Last month we hosted our last Summer Series event, finishing with a quiz on all things Jane Austen! We are now posting the answers (long overdue) to put you out of your misery! Let us know how you did... [...]
Last night we hosted our last Summer Series event, finishing with a quiz on all things Jane Austen! As we had so much fun, we want to share the quiz with everyone. Why not have a go or challenge [...]
As tributes pour in from the Austen community for Deirdre Le Faye, we recall the life of the greatest Jane Austen expert. In 2012, Deirdre Le Faye was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Southampton. Below is [...]
Before Chawton House closed for lockdown, Tina Baxter of the Georgian Dining Academy was busy transcribing one of our most exceptional items: an unpublished manuscript written in the style of a Gothic novel. Here, she recounts her progress... [...]
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 4 My first doth affliction denote Which my second is destin'd to feel. And my whole is the best antidote That affliction to soften and heal. Quoted in Jane Austen, Emma (1815) It’s Week [...]
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 3 Harmonious Powers with Nature work On sky, earth, river, lake, and sea: Sunshine and storm, whirlwind and breeze All in one duteous task agree. Dorothy Wordsworth ‘Floating Island’ (late 1820s) It’s Week 3 [...]
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Week 2 I owe to the kind Poet who has set Upon my ambitious head a glorious gain. Two bending laurel Sprigs 'tis nearly pain To be conscious of such a Coronet. John Keats ‘On [...]
Chawton House Poetry Challenge Hail! Goddess of persuasive art! The magic of whose tuneful tongue Lulls to soft harmony the wand’ring heart With fascinating song Mary Robinson, ‘Ode to Eloquence’ (1789) Calling all budding poets – beginners and [...]
December, 2019. Postdoctoral Fellow Kim Simpson writes the fourth in the Amelia Opie blog series Amelia Opie died on this day (2nd December), 1853. Today, in an act of commemoration, I transcribed the first and the last letters that [...]
November, 2019. Postdoctoral Fellow Kim Simpson writes the third in the Amelia Opie blog series ‘Mrs. Opie is often acknowledged handsome, but always allowed to be charming.’ ‘Memoirs of Mrs. Opie’, The Lady’s Monthly Museum, vol. 6, March, 1801 [...]