In green old gardens, hidden away
From sight of revel and sound of strife,
Here I have leisure to breathe and move,
And to do my work in a nobler way;
To sing my songs, and to say my say;
To Dream my dreams, and to love my love;
To hold my faith, and to live my life.
Making the most of its shadowy day.
Violet Fane (1843 – 1905)
Violet Fane is the literary pseudonym of Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie. A poet, a writer, and later an ambassadress, who was active in the British literary scene from 1872 until her death in 1905, Fane was a literary celebrity associated with Aestheticism, Medievalism, whose verses were occasionally set to music by famous composers such as Paolo Tosti. As a well-known figure in London society, Fane’s coterie included famous literary personas such as Robert Browning, Algernon Swinburne, A. W. Kinglake, Alfred Austin, James McNeil Whistler, Lillie Langtry, and Oscar Wilde, who praised the oracular bent of Fane’s opinions on ‘the relation of art to nature’ by saying that she “live between Parnassus and Piccadilly.”
External Link:
Violet Fane (Wikipedia)
Photos: Private
