8/1/2023 0 Comments Wendy the wanderer![]() ![]() One of the most striking features of Old English poetry is its directness. Shafts of light illuminating a dark age, they give a unique insight into the Anglo-Saxon world, over-shadowed by Roman ruins and embattled by Viking incursions, torn between pagan fatalism and Christian hope. Since then, these miraculous survivors have been acknowledged as the earliest known masterpieces of English poetry, influencing and inspiring writers as varied as William Morris and Ezra Pound, Alfred Tennyson and J. The tiny handful of preserved manuscripts were transcribed, edited and translated by pioneering scholars, attracted by their historical value and their heroic and ‘Romantic’ qualities. One of the greatest collections of Anglo-Saxon poetry – the Exeter Book – was dismissed in an early 14th century inventory as ‘worthless’, and used as a beermat and chopping board, its vellum pages stained, sliced and singed.Īfter centuries of neglect and ill-treatment, the tattered remains of this Old English literature were finally recovered in the 19th century. Just decades later, William the Conqueror’s Norman invasion transformed the linguistic landscape of England so dramatically that, before long, these verses had become the unreadable remnants of an extinct language. Verse in the vernacular flourished and, at the turn of the 11th century, monastic scribes wrote down these innovative oral compositions creating the first literature in English. Over 1000 years ago, the visionary Anglo-Saxon ruler Alfred the Great strived to replace Latin with English as the principal language of his kingdom. Crowning this scheme is the stunning design that adorns the binding – a lightning-shattered evocation of the Sutton Hoo helmet that hints at the inspired, and inspiring, tales enclosed within this magnificent volume. And witty visual puns, where a picture is simultaneously a pile of twisted branches, bones and hail the outline of a chicken and the solution to a riddle, spelled out in runes, reflect their complexity and their humour. Intricate ink-drawn ornamental borders – where knot-work turns into writhing dragons and shattered twigs become the broken strings of a harp – mirror their themes of life and death, and the brokenness and integrity of the texts themselves. ![]() Detailed watercolours evoke their magic and their mystery, bringing key moments vividly to life. Lee’s lavish illustrative scheme sets the poems in a modern re-imagining of an illuminated manuscript. ![]() ![]() An artist steeped in myth, legend and folklore, his other-worldly images place him at the forefront of a tradition established by the Pre-Raphaelites, Rackham and Dulac. It leaves its author retired from flying but pursuing a new passion: a consultancy dealing in Feng Shui and self-empowerment, the latter aimed especially at women and girls who are seeking the courage to fly.Alan Lee is the most celebrated living illustrator of myth and fantasy: a recipient of the Kate Greenaway Medal the Tolkien estate’s artist-of-choice for over 25 years and an Oscar-winner for his conceptual work on Peter Jackson’s films of The Lord of the Rings. The Courage to Fly is an easy-going, chatty memoir designed to inspire self-confidence. And the adventure of flying is matched by a life of outdoor adventure travel, from skydiving through running an eco-travel business to launching an assault on the base camp of Mount Everest. Tips for courageous living follow each chapter. Underpinning the pilot stories is a narrative about believing in yourself, marching through the dark places, and facing fears. Her sheer joy in flying jumps off every page.īut The Courage to Fly is not only about flying planes. She had to earn respect as a woman in a male-dominated world.īut she emerged triumphantly as a pilot, and eventually a captain - the first woman to captain a jet aircraft for BWIA, Caribbean Airlines’ predecessor. She had to fund her long rigorous training, and discover how much relentless hard work and sacrifice goes into becoming a pilot. She has now published a memoir - The Courage to Fly - describing how she managed it. Watch me” - and do her own thing regardless. As the years went by people told her: Forget about it, flying is boys’ work, girls don’t fly airplanes, just get married and be a good wife and mother.īut Wendy, a tenacious and self-directed Trinidadian, soon learned to say “I can. Not just a pilot, but the captain of a big commercial jet. Wendy Yawching was only 10 when she decided to be a pilot. ![]()
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