Poetry: A Soldier From Auvergne
“The Soldier From Auvergne” is a stirring piece of wartime poetry by British writer and serviceman Henry Baerlein.
July 21, 2023
No Comments
Menu
“The Soldier From Auvergne” is a stirring piece of wartime poetry by British writer and serviceman Henry Baerlein.
“It was out of the ‘bottomless’ Lac Pavin that the sorcerers conjured wind and storm by casting a stone into its enchanted waters…” -Margaret Roberts
The crag, the precipice, the perilous pass, the castle-crowned hill, the arched bridge, the untutored mountaineer, the ravaging baron, the robber chief, the ugly legendary tale of death, the pretty tale of love and fairyland luck — all these come into the story of Auvergne.
Auvergne, Auvergne, O wild and woeful land, O glorious land and gracious, white as gleam The stairs of heaven, black as a flameless brand, Strange
“In Auvergne, too, you will find again the homely farms, with great hearths and cupboard-beds…the strange superstitions and beliefs; the markets, the picturesque processions and dances,
“All nations have their omens drear, Their legends wild of woe and fear…” -Sir Walter Scott (1808) An interesting list of Auvergnat folk traditions was
Auvergne has a long tradition of loups-garous (werewolves). In fact, one of the most famous loup-garou legends first appeared in Discours execrable des Sorciers (1602), a book by
What did nineteenth-century Americans think of Auvergne? In 1801, American ambassador William Short told President Thomas Jefferson that the Limagne — a sun-kissed expanse of
Visit Auvergne is a member of the Europeana Network Association – an EU-funded community of experts working in the field of digital cultural heritage.
Designed by Paolo Zappalà