Related Matters
The poem, a favorite of Queen Victoria's, was one of the most popular of the 19th century, but later faded into obscurity.
The poem was set to music in 1895, by Stanley Hawley and published as sheet music by Robert Cooks and Co. Despite this, three silent films based on the poem were made. In two of the films, the title was modified to Curfew Shall Not Ring Tonight. No sound version has been made; however, the poem is quoted at length by Katharine Hepburn (for comedic effect) in the film Desk Set (1957).
A later Victorian poem, "Chertsey Curfew" by Montgomerie Ranking, is on a similar theme.
The material upon which Rose Hartwick Thorpe based her poem is Lydia Sigourney's article "Love and Loyalty", which appeared posthumously in Peterson's Magazine in September 1865 and which in turn is very likely to have been based on the earlier work "Blanche Heriot. A legend of old Chertsey Church", which was published by Albert Richard Smith in The Wassail-Bowl, Vol. II., in 1843. In this account, the young woman, Blanche Heriot, has a lover known as Neville Audley, and the action takes place during the Wars of the Roses in 1471.
An illustrated version of this poem is contained in Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated by James Thurber.
Read more about this topic: Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight
Famous quotes containing the words related and/or matters:
“There is nothing but is related to us, nothing that does not interest us,—kingdom, college, tree, horse, or iron show,—the roots of all things are in man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“What matters poverty? What matters anything to him who is “enamoured” of our art? Does he not carry in himself every joy and every beauty?”
—Sarah Bernhardt (1845–1923)