Occupation Teacher Genre Cornish Poem, War Poem | Nationality British | |
Born Samuel Syrus Hunt
1873
Greenwich ( 1873 ) Spouse Edith Emily Parsons (1901 - his death) Died 1953, Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom Books Cornish Catches and Other Verses | ||
Samuel Syrus Hunt (1873-1953) wrote poetry under the pseudonym Bernard Moore. He had six books published of both his own and collected works beginning in 1914. Its subject is mainly Cornwall, in particular its fishermen but he also wrote war poetry. Many of his poems are written in the Cornish dialect. He also collected some Cornish songs. He is probably best known for his poem 'Travelling' which contrasts the sights and sounds of a railway journey through grimy urban London with the tranquility of the Liskeard to Looe branch line.
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Personal life
Hunt lived in Catford, London and later near Tring, Hertfordshire. While working as a teacher in London in 1918 he enlisted in the British Army and served as a Sergeant in the London and Middlesex Regiments from 1918-19.
Travelling (poem)
In his poem written c. 1919, Hunt lists stations along the urban railway line to the City as called out by the Porter:
and contrasts them with idyllic sounding destinations on the rural Liskeard and Looe Railway:
The Bookman wrote of it in 1919 "There is sincerity in every line [...] a note of deep feeling in the seemingly lightly expressed poem 'Travelling'".
In 1925 the Rev. T. W. Slater in the journal The United Methodist wrote "I wonder how many Cornishmen there are in and around London! I have no idea, but I am certain in all that vast number there's not one but shares Mr. Moore's feeling in 'Travelling'.
The poem inspired the creation of a computer simulation of the Looe branch line in 2007.
In 2012 the railway author Michael Williams called it "one of the most evocative, I reckon, ever written about a country branch line".
When written these stations were part of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, now Thameslink. St. Paul's has since been renamed Blackfriars and Thameslink trains no longer call at Loughborough Junction.