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Pepys
Pepys, a poetic biography of the great London diarist. Love, lust, learning, tailoring, timber masts, sack and oysters are among the subjects sampled in the book.
65 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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About the author
Caroline Gilfillan
6 books1 followerCaroline Gilfillan was brought up in Sussex and spent her formative years in east London writing, playing in various bands, and working in publishing and education. She came to Norfolk after taking an MA in Creative Writing.
She’s written poetry all her life, and her early work was published in Seven Women and One Foot on the Mountain. Her poem The Painter was nominated for the Forward Prize for the best individual poem in 2007. She was a winner of the North West Poetry competition in 2000, and Drowned in Overspill, a collection of her poetry, was published by Crocus Booksin the same year. Yes, her poetry pamphlet, published by The Hawthorn Press in 2010, won the award for the best poetry book in the East Anglian Book Awards that year. Pepys, her first full collection, was published in 2012 by The Hawthorn Press. She won the Suffolk Poetry Society’s George Crabbe prize for poetry in 2012.
She’s also a fiction writer and dramatist. She was selected for the Escalator scheme for fiction writers in 2007, and awarded a grant from Arts Council England in 2008.
In 2007/2008 she was a winner of Channel 4’s The Radio Play’s the Thing competition. She’s won several national short story competitions, and her poems and short stories have appeared in The London Magazine, Poetry News and Mslexia.
She’s written poetry all her life, and her early work was published in Seven Women and One Foot on the Mountain. Her poem The Painter was nominated for the Forward Prize for the best individual poem in 2007. She was a winner of the North West Poetry competition in 2000, and Drowned in Overspill, a collection of her poetry, was published by Crocus Booksin the same year. Yes, her poetry pamphlet, published by The Hawthorn Press in 2010, won the award for the best poetry book in the East Anglian Book Awards that year. Pepys, her first full collection, was published in 2012 by The Hawthorn Press. She won the Suffolk Poetry Society’s George Crabbe prize for poetry in 2012.
She’s also a fiction writer and dramatist. She was selected for the Escalator scheme for fiction writers in 2007, and awarded a grant from Arts Council England in 2008.
In 2007/2008 she was a winner of Channel 4’s The Radio Play’s the Thing competition. She’s won several national short story competitions, and her poems and short stories have appeared in The London Magazine, Poetry News and Mslexia.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 9, 2013
I came across this collection by chance as I began reading Claire Tomalin’s magisterial study of Pepys’ life so I read the two books side by side. These are delightful poems and as Moniza Alvi comments Gilfillan’s ‘engagement with her subject is refreshingly passionate and animated’. Tomalin, as is right and proper for a biographer, sticks to what we actually know of Pepys life whereas Gilfillan is free to add details like;
“the horses shaking their bridles, snorting strings of warm phlegm.”...
From Samuel Pepys Travels to the Grammar School at Huntingdon
and
“You walked out with your father over the fields
clotted with snowdrops, satin with rain.”...
From Sunday Samuel Accompanies Brother John to Cambridge
What both books bave in common is bringing Pepys to life as his boisterous, talkative, impatient, ambitious clever self;
“Even then he offered a face bright as a buttercup
if you would but listen to him –
as I do and ever will.”...
From Lady Jemima, Countess of Sandwch speaks of Samuel
In Pepys Gilfillan also gives voice to those others in his life who would otherwise be part of the background. They are allowed to speak for themselves and to comment (as above) on Sam. One of my favourite poems in the book is in the voice of one of his servants who was dismissed, Wayneman Birch, Boy servant to Samuel Pepys, Speaks of his Undoing
That silver candlestick? Borrowed not stolen:
all I wanted was to enjoy its milky glow
at secret times of the night. And why
shouldn’t I have gunpowder in my pocket
to play with? Other boys do. ...
“the horses shaking their bridles, snorting strings of warm phlegm.”...
From Samuel Pepys Travels to the Grammar School at Huntingdon
and
“You walked out with your father over the fields
clotted with snowdrops, satin with rain.”...
From Sunday Samuel Accompanies Brother John to Cambridge
What both books bave in common is bringing Pepys to life as his boisterous, talkative, impatient, ambitious clever self;
“Even then he offered a face bright as a buttercup
if you would but listen to him –
as I do and ever will.”...
From Lady Jemima, Countess of Sandwch speaks of Samuel
In Pepys Gilfillan also gives voice to those others in his life who would otherwise be part of the background. They are allowed to speak for themselves and to comment (as above) on Sam. One of my favourite poems in the book is in the voice of one of his servants who was dismissed, Wayneman Birch, Boy servant to Samuel Pepys, Speaks of his Undoing
That silver candlestick? Borrowed not stolen:
all I wanted was to enjoy its milky glow
at secret times of the night. And why
shouldn’t I have gunpowder in my pocket
to play with? Other boys do. ...
Displaying 1 of 1 review