Eleanor Farjeon was an English author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Several of her works had illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her correspondence has also been published. She won many literary awards and the Eleanor Farjeon Award for children's literature is presented annually in her memory by the Children's Book Circle, a society of publishers. She was the sister of thriller writer Joseph Jefferson Farjeon. Wikipedia
“But love has no uttermost, as the stars have no number and the sea no rest.”
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
Context: He loved her, both for her fault and her redemption of it, more than he had ever thought that he could love her; for he had believed that in their kiss love had reached its uttermost. But love has no uttermost, as the stars have no number and the sea no rest.
“Of troubles know I none,
Of pleasures know I many —
I rove beneath the sun
Without a single penny.”
Vagrant Songs, II
Pan-Worship and Other Poems (1908)
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
Kentish Town
More Nursery Rhymes of London Town (1917)
“Out upon you, Jerry! Jerry, you're a pity!
Jerry, turn about and plant a garden in the City!”
The Garden City
More Nursery Rhymes of London Town (1917)
Time And Love
Pan-Worship and Other Poems (1908)
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
Context: The world never knows, and cannot for the life of it imagine, what this man sees in that maid and that maid in this man. The world cannot think why they fell in love with each other. But they have their reason, their beautiful secret, that never gets told to more than one person; and what they see in each other is what they show to each other; and it is the truth. Only they kept it hidden in their hearts until the time came. And though you and I may never know why this lane is called Shelley's, to us both it will always be the greenest lane in Sussex, because it leads to the special secret I spoke of.
“For all the ill that is in us comes from fear, and all the good from love.”
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
Context: Women are so strangely constructed that they have in them darkness as well as light, though it be but a little curtain hung across the sun. And love is the hand that takes the curtain down, a stronger hand than fear, which hung it up. For all the ill that is in us comes from fear, and all the good from love.
Time And Love
Pan-Worship and Other Poems (1908)
Context: Dropt tears have hastened your decay
And brought you one step nigher death;
And you have heard, unthrilled, unmoved,
The music of Love's golden breath
And seen the light in eyes that loved.
You think you hold the core and kernel
Of all the world beneath your crust,
Old dial? But when you lie in dust,
This vine will bloom, strong, green, and proved.
Love is eternal.
Pan-Worship
Pan-Worship and Other Poems (1908)
Context: O evanescent temples built of man
To deities he honoured and dethroned!
Earth shoots a trail of her eternal vine
To crown the head that men have ceased to honour.
Beneath the coronal of leaf and lichen
The mocking smile upon the lips derides
Pan's lost dominion; but the pointed ears
Are keen and prick'd with old remember'd sounds.
All my breast aches with longing for the past!
Thou God of stone, I have a craving in me
For knowledge of thee as thou wert in old
Enchanted twilights in Arcadia.
“Praise with elation,
Praise every morning,
God's re-creation
Of the new day!”
Morning Has Broken (1931)
“Morning has broken,
Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird.”
Morning Has Broken (1931)
Context: Morning has broken,
Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird.
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them springing
Fresh from the Word!
Pegasus, St. 3 & 4, p. 181
The New Book of Days (1961)
Context: He could not be captured,
He could not be bought,
His running was rhythm,
His standing was thought;
With one eye on sorrow
And one eye on mirth,
He galloped in heaven
And gambolled on earth. And only the poet
With wings to his brain
Can mount him and ride him
Without any rein,
The stallion of heaven,
The steed of the skies,
The horse of the singer
Who sings as he flies.
“The stallion of heaven,
The steed of the skies,
The horse of the singer
Who sings as he flies.”
Pegasus, St. 3 & 4, p. 181
The New Book of Days (1961)
Context: He could not be captured,
He could not be bought,
His running was rhythm,
His standing was thought;
With one eye on sorrow
And one eye on mirth,
He galloped in heaven
And gambolled on earth. And only the poet
With wings to his brain
Can mount him and ride him
Without any rein,
The stallion of heaven,
The steed of the skies,
The horse of the singer
Who sings as he flies.
“I will fight for you, yes, and you will fight for me.”
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
Context: I will fight for you, yes, and you will fight for me. And if you have sacrificed joy and courage and beauty and wisdom for my sake, I will give them all to you again; and yet you must also give them to me, for they are things in which without you I am wanting. But together we can make them.
Pan-Worship
Pan-Worship and Other Poems (1908)
Context: O evanescent temples built of man
To deities he honoured and dethroned!
Earth shoots a trail of her eternal vine
To crown the head that men have ceased to honour.
Beneath the coronal of leaf and lichen
The mocking smile upon the lips derides
Pan's lost dominion; but the pointed ears
Are keen and prick'd with old remember'd sounds.
All my breast aches with longing for the past!
Thou God of stone, I have a craving in me
For knowledge of thee as thou wert in old
Enchanted twilights in Arcadia.
Bugsby's Reach
More Nursery Rhymes of London Town (1917)
“From the blood of Medusa
Pegasus sprang.
His hoof of heaven
Like melody rang.”
Pegasus, St. 1, p. 181
The New Book of Days (1961)
“The little White Chapel
Is ringing its bell
With a ring-a-ding-dong,
All day long”
Eleanor Farjeon Nursery Rhymes of London Town
Whitechapel
Nursery Rhymes of London Town (1916)
“Of what use to destroy the children of evil? It is evil itself we must destroy at the roots.”
Eleanor Farjeon book Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard
Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard (1922)
“It’s no use crying over spilt evils. It’s better to mop them up laughing.”
Gypsy and Ginger (1920)
“King's Cross!
What shall we do?
His Purple Robe
Is rent in two!”
Eleanor Farjeon Nursery Rhymes of London Town
King's Cross
Nursery Rhymes of London Town (1916)
The Welsh Harp
More Nursery Rhymes of London Town (1917)
Pegasus, St. 2, p. 181
The New Book of Days (1961)
Eleanor Farjeon Nursery Rhymes of London Town
Fleet Street
Nursery Rhymes of London Town (1916)
