THE WELL-WRITTEN POEM

The title panel from ‘The lovers of Gudrun’ by William Morris, done in gold by William Graily Hewitt. MS Add. 6162.

The manner in which letters or characters are drawn and positioned affects the way in which the reader responds to them. Unsurprisingly, poetry and calligraphy have a long association: both arts intensify particular aspects of language for aesthetic effect, and the care required of poets in the selection and ordering of words finds a parallel in the concern of calligraphers for their form and placing.

The making of poetical manuscripts as consummated artefacts has survived the spread of printing. It took centuries for poets from the higher social classes to lose their aversion to the vulgarity of print, and fine hand-written documents continue to be valued in a period when craft manufacture is regarded as inherently superior to mass production.

Items on display:

MS Add. 8467: Poems of John Donne (The Leconfield manuscript), c.1620-1632. MS Add. 6162: William Morris, ‘The lovers of Gudrun’, copy by William Graily Hewitt made in 1908-9. [No class-mark]: Ambassador Ma’s poem on the occasion of his visit to the University Library, 1999 (displayed together with the brush and inkstone used to produce the manuscript.)