John Betjeman.  Upper Lambourne.

John Betjeman. Upper Lambourne.

Author: Poetry from the Jungle from The Ceylon Press January 18, 2025 Duration: 1:51

Up the ash tree climbs the ivy,
Up the ivy climbs the sun,
With a twenty-thousand pattering,
Has a valley breeze begun,
Feathery ash, neglected elder,
Shift the shade and make it run -

Shift the shade toward the nettles,
And the nettles set it free,
To streak the stained Carrara headstone,
Where, in nineteen-twenty-three,
He who trained a hundred winners,
Paid the Final Entrance Fee.

Leathery limbs of Upper Lambourne,
Leathery skin from sun and wind,
Leathery breeches, spreading stables,
Shining saddles left behind -
To the down the string of horses
Moving out of sight and mind.

Feathery ash in leathery Lambourne
Waves above the sarsen stone,
And Edwardian plantations
So coniferously moan
As to make the swelling downland,
Far surrounding, seem their own.


There's a particular magic in the poem that almost made it, the one that lingers just outside the canonical spotlight. 101 Exiles from The Ceylon Press is a quiet space dedicated to those verses. Each episode of this Poetry from the Jungle podcast is a curated listening experience, focusing on a single, remarkable work by an acclaimed poet that, for whatever reason, never quite cracked the ubiquitous "top 100" lists. You won't find grand introductions or academic dissections here. Instead, the focus is on the language itself-the rhythm, the imagery, the quiet turn of phrase that deserves a moment of undivided attention. It's for anyone who believes the most resonant lines are sometimes found in the margins, offering a different kind of discovery in the world of verse. This podcast provides a sanctuary for those exiled poems, letting them speak for themselves directly to the listener.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 32

101 Exiles
Podcast Episodes
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William Blake.  From "Milton". [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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Duration: 1:45
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Duration: 1:04
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John Betjeman.  How To Get On In Society. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:32
Phone for the fish knives, NormanAs cook is a little unnerved;You kiddies have crumpled the serviettesAnd I must have things daintily served.Are the requisites all in the toilet?The frills round the cutlets can waitTill…
C. P. Cavafy.  Days of 1908. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:26
That was the year when he stayedWithout work, for a living playedCards, or backgammon; or borrowed and never paid.He was offered a place at a smallStationer’s, three pounds a month. It didn’t suit him.It was not decent p…
Hilaire Belloc.  Charles Augustus Fortescue. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:11
The nicest child I ever knewWas Charles Augustus Fortescue.He never lost his cap, or toreHis stockings or his pinafore: In eating Bread he made no Crumbs, He was extremely fond of sums,To which, however, he preferredThe…
Philip Larkin.   Love Songs In Age. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:00
She kept her songs, they kept so little space,The covers pleased her:One bleached from lying in a sunny place,One marked in circles by a vase of water,One mended, when a tidy fit had seized her, And coloured, by her daug…
John Betjeman.  A Subaltern's Love Song. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:21
Miss J.Hunter Dunn, Miss J.Hunter Dunn,Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun,What strenuous singles we played after tea,We in the tournament - you against me!Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy,The speed of a…