Remains of Elmet

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From this evidence it appears that Elmet was one of a number of Sub-Roman Brittonic realms in the Hen Ogledd – what is now northern England and southern Scotland – during the Early Middle Ages. Other kingdoms included Rheged, the Kingdom of Strathclyde ( Ystrad Clud), Bryneich and Gododdin. It is unclear how Elmet came to be established, though it has been suggested that it may have been created from a larger kingdom ruled by the semi-legendary Coel Hen. The historian Alex Woolf suggests that the region of Elmet had a distinct tribal identity in pre-Roman times and that this re-emerged after Roman rule collapsed.

However some sources do indicate that Elmet was actually peacefully annexed by Northumbria and that there was no direct military confrontation. [5] Edward Hadley (Open University, UK) considers Hughes's 'Pennine Sequences',Remains of Elmet and Elmet . After the annexation of Elmet, the realm was incorporated into Northumbria on Easter in 627. [5] Its people were known subsequently as the Elmetsæte. They are recorded in the late 7th century Tribal Hidage as the inhabitants of a minor territory of 600 hides. They were the most northerly group recorded in the Tribal Hidage. The Elmetsæte probably continued to reside in West Yorkshire as a distinct Brittonic Celtic group throughout the Anglo-Saxon period and may have colluded with Cadwallon ap Cadfan of Gwynedd when he invaded Northumbria and briefly held the area in 633.The people of Elmet survived as a distinctly recognized Brittonic Celtic group for centuries afterwards in what later became the smaller area of the West Riding of Yorkshire then West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. [1] Geography [ edit ] The initial fall into generation in the first poem of Remains of Elmet parallels Man’s turning away “ down the valleys dark” ( Jer.4:22) of Ulro. From then, until the apocalyptic vision in ‘The Angel’ ( ROE.124), Hughes’ sequence chronicles the working of Nature’s powers, by means of which the land “ Stretches awake, out of Revelations” (‘The Trance Of Light’ ( ROE.20), the creatures live and die, and the trapped souls are finally released.

In general, however, Remains of Elmet impressed its reviewers with its power to evoke the bleak, rugged and haunting beauty of the Calder Valley. Fay Godwin’s photographs were universally praised, and Hughes’ poems were variously described as “ the most restrained, beautiful and unobtrusively effective poems” 5, “ his most approachable volume” for a long time 6; and “ Landscape poetry” 7. Few reviewers regarded the sequence as much more than Hughes’ nostalgic reaction to Fay Godwin’s photographs. Only one discerned any connecting thread linking the poems, beyond their common concern with the Calder Valley. Even Gifford and Roberts characterise Remains of Elmet as “ a social history [written] as a natural history”, although they did believe that in this book Hughes was “ writing at the height of his powers” and they remark on the frequency with which he achieved “ complete unity between the vision of the poem and its language” ( G/R 239, 249). There seems to be an underlying admiration of nature's persistence, of the long game it is unconsciously playing with the fleeting lives that encroach upon it. Yet it is also a portrait of a stoic populace whose relationship with the valley is depicted both as hostile and intimate.

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ROE.23); and the Blake poem which this echoes might well serve to summarise Hughes’ healing purpose in this sequence: Hear the voice of the Bard! The Calder valley, west of Halifax, was the last ditch of Elmet, the last British Celtic kingdom to fall to The poems were written quite simply, like how a plain speaking Yorkshireman would write, with no fancy flowery language - again not what I expected as a neophyte to poetry. Born Berlin , Germany . Father a British diplomat, mother an American artist. Educated at various schools all over the world. Burial practices found in the cemetery could indicate early Christian beliefs. There were also Saxon burials, which were accompanied by personal possessions such as knives and pottery.

She was awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 1990 and had a major retrospective at the Barbican Centre in London in 2001. [3] Personal life [ edit ] landscape that both creates and is inured to its people, whose moors 'Are a stage for the performance of heaven.All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blog Godwin’s eye for detail is typical of all great landscapers. She has the patience of a saint when out in the field, so to speak, and never once settles for second best when recording the subtleties of land and light. Her finest hour came in 1985, when the first of her Land trilogies was published. Regarded by many as the finest study of British landscape ever published, it set new standards in British landscape photography and made Godwin a darling of the Arts Council. But it came with problems.