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RICHARD JEFFERIES

Nature Lover and Mystic

Give mc fulness of life like to the sea and sun; give mc fulness of pb.ysieal life, mind, equal and beyond t^eir

i,illness; give mc a great hops and pr-rfec-i.ion ol soul higher ihan all things; give i-ae my inexpressible, desire Unit .-.well-. h\ mc like a. tidi\; give it to mo with pill tu.i> force of tho sea.—Prayer of Richard J cileries. Jiichard .7e>u"e.ri-s is an almost forgotten English writer, who lived for the brief span of 3S years. His liie was uneventful, being the iumiLar enough story oi" genius Willi an adverse environment, finding life .-. (ask almost too great for it, ai.d going down before -lie eombinud forces <--"■ poverty aud ili-health. He came of sturdy \oemeii -tuck of .Soulhern England, and first saw vhr light he was to love so well in alter years, in Coate Farm, in tho Nort_ Wiltshire hamlet, of Coate, iv 1848. His early surroundings, where indeed he spent tbe: greater part of his life, formed the theme of half his literary work, whicii is strikingly original. The English Downs were the source of J entries' inspiration. He loved to Hewn these grassy, undulating slopes, suggestive of f'e sea in their apparent infinity, ai.'d speak to _vlother -Nature, and seek tc penetrate the- secrets of the earth, sky and sea. He was really a poet in temperament, although he wrote in prc.se. Jefferies knew his country well: as a youth he loved outdoor life intensely, and interested himself in- all the quaint old-world things he .saw around him, storing np material for future use as a journalist and nature writer. As a boy he was a Sun-worshipper. In 1883, a few years before his death, I he recalled that it was probably ar the age of Js—"so ioag since that I nuve gergotten the date"' —that he used t<go every mc-rning, where, hiude 1 by v\m trees, he could see the s..n r :.<.', cr watch the early eastern slew I "Involnctarilv I drew a long b-.'-atn, [hen I breathed slowly. .My thougut, c£_. Inner conscicmnK'**, . w|3it no i;iir< u<_--< "he Illuminated''sky, and I -.'.is 1-st Ui a moment of esallauon. T'hi.s t-H.v lasted a very short time, perhaps oi.ly j-s-it of a second, and while it lasted there was no formulated wish. I was absorbed: 1 drank the beauty of the ia "Ding; I was exulted." He used to fall into clreini st-t-'s Ji** tnO-e described by the mystics; in cue of his books he described how "he be?am_ silent and fell into one -.f his dream states; he was lost—something -eemed to tak e him out ef himself.'" Again he mentions having sat en the top of a hill and become "lost m his dreamy mood; lie did not think, he felt."* I He had no taste for farm work, way a dreamy, contemplative youth, al- j U.tough given to shooting. Frequently | I he would fail to pull the trigger of | nis gun, aimed at a bird of brilliant I plumage, in the involuntary study of : the iiM'ng beauty before him. As a lfd of 17 he entered country journalism, whicii gave him some training m the art ~;,]" expressing his ideas. He wrote exul.vsraiit romances about this time for the North Wilts Herald, the paper he was on, which to the seeing eye gave promise -of the great powers of litis prime years, and read books and studied archaeology. He wrote a series i f his- j torical articles on Swindon and neigh- j

b-uriiooJ, vvtuUi now l'_ru; r._t -■.-f-lui-c entltl-d •'J-tttiiea _,_„_." Tiii.s litV ol' J-11',?. i..ov .-ru.td ._£.• untU'iial vv'lai-i_ Le wove iuto His •■*-_- ---clci'ial Look "T'lie Sl-ry oi iiy IJVuvt. ' Th;-, i .-not a -iitoUogrtipUj in I lie ■...Ji-ary wiU-<;, still l«.-.-; the"- r.tury «.t his iiiVf „„_]!■-, but - I.XX.i.. :ii' Mrt {jsyeliulugiuU inter-st, written with liiarvflliJiis power, an.l I'orniing t.JJV iiuwr | L i:;tor.» ol' liis soul ami morlf.-; of thought. |-ieie> i-» an txlni'M. winch rev.als the style ai.el iiK'ttwd of til* author:—----1 Was utUTly alone- witli 'he sun and tin. t-ai'th. I.yiii;< iln'.m :.n i'i«> -i a-;, 1 -.iiuke iv my suit to ill.? <-anli, (lie sun, liif aii, and !h«. elisiaiir, »iii, far Ix-yond m„±H. .1 tlionijlit of lUI. tai'th';. tumUL-i- - I felt if itl%"> up: throllgii the- grassy c uiie'-li i lion* fame ;l t,' inllnt-'ucp *•■-'- if 1 could iVcl tli*» great, ejarik speaking to nu.'. I thoualit <•>!' tho \vtwi<.lwJii<j ti if— its whifli i-'ili beauty; the air (y.uched nic ati.l gave tne soiue'tains of ii-'elf. I _pok.? to ih- sea; il'i'i'S l ' «o iar. in my u.iiul J saw U, «n>.-ii ai llif vim ul the and ttli'o iv d-cpt-r ocean; J de-iivil (o have it== strejiigth. 'its mystery and glory. Then I audiv-s t .d _ii<. sun. desiring tin.' saul i-iiuivahn; v liis J.ignt and Lirilliaiiiv, his eiului'am'e and u.i". wearied rare. 1 turned to t<iie blue heaven o\e/\ g-a:<iii«r iiiio its depth, inluiliuy its e>"('|Ui.--:if 'ji.ioui. and .sweetness. Tne rail blue- of the unattainable liower of the sky drew my soul -towards it, iv..d tliere it rested; for pure e';iour is r-M >t heart. By all .! prayed; I ivlt an emotion ot the soul beyond ail definition; prayer is a puny tiling to it, and tin.' worel is a rude? s,yn to the feeling, but I know no other. Tins te bo akin to tho ecstasies .or exaltations of the mystics, ana thf ,s'.ai-e which JeD'eries curried with it, a exhaustion, similar to that of myotics who elaini to enter these peculiar .states where the spirit seems to live and move and act independently of the body. Later on Jeft'eries spoke of "being- absorbed into the being or 'existence ol' the universe." As a yi/.iug i man JeH'eries "had imbibed little religious thought, v.>- that his spiritual ad--ventures, as described in "The Story M My Heart" have fothing of t&e ijnrapnernalia of .»n about ihem. This is how he prayed: — J Toucliiuj: tii."- cvi.tnble cf earth, the m blade of grass, the thyme nVw-er, T iiioat ;.<"-• oarui-eneireling air, \ thinkin-; of the =oa and t.iie sky, holdling out my hand jor the sunbeams to j: ouch it, prone on the sward in token ■ •:.f deejj reverenc?, thus .1 prayed that 'j might touch the unutterable exi-t- ---• ;;c-9 infinitely higher than deity. Witin all the intensity of feeling ''which exalted mc, till the intense iommunion J. held with t u e earth, the sun and the sky, the stars liickl&L' by the light, with the ocean—in no manner can the thrilling depths of these feelings he written —with these J praysd, as if they were the keys oi an lustrument, of an organ, with winch .1 swelled forth the 'notes of my soul, redoubling my own voice by their powr. The great sun burning w itti lighc; the strong earth, dear earth ;th_ warm sky; the pure air; the thought of ocean; the inexpressible beauty of all filled mc with a rapture, an ecstasy, an infiatus. 'With this infiatus, too, 1 prayed. Of recent years there has been more interest shown in Kichard Jeli'eries' life and work. All who love Nature, and deep thoughts, and word-painting, should make his acquaintance. "Ho stands iv a niche of his own iv the English Temple of Letters. His fame is assured, for he wrote for posterity rather than for his contemporaries.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MW19191015.2.2.1

Bibliographic details

Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 449, 15 October 1919, Page 1

Word Count
1,226

RICHARD JEFFERIES Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 449, 15 October 1919, Page 1

RICHARD JEFFERIES Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 449, 15 October 1919, Page 1

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