Each of the following poems has been extracted from a British newspaper article of 1824.
Lord Byron: His Funeral
Large plumes were placed on the coffin,
a pall of black velvet, trimmed with white satin,
the coronet, on a crimson cushion, sat on a case containing his heart.
One-hundred carriages followed the coffin,
in the fifth his body-guard, George Babba Fallier Cacciatore,
a man of uncommon personal beauty.
He was much attached to his noble master,
staying close to his body the whole of the voyage:
so loving and so lovely - till then never.
(Fleming’s British Farmers’ Chronicle – Monday 19 July 1824)
The Shepherd in the Field
When did he realise what he was hearing, the shepherd in the field?
It was a female voice.
The noise was like a shriek -
a crying in distress.
At what point did he understand that he had a choice to make?
The voice came from the road side.
He couldn’t see the place on account of a smallish hill -
besides, he had his sheep to tend.
And how often since, has he wondered what would have happened had he chosen differently?
Later he saw her crying.
She was with the travelling woman who was pinning up her gown -
it was a great deal torn, and her bonnet was all broken.
(Pierce Egan’s Life in London, and Sporting Guide – Sunday 04 April 1824, with questions from Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian, 15 December 2023)
Mr. Weare’s Knife
I did not see him anymore that day.
I saw the body when it was taken from the pond,
when it was in the sack,
when it was in the coffin.
I know this knife,
I saw it in his hand on the day he was murdered.
I know it from a mark on the handle.
It is a remarkable knife.
(Hull Advertiser – Friday 09 January 1824)
Flight of the dragonfly 