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the place his parents, friends and relations live, where there is a shared culture, not "an enormous heterogeneous collection of people gathered from all corners of the country and deposited like silt at the delta of a great river." It is in a contained provincial community, "in our intense concern with what is close to us, that we most resemble the people of other countries and other times" and gain awareness of "that which is enduring in life and society."
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One important trait in
Nicholson's work is conscious adoption of provincialism coupled with a conscious rejection of the value judgements associated with it: "the smug, the narrow, the short-sighted... a bad copy of the life of the capital," as he called them. To him a provincial was one who lives in
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The work of Norman
Nicholson is marked by a simplicity and directness of language drawn from the vernacular of the common people in his native town. Much of it concerns mining, quarrying and ironworks – the dominant industries in his area. Religion and faith were another aspect of his work. His
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is the
Honorary President. It aims to be a focal point for appreciation and research and encourage republication of any Nicholson's works currently out of print. Talks and events are arranged throughout the year. The newsletter
87:
Nicholson was educated at
Holborn Hill School and Millom Secondary School, but his education was interrupted at the age of 16, when he needed treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. He then spent two years at a sanatorium in
72:. His poetry is noted for local concerns, straightforward language, and elements of common speech. Although known chiefly for poetry, Nicholson wrote much in other forms: novels, plays, essays, topography and criticism.
583:, published and distributed free to members, contains articles on Nicholson's life and work, information about events and original material from members. Contributors have included David Cooper, Neil Curry,
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poetry also abounds with direct quotations from everyday life, skilfully woven into the body of the poem. The opening of "Old Man at a
Cricket Match" is typical:
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Nicholson lived in 14 St George's
Terrace, a Victorian terraced house and shop in the small industrial town of Millom on the edge of the
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He was married in 1956 to Yvonne Edith
Gardner (died 1982), a teacher who had consulted him about a school production of his play
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chapel in Millom, to which belonged
Rosetta Sobey, who became his stepmother in 1922. However he was confirmed in 1940 into the
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in 1945. He received altogether five honorary degrees from
British universities, the Queen's Award for Poetry in 1977, and the
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Other aspects of
Nicholson include his social awareness as a champion of the working class. He worked as a lecturer for the
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Nicholson's personal collection of published poetry was acquired by the John Rylands Library, Manchester, from his family.
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This was inaugurated in Millom on 31 March 2006, to celebrate and promote Nicholson's work as widely as possible.
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Norman Nicholson's home at 14 St George's Terrace has become a food shop and café; there is a commemorative
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720:"'Verse Rooted Like a Tree'. The Cumbrian Poetry of Norman Nicholson" by David Boyd. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
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653:"On Being a Provincial", broadcast in 1954. Quoted in Neil Curry's introduction to Norman Nicholson,
595:. Contributions relevant to Nicholson's life and work are invited by the editor, Antoinette Fawcett.
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and the way he had "turned to the industrial scene." His descriptive poetry can be remarkably vivid:
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Nicholson's writing career stretched from the 1930s until his death in 1987. He was published by
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As a poet Nicholson is not generally associated with any of the 20th-century movements. Like
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Nicholson was influenced by the social and religious community around the local
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Another important feature is Nicholson's Christianity. The religious poems in
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Nicholson's Lake District is not the Lake District of the Tourist Board, not
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Five Norman Nicholson poems (one previously unpublished) read by Neil Curry
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64:(8 January 1914 – 30 May 1987) was an English poet associated with the
814:, Edited by Stephen Matthews and Neil Curry, Bookcase, Carlisle, 2014
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110:. They began to travel extensively in Northern England, Scotland and
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Norman Nicholson at 100 Essays and Memoirs on his Centenary
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Nicholson's home (left) in St George's Terrace, Millom
121:and was buried in St George's Churchyard, Millom.
702:, ed. William Scammel (Durham, UK: Taxvs, 1984).
197:(1947) is about survival after nuclear disaster.
641:There is a photograph of the gravestone here:
232:, but the industrial coastal towns of Millom,
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797:, a biography by Royal Literary Fund Fellow
676:The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English
193:in a distinctly Cumbrian setting. A fourth,
945:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
546:houses information about Norman Nicholson.
317:And children suffocate in God's fresh air.
304:And feels the canker itch between his toes.
756:. University of Manchester. Archived from
700:Between Comets. For Norman Nicholson at 70
217:Through a tonsure of bracken and bilberry.
300:Scafell looks down from the bracken band
117:Norman Nicholson died on 30 May 1987 in
629:; entry by Antony Thwaite in the ODNB:
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215:The granite pate breaks bare to the sky
307:This is a land where the dirt is clean
294:The toadstool towers infest the shore:
859:Norman Nicholson: the whispering poet
795:Norman Nicholson: The Whispering Poet
313:Where sewers flow with milk, and meat
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657:(London: Faber, 2008 ), pp. xv-xvi.
309:And poison pasture, quick and green,
296:Stink-horns that propagate and spore
162: 'It's mending worse,' he said,
896:at Millom Discovery Centre, Cumbria
827:David Boyd, Seascale Press, 2015,
276:...that is yours and mine as well
256:, who wrote in a poem of tribute:
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955:20th-century English male writers
825:Norman Nicholson, A Literary Life
631:Retrieved 7 May 2012. Pay-walled.
315:is carved up for the fire to eat,
302:And sees hell in a grain of sand,
52:Nicholson's blue plaque in Millom
613:"The papers of Norman Nicholson"
283:Workers' Educational Association
177:foreshadow verse plays of his –
861:, Appleby: Book Mill, c. 2013,
322:Nicholson was the subject of a
311:And storm sky, bright and bare;
164: Bending west his head...
674:Entry for Norman Nicholson in
566:on the front of the building.
531:Nicholson's papers are in the
145:(1981). He was elected to the
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889:Location of Nicholson's house
678:(Cambridge, UK: CUP, 2000).
274:Dublin black pool, dubh linn
179:The Old Man of the Mountains
108:The Old Man of the Mountains
57:Norman Cornthwaite Nicholson
18:Norman Cornthwaite Nicholson
754:"Nicholson Book Collection"
497:Norman Nicholson's Lakeland
263:cracked like a plaited whip
261:...those Cumbrian phonetics
147:Royal Society of Literature
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930:20th-century English poets
906:, University of Manchester
734:. University of Manchester
732:"Norman Nicholson Archive"
521:St George's Church, Millom
377:Cumberland and Westmorland
265:until the slack, nostalgic
213:Above the collar of crags,
479:The Shadow of Black Combe
219:(From "Eskdale Granite")
894:Norman Nicholson Gallery
690:Neil Curry..., p. xviii.
570:Norman Nicholson Society
499:(ed. Irvine Hunt) (1991)
491:Selected Poems 1940-1982
359:Old Man of the Mountains
298:Wherever the wind blows.
244:. His admirers included
114:. They had no children.
900:Norman Nicholson Papers
801:, The Book Mill, 2013,
544:Millom Discovery Centre
515:Millom Library and the
505:(ed. Neil Curry) (1994)
467:Wednesday Early Closing
443:No Star on the Way Back
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272:of my own black pool —
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780:Retrieved 7 May 2012.
680:Retrieved 8 May 2012.
643:Retrieved 7 May 2012.
431:Portrait of the Lakes
413:A Match for the Devil
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183:A Match for the Devil
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141:(1948) and the later
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904:John Rylands Library
627:Retrieved 7 May 2012
533:John Rylands Library
517:John Rylands Library
419:Provincial Pleasures
383:Prophesy to the Wind
353:The Fire of the Lord
334:Partial bibliography
330:on 4 November 1984.
267:ambler in me trotted
195:Prophesy to the Wind
137:. His works include
879:Nicholson in Millom
427:(verse drama, 1960)
415:(verse drama, 1955)
385:(verse drama, 1950)
361:(verse drama, 1946)
270:on the paved margin
960:Burials in Cumbria
950:People from Millom
935:English male poets
455:A Local Habitation
451:(topography, 1969)
433:(topography, 1963)
409:(topography, 1955)
379:(topography, 1949)
341:Man and Literature
97:Wesleyan Methodist
90:Linford, Hampshire
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867:978-0-9574332-4-3
833:978-0-9928261-0-9
778:Society website:
663:978 0 571 24328 0
475:(anthology, 1978)
473:The Lake District
425:Birth by Drowning
397:(criticism, 1951)
391:(criticism, 1950)
343:(criticism, 1943)
326:broadcast in the
189:(1960) – placing
187:Birth by Drowning
101:Church of England
16:(Redirected from
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925:1987 deaths
920:1914 births
738:15 November
564:blue plaque
389:H. G. Wells
347:Five Rivers
246:T. S. Eliot
206:W. H. Auden
185:(1955) and
175:Five Rivers
131:T. S. Eliot
914:Categories
764:4 December
708:1850190119
599:References
539:Exhibition
407:The Lakers
250:Ted Hughes
230:Windermere
119:Whitehaven
558:Residence
371:Rock Face
287:Windscale
226:Hawkshead
191:the Bible
153:in 1981.
139:Rock Face
234:Egremont
181:(1946),
125:Writings
68:town of
66:Cumbrian
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550:Library
527:Archive
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511:Legacy
463:(1975)
252:, and
238:Bootle
112:Norway
70:Millom
581:Comet
242:Askam
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803:ISBN
766:2009
740:2016
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76:Life
151:OBE
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