Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookTantalus KeyPolice at the Funeral is certainly ingenious. It takes Allingham’s sort-of detective, the private gentleman Albert Campion, up to…8 min read·1 day ago----
Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookProofsI’m not very good at doing proofs. It’s not that I’m intentionally sloppy, or that I shirk the work; it’s important. But I find it hard to…2 min read·5 days ago----
Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookNature PoemI chanced upon this in my reading, and was very struck by it. If you don’t recognise it, you might think it written by Basil Bunting…2 min read·Apr 7, 2024--1--1
Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookRichard Dadd, ‘The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke’ (1855–64)Dadd painted this extraordinary Fantasy masterpiece in the State Criminal Lunatic Asylum of Bethlem Royal Hospital — Bedlam — where he was…4 min read·Apr 4, 2024--2--2
Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookEmilia Lanier’s ‘Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum’ (1611)Emilia Lanier (1569–1645; her name was sometimes spelled Aemilia Lanyer) has the distinction of being the first named female published poet…6 min read·Apr 3, 2024--1--1
Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookAcrostics in Blake’s ‘London’ (1794)I wander thro’ each charter’d street, Near where the charter’d Thames does flow. And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of…2 min read·Mar 30, 2024----
Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookThe Mona Lisa DiagnosisA jaundiced lady sitting in a chair From which she cannot rise: a solitaire Whose eyes are wry with consummations missed As left and right…1 min read·Mar 24, 2024----
Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookHorace and Housman: ‘Diffugere nives’ [Odes 4:7]As Spring is finally springing, here’s a relevant poem, ‘Diffugere nives’, one of Horace’s most famous odes. It is addressed to his friend…7 min read·Mar 23, 2024--1--1
Adam RobertsinAdam’s NotebookImitating Taylor Imitating McGregor Imitating Guinness Imitating:1:23 min read·Mar 22, 2024----