The Temple by ...

One of the unintended consequences of having a blog is that occasionally I get a flurry of google searches for a topic that alerts me that something is going on. Generally it's not anything particularly important, but some group of people somewhere are suddenly interested in a topic and the search words they are using get some of them to my blog. It happened in mid-March when the Oregon farmer Steve Keudell was electrocuted. The search terms "Steve" and "blog" got them here. In that case I actually posted about it to try to redirect traffic to a site where they might actually get the information they wanted. And people sent me his site url. And, I'm pleased to report that he seems to be recovering well. Friday, the following was posted on his blog:

Steve is continuing his recovery at Emanuel Hospital at the Burn Center in Portland. He will be there possibly through Monday before he gets moved to the Rehab. Institute of Oregon (RIO) at Good Samaritan Hopsital. One of the reasons for the delay in the move is the nursing/medical side of his condition. For now, Steve still needs medical attention to his arm wound. Family visitors are keeping Steve company and he is still having physical therapies every day.

Yesterday, Steve composed the following message:

"I thank all of you who have been following my progress on the blog. Your concern and prayers have overwhelmed me. My recovery would not have been possible without all of your love and support. I am anxious to get on with my physical therapy and continuing recovery. I'm looking forward to giving all of you a handshake and a hug after I get home."

When I suddenly got a lot of people searching for Mary Beth Kepner I knew that something new must have happened in the Ted Stevens case.

And recently I began getting people searching for Elizabeth Gloria Pounds. I'd mentioned her in a post about the memorial for her mother Toni. When I asked a friend why, I learned that, sadly, Elizabeth had died too.

So last night, and again this morning, I started getting people searching for things like

• find birthtown of poet, author of the temple, born in 1909
• poet born 1909 the temple

What was this all about? Looking at the result of one of the google searches that got them to my post on Famous People Born in 1909, I found this link to the Times:

Win a week’s holiday for two on Rhodes,
as the guest of On the Beach.

Read the article below and answer the questions at the end of the text. Clues to the answers can be found within the text:

Letter to Puzzle-loving Friend: "Guess where I am: the land of a favourite television programme, where many outdoor scenes were filmed. Indeed, if you read this note carefully, you will find the first letters of a certain number of consecutive words. When joined (without rearranging), they make a catch phrase for which it is known. The centre for outdoor filming was this town, once capital of an ancient kingdom.

It was also the birthplace, in 1737, of an author; writings include Common Sense...

Included, further down, is this clue which got people to What Do I Know?

My search for televisual nostalgia has already taken me further afield — 40 miles north-northeast to a village station. It’s just west of a second town, where a poet (born 1909; works include The Temple) spent part of his childhood.

The answers the contest is looking for are to these questions:

1 Name the programme and catch phrase

2 What is the name of the second town?

Well, it turns out that there are a few poems called "The Temple." The first poet that comes up in google is George Herbert, but that turns out to be a book of poems called "The Temple" and he was born in 1593 anyway.

Next I found

The Temple by Amy Lowell

Between us leapt a gold and scarlet flame.
Into the hollow of the cupped, arched blue
Of Heaven it rose. Its flickering tongues up-drew
And vanished in the sunshine. How it came
We guessed not, nor what thing could be its name.
From each to each had sprung those sparks which flew
Together into fire. But we knew
The winds would slap and quench it in their game.
And so we graved and fashioned marble blocks
To treasure it, and placed them round about.
With pillared porticos we wreathed the whole,
And roofed it with bright bronze. Behind carved
locks
Flowered the tall and sheltered flame. Without,
The baffled winds thrust at a column's bole.

But she's a women and the clue refers to the poet as 'he.' And she was born in 1874.

Next came:

Kenneth Patchen - The Temple

To leave the earth was my wish, and no will stayed my rising.
Early, before sun had filled the roads with carts
Conveying folk to weddings and to murders;
Before men left their selves of sleep, to wander
In the dark of the world like whipped beasts.

I took no pack. I had no horse, no staff, no gun.
I got up a little way and something called me,
Saying,
'Put your hand in mine. We will seek God together.'
And I answered, 'It is your father who is lost, not mine.'
Then the sky filled with tears of blood, and snakes sang.

But he was born in 1911.


Next:

THE TEMPLE

WHAT of Louvain and of Rheims
Made for God by man? What then?
Here be temples more than man's
Wrought by God for His own men.

Scattered in the rain and frost,
Marred of beauty, there they be,
Temples of the Holy Ghost,
Broken, ruined piteously.

Bodies all so finely wrought,
Cunning deftness shaped them well;
These, God's ultimate, loving thought
For His Spirit's citadel.

Beautiful from head to foot,
Young, dear darlings all unflawed
For their mother's kiss. What brute
Dares deface the image of God?

Oh, the Temple's down! all marred
Gay and golden boys must lie:
Bitter-sweet as spikenard
Is the old name we called them by.

Hush! God's Temple in its fall
Breaks to set the spirit free
From the golden cage and thrall.
Into heaven-winged liberty.

From the cage the bird is flown,
Sings so high above our sphere.
Hush,--be never a sigh or moan:
The fledged bird flies without fear.

All our loves are gathered in,
Every gay and golden lad;
On new raiment, white and clean,
They behold God and are glad.

But the name attached is Tynan, Katharine. Another woman. Nothing against women, but they were looking for a male poet here. And just so I don't leap to conclusions about the gender based on the name, I checked.

Katharine Tynan (23 January 1861 – 2 April 1931) was an Irish-born writer, known mainly for her novels and poetry.

The date doesn't work either.


There's another book:

God on the Hill: Temple Poems from Tirupati
by Velcheru Narayana Rao , David Shulman

This clue isn't going anywhere. It's easier to start with the birthplace of the author of Common Sense, which I had to read in school. So where was Tom Paine born? Wikipedia says he was born in January 29, 1737 Thetford, NorfolkGreat Britain.

Using google maps we can easily find what's 40 miles northeast of Thetford (A on the map):








Norwich seems too big to be a village station. (According to Wikipedia it was the second largest city - after London - in the 11th Century. So I googled "the M&GNR, heritage railway. Norwich" which got me to this list of historic railways in Norfolk (Norwich is in Norfolk):

Norfolk is home to several Heritage railways and preserved stations.

North Norfolk Railway

The North Norfolk Railway operates a five mile route between Holt and Sheringham on the Norfolk coast. It was preserved in 1964, and the extension to Holt opened in 1987.^[1]

Mid-Norfolk Railway

The Mid-Norfolk Railway operates an eleven and a half mile route between Dereham and Wymondham Abbey. A further six mile extension to County School railway station is planned. It is also proposed to connect the line to the National Rail main line at Wymondham railway station.^[2]

Bure Valley Railway

The Bure Valley Railway is a 15 inch gauge railway that runs for nine miles between Aylsham and Wroxham.^[3]

Wells and Walsingham Light Railway

The Wells and Walsingham is a 4 ft 8½ in gauge railway which runs for four miles from Wells-next-the-Sea to Walsingham.

Checking each of these was tedious and not giving the information I was looking for - a station built in 1901. But as I was doing all this the name of Stephen Spender popped up.

Well, back on my list of people born in 1909 is a British poet - Stephen Spender. But when I checked on him earlier I saw that he was born in London, so I was looking for a different poet. But as I double-checked the contest clues, it doesn't say that he was born in this village, but spent time there. It pays to read carefully the first time. So I quickly looked up Stephen Spender and Wikipedia says

Spender was born Kensington, London, to journalist, Edward Harold Spender and Violet Hilda Schuster, a painter and poet.^[2] He went to Gresham's School, Holt and later Charlecote School in Worthing, but was unhappy there.

Worthing is in West Sussex, so that leaves Holt. Holt is on the list of historic railways. Back to google maps.


Holt is five miles west of Sherringham which is also on that list. So, Holt seems to be the answer they want for question 2.

[Update 4pm - Something's not right here. The village station that's "now part of a heritage railroad" is "just west of a second town, where a poet..." But Holt (where the Spender spent part of his childhood) is west of Sherringham. "Just east" would work fine since Sherringham is five miles east of Holt. But after a bit more checking, there are two towns on the Mid-Norfolk Heritage Railway line that look to be under 10 miles west of Holt - Fakenham and Wells-next-the-Sea. So Holt can still be the answer to question 2.]

So, why couldn't I find the poem "The Temple" by Stephen Spender. Googling "Stephen Spender The Temple" gives us the answer. Those puzzle makers are very sneaky. Yes, Spender was a poet. But his work "The Temple" was a novel. From Wikipedia:

The Temple is a novel written by Stephen Spender.

This novel was written after Spender spent his summer vacation in Germany in 1929 and recounts his experiences there. It was not completed, however, until the early 1930's (after Spender had failed his finals at Oxford University in 1930 and moved to Hamburg). Its frank depictions of homosexuality made it impossible to publish in the UK though, stopping it from being published in the UK until 1988.

It would have really been embarrassing if I had done all this sleuthing and it turned out that The Temple was mentioned in my short bio on Spender in the Famous People Born in 1909 post. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. There I listed his novel "World within World."

So, if anyone reading this wins the trip to Rhodes, the least you can do is send me a postcard.