. Joseph Skipsey : his life and work . it was possibleto pass an hour with him without going away feelingthe richer for the occasion. He was an admirer of Robert Brownings poetry, butcared much the most for Pippa Passes, andespecially the wild, passionate scene between Ottimaand Sebald. Few of the longer poems he read atall, and the same is true of Tennysons poetry. That there was a peculiar charm about his conversa-tion and about the man himself is shown by the highestimate formed of him by men of widely different pur-suits, but who, in common, highly valued all that showsa man to be a true t
. Joseph Skipsey : his life and work . it was possibleto pass an hour with him without going away feelingthe richer for the occasion. He was an admirer of Robert Brownings poetry, butcared much the most for Pippa Passes, andespecially the wild, passionate scene between Ottimaand Sebald. Few of the longer poems he read atall, and the same is true of Tennysons poetry. That there was a peculiar charm about his conversa-tion and about the man himself is shown by the highestimate formed of him by men of widely different pur-suits, but who, in common, highly valued all that showsa man to be a true thinker of power and independence. I take the following from the Memorials of EdwardBurne Jones, by Lady Burne Jones. She writes:* This summer (1880) brought us a brief friendship,and then took away the friend it gave—Mr. ThomasDixon, of Sunderland, to whom Buskin wrote the lettersafterwards published as Time and Tide by Wear andTyne. Mr. Dixon had already written to Edward, buthe first came to the Grange one day early in June, when. THOMAS DIXON JOSEPH SKIPSEY 105 he lunched with us. We felt the delicacy of his nature,and liked him at once ; and the liking was quickenedwhen we found that his great pleasure was not to intro-duce himself but to bring his chief friend and hero, JosephSkipsey, up from Newcastle to London for a few days inorder to make him known to some of the men whosework he specially honoured, and who he thought wouldrecognise Skipseys gifts. What he said of his friend iswell known : that he had worked in a coal-pit from thetime when he was seven years old, but that a ray of thedivine light and genius had lit up even that black worldfor him, and by this time he was a man to be worshippedby at least one other—who was telling us the story. A few days after this Mr. Dixon dined with us tomeet Morris, and my diary says it was * A good evening,but details are lost. The Sunday following is clearer inmemory. It was a beautiful summer day, and the twofriends came to
Size: 1364px × 1831px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectpoetsenglish19thcent
