J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Cheshire, Derbyshire, North Wales ... > Derbyshire Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1808

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Verses (Inscriptions by Turner)’ 1808
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 68 Verso:
Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1808
D07209
Turner Bequest CVI 65a
Inscribed by Turner in pencil (see main catalogue entry) on white wove paper, 185 x 108 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s verses read:
Thy leafy honour fill the gale [?vale]
As Even sobs the thirsty Gale
Sweet the breath of early morn
Sweet the lark thrills oer the corn
Sweet the day Spring sweet the flower
The honey dew bell the shower
That summer
When scorching noon
But Autumn now oer skies presides
And thundry ether clogs the skies
Low in forrowed g[l]ebe the plo[ughing] deep
Hark the ... sobs oer his sheep
Thy beeches rock to each su[ccceeding] blast
Their verdant honor
This is another passage or variant passages from a poem about autumn, begun on folio 2 verso of the sketchbook (D07134). The text given here is based on the reading made by Rosalind Mallord Turner for the 1990 Tate exhibition.

David Blayney Brown
July 2010

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Verses (Inscriptions by Turner) 1808 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-verses-inscriptions-by-turner-r1129633, accessed 24 April 2024.