is
bound to be an exciting year ahead.
The afternoon began with a special Keats poetry reading group
attended by sixteen people in total. Many of these were Keats House
regulars who have been enjoying Friday afternoon sessions at the
museum for a few years. There were also some new faces who did not
object to reading a sonnet or two. Staff then hosted a Keats Quiz
complete with prizes and trick questions. There were no losers here
though as each person in attendance received a small Keats related
treat. Finally, a very traditional English institution followed as
tea and biscuits were served with volunteers on hand to help pour
the drinks.
From 6.30pm we hosted a reception
that saw us mingling with poets, writers and actors, valuable
friends, City of London staff and volunteers. With canapés and
wine available the evening began with a wonderful rendition of
Ode on a Grecian Urn by Declan Donnellan. As founder of the
theatre company Cheek by Jowl, Declan has been using the Chester
Room as a space for auditions and rehearsals during the past couple
of years. Poet Dannie Abse followed with a moving recitation of
La Belle Dame sans Merci, which was by far one of the
highlights of the evening. Next was Diana Bishop, poet in residence
at Keats House in 2001, who read out two poems inspired by her
tenure here.
Keats’s poetry and prose was then
brought to life by Jennifer Taylor and Andrew Dawson who
performed a segment from Keats in Hampstead, one of the great
successes of summer of 2007. Directed by James Veitch,
Keats in Hampstead explored the relationship between Keats and
Fanny Brawne and was given four stars by Time Out (in the same
week Joseph was given only three). Nicholas Shaw who played
Keats in the Peter Ackroyd documentary, The Romantics (2006),
then read the sonnet
When I have fears that I may cease to be. Janet Suzman;
actress, director, writer and Hampstead local captured the essence
of Keats House with a selection of prose. Finally, volunteer Trevor
Williams performed an extract from Hyperion followed by a staff
recitation of On Fame. Keats House manager Mick Scott closed the
evening with an evocative farewell as the staff and volunteers
closed the shutters for a final time, finishing with an ‘awkward
bow’.
The name of the evening was taken from Keats’s final letter to
Charles Brown, written from Rome in November 1820. ‘I can scarcely
bid you good bye even in a letter. I always made an awkward bow’.
Many thanks to all of the staff and volunteers, past and present,
who have helped to contribute in someway to Keats House.