The Bramble (Rubus Vulgaris).

The Bramble (Rubus Vulgaris).

Brave Elliot loved “thy satin-threaded flowers,”
Dear Bramble! All who appreciate those things
Of beauty which Nature as largess flings
So freely over valleys, plains, and moors,
Must share the Corn Law Rhymer’s healthy love. 5
And who in Autumn does not like to taste
Thy pleasant Dewberries?* There is no waste
Throughout the universe; for all things move
In strict obedience to the unchanging laws
Wisely laid down by Him who cannot err; 10
And He alone is His true worshipper
Who studies to obey them. The Great First Cause
Adorns our very brakes with fruit and flowers,—
As if to teach us all that happiness may be ours.

George Markham Tweddell
* During my various visits to the Land of Shakspere, I fully satisfied
myself, by frequent inquiries among the people, that the “Dewberries”
mentioned by our great Bard, were not Gooseberries, as erroneously
stated by some of the Commentators, but really the fruit of the Bramble.
I got Warwickshire agricultural labourers, about Stratford-on-Avon, to
gather for me sprays of what they call “Dewberries”. Without telling
them what I believed them to be, and the briars, leaves, flowers, and
fruit, which they collected for me, were always those of the Bramble.
[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, pp. 14-15.] Also published in Texas
Masonic Journal, Sept., 1886. Voice of Masonry, Chicago, Illinois,
U.S., Feb., 1888 (without Note)


...................................


Editor's Note -
Tweddell refers to Ebenezer Elliott's poem below. Elliott is known as the Poor Law poet and both shared a concern for the poor and for nature in their work. Paul Tweddell and I (Trev Teasdel), with the help of Malcolm Chase of Leeds University and Keith Morris who runs the Ebenezer Elliott website explored the relationship between the two poets recently.

You can read our findings here http://georgemarkhamtweddell.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/poets-view-of-george-markham-tweddell.html under the sub heading -
A Radical Canon of  Poets: EBENEZER ELLIOT


And further work on Keith Morris's Ebenezer Elliott site - here http://www.judandk.force9.co.uk/Tweddell.html George Tweddell & the Rabble's Poet


And the full site for Ebenezeer Elliott - http://www.judandk.force9.co.uk/elly.htm

Here is Ebenezer Elliott's poem

To the Bramble Flower
Thy fruit full-well the schoolboy knows,
Wild bramble of the brake!
So, put thou forth thy small white rose:
I love it for its sake.
Though woodbines flaunt and roses glow
O’er all the fragrant bowers,
Thou needst not be ashamed to show
Thy satin-threaded flowers;
For dull the eye, the heart is dull,
That cannot feel how fair,
Amid all beauty beautiful,
Thy tender blossoms are!
How delicate thy gauzy frill!
How rich thy branchy stem!
How soft thy voice, when woods are still,
And thou sing'st hymns to them;
While silent showers are falling slow
And, 'mid the general hush,
A sweet air lifts the little bough,
Lone whispering through the bush!
The primrose to the grave is gone;
The hawthorn flower is dead;
The violet by the moss'd grey stone
Hath laid her weary head;
But thou, wild bramble! back dost bring,
In all their beauteous power,
The fresh green days of life's fair spring,
And boyhood's blossomy hour.
Scorn'd bramble of the brake! once more
Thou bid'st me be a boy,
To gad with thee the woodlands o'er,
In freedom and in joy.[viii]