As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning: Difference between revisions

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning
	First edition (UK)
Author	Laurie Lee
Illustrator	Leonard Rosoman
Cover artist	Shirley Thompson
Publisher	André Deutsch (UK); Atheneum Publishers (US); David R. Godine, Publisher (US)
Publication date	1969
ISBN	0-233-96117-8
OCLC	12104039
Dewey Decimal	914.6/0481 19
LC Class	PR6023.E285 Z463 1985
Preceded by	Cider with Rosie
Followed by	A Moment of War

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Latest revision as of 18:59, 5 June 2024

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) is a memoir by Laurie Lee, a British poet. It is a sequel to Cider with Rosie which detailed his early life in Gloucestershire after the First World War. In this sequel Lee leaves the security of his Cotswold village of Slad in Gloucestershire to start a new life, at the same time embarking on an epic journey on foot.

It is 1934, and Lee walks to London from his Cotswolds home. He lives by playing the violin and, later, labouring on a building site in London. After this work draws to a finish, and having picked up the Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water?", he decides to go to Spain. He scrapes together a living by playing his violin outside cafés, and sleeps at night in his blanket under the open sky or in cheap, rough posadas. For a year he tramps through Spain, from Vigo in the north to the south coast, where he is trapped by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. He is warmly welcomed by the Spaniards he meets and enjoys a generous hospitality even from the poorest villagers he encounters along the way.

Synopsis

In 1934 Laurie Lee leaves his home in Gloucestershire for London. He visits Southampton and first tries his luck at playing his violin in the street. His apprenticeship proves profitable and he decides to move eastwards. He makes his way along the south coast, and then turns inland and heads north for London. There he meets his half-American girlfriend, Cleo, who is the daughter of an anarchist.

Cleo's father finds him a job as a labourer and he rents a room, but has to move on as the room is taken over by a prostitute. He lives in London for almost a year as a member of a gang of wheelbarrow pushers. Once the building nears completion he knows that his time is up and decides to go to Spain because he knows the Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water?"

He lands in Galicia in July 1935. Joining up with three young German musicians, he accompanies them around Vigo and then they split up outside Zamora. By August 1935 he reaches Toledo, where he has a meeting with the South African poet Roy Campbell and his family, whom he comes across while playing his violin. They invite him to stay in their house.

By the end of September Lee reaches the sea. Then he comes to the Sierra Morena mountains. He decides to turn west and follow the Guadalquivir, adding several months to his journey, and taking him to the sea in a roundabout way. He turns eastwards, heading along the bare coastal shelf of Andalusia. He hears talk of war in Abyssinia. He arrives at Tarifa, making another stop over in Algeciras.

He decides to stick to his plan to follow the coast round Spain, and sets off for Málaga, stopping in Gibraltar. During his last days in Malaga his violin breaks. After his new line of work, acting as a guide to British tourists, is curtailed by local guides, he meets a young German who gives him a violin.

In the winter of 1935 Lee decides to stay in Almuñécar. He manages to get work in a hotel. Lee and his friend Manolo, the hotel's waiter, drink in the local bar alongside the other villagers. Manolo is the leader of a group of fishermen and labourers, and they discuss the expected revolution.

In February 1936 the Socialists win the election and the Popular Front begins. In the spring the villagers burn down the church, but then change their minds. In the middle of May there is a strike and the peasants come in from the countryside to lend their support, as the village splits between Fascists and Communists.

In the middle of July 1936 war breaks out. Manolo helps to organise a militia. Granada is held by the rebels, and so is Almuñécar's neighbour Altofaro. A British destroyer from Gibraltar arrives to pick up any British subjects who might be marooned on the coast and Lee is taken on board.

The epilogue describes Lee's return to his family home in Gloucestershire and his desire to help his comrades in Spain. He finally manages to make his way through France and crosses the Pyrenees into Spain in December 1937.

Title

The title of the book is the first line of the Gloucestershire folk song "The Banks of Sweet Primroses".^[1]

Critical responses

Robert McFarlane^[2] compares Lee's travels with those of his contemporary, Patrick Leigh Fermor. Both walked across parts of Europe that were in political turmoil between the world wars. McFarlane praises Lee's use of metaphor and argues that the "rose-tinted" descriptions in Cider with Rosie are replaced by "very dark passages". Sex with several partners is described "euphemistically". Life on the road is another key theme. As I Walked Out is about movement, where Cider with Rosie is about staying in one place.

References

^ 'The Banks of Sweet Primroses' lyrics on Folkinfo.org Archived 3 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
^ Robert McFarlane, book review, The Guardian, 20/6/2014

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, Penguin Books (1971) ISBN 0140033181

External links

"BBC Four – Audio Interviews – Laurie Lee". BBC. 21 September 1985. Retrieved 22 May 2007.
"Laurie Lee". Penguin Group (Canada). Retrieved 22 May 2007.
Rick Price (3 December 2003). "Reading Room: Book Reviews: As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee". www.ExperiencePlus.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2007. Retrieved 22 May 2007.
Petri Liukkonen. "Laurie Lee". Books and Writers.
"A Rough Sketch of Laurie Lee's Spanish Journey on Google Maps". Archived from the original on 11 August 2014.

[1] 'The Banks of Sweet Primroses' lyrics on Folkinfo.org Archived 3 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine

[2] Robert McFarlane, book review, The Guardian, 20/6/2014

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{short description|1969 memoir by Laurie Lee}}
 {{more citations needed|date=July 2015}}
 {{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
@@ Line 19: / Line 20: @@
 }}
-'''''As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning''''' (1969) is a memoir by [[Laurie Lee]], a British poet. It is a sequel to ''[[Cider with Rosie]]'' which detailed his life in post [[First World War]] [[Gloucestershire]]. The author leaves the security of his [[Cotswold]] village of Slad in Gloucestershire to start a new life, at the same time embarking on an epic journey by foot.
+'''''As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning''''' (1969) is a memoir by [[Laurie Lee]], a British poet. It is a sequel to ''[[Cider with Rosie]]'' which detailed his early life in [[Gloucestershire]] after the [[First World War]]. In this sequel Lee leaves the security of his [[Cotswold]] village of Slad in Gloucestershire to start a new life, at the same time embarking on an epic journey on foot.
-It is 1934, and as a young man Lee walks to London from his Cotswolds home. He is to live by playing the violin and by labouring on a London building site. When this work draws to a finish, and having picked up the phrase in Spanish for 'Will you please give me a glass of water?', he decides to go to Spain. He scrapes together a living by playing his violin outside the street cafés, and sleeps at night in his blanket under an open sky or in cheap, rough ''posadas''. For a year he tramps through Spain, from [[Vigo]] in the north to the south coast, where he is trapped by the outbreak of the [[Spanish Civil War]].
+It is 1934, and Lee walks to London from his Cotswolds home. He lives by playing the violin and, later, labouring on a building site in London. After this work draws to a finish, and having picked up the Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water?", he decides to go to Spain. He scrapes together a living by playing his violin outside cafés, and sleeps at night in his blanket under the open sky or in cheap, rough ''posadas''. For a year he tramps through Spain, from [[Vigo]] in the north to the south coast, where he is trapped by the outbreak of the [[Spanish Civil War]]. He is warmly welcomed by the Spaniards he meets and enjoys a generous hospitality even from the poorest villagers he encounters along the way.
-Experiencing a Spain ranging from the utterly squalid to the utterly beautiful, Lee creates a story which evocatively captures the spirit and atmosphere of the towns and countryside he passes through in his own distinctive semi-poetic style. He is warmly welcomed by the Spaniards he meets and enjoys a generous hospitality even from the poorest villagers he encounters along the way.
 == Synopsis ==
-In 1934 Laurie Lee leaves his home in Gloucestershire for London.  He visits [[Southampton]] and it is here that he first tries his luck at playing his violin in the streets. His apprenticeship proves profitable and he decides to move eastwards. Lee makes his way along the south coast and then turns inland and heads north for London.  He meets up with his American girlfriend, Cleo, who is the daughter of an American [[anarchism|anarchist]].
+In 1934 Laurie Lee leaves his home in Gloucestershire for London.  He visits [[Southampton]] and first tries his luck at playing his violin in the street. His apprenticeship proves profitable and he decides to move eastwards. He makes his way along the south coast, and then turns inland and heads north for London.  There he meets his half-American girlfriend, Cleo, who is the daughter of an [[anarchism|anarchist]].
-Cleo's father finds him a job as a labourer and he is able to rent a room. However, he has to move on as his room is taken over by a prostitute. He lives in London for almost a year as part of a gang of wheelbarrow pushers. Once the building nears completion, he knows that his time is up and decides to go to Spain because he knows the phrase in Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water?".
+Cleo's father finds him a job as a labourer and he rents a room, but has to move on as the room is taken over by a prostitute. He lives in London for almost a year as a member of a gang of wheelbarrow pushers. Once the building nears completion he knows that his time is up and decides to go to Spain because he knows the Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water?"
-He lands in [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] in July 1935.  Joining up with a group of three young German musicians, he accompanies them around Vigo and then they split up outside [[Zamora, Spain|Zamora]].  By August 1935 Lee reaches [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], where he has a meeting with the South African poet [[Roy Campbell (poet)|Roy Campbell]] and his family, whom he comes across while playing his violin.  They invite him to stay in their house.
+He lands in [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] in July 1935.  Joining up with three young German musicians, he accompanies them around Vigo and then they split up outside [[Zamora, Spain|Zamora]].  By August 1935 he reaches [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], where he has a meeting with the South African poet [[Roy Campbell (poet)|Roy Campbell]] and his family, whom he comes across while playing his violin.  They invite him to stay in their house.
-By the end of September Lee reaches the sea.  Then he comes to the [[Sierra Morena]] mountains.  He decides to turn west and follow the Guadalquivir, adding several months to his journey, and taking him to the sea in a roundabout way. Lee turns eastwards, heading along the bare coastal shelf of Andalusia. He hears talk of war in [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|Abyssinia]]. He arrives at [[Tarifa]], making another stop over in [[Algeciras]].
+By the end of September Lee reaches the sea.  Then he comes to the [[Sierra Morena]] mountains.  He decides to turn west and follow the Guadalquivir, adding several months to his journey, and taking him to the sea in a roundabout way. He turns eastwards, heading along the bare coastal shelf of Andalusia. He hears talk of war in [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|Abyssinia]]. He arrives at [[Tarifa]], making another stop over in [[Algeciras]].
-He decides to stick to his plan to follow the coast round Spain, and sets off for [[Málaga]], stopping in [[Gibraltar]].  During his last days in Malaga his violin breaks. After his new line of work, acting as a guide to British tourists, is curtailed by local guides, he is fortunate to meet a young German who gives him a violin.
+He decides to stick to his plan to follow the coast round Spain, and sets off for [[Málaga]], stopping in [[Gibraltar]].  During his last days in Malaga his violin breaks. After his new line of work, acting as a guide to British tourists, is curtailed by local guides, he meets a young German who gives him a violin.
-In the winter of 1935 Lee decides to stay in [[Almuñécar]].  He manages to get work in a hotel. Lee and his friend Manolo, the hotel's waiter, drink in the local bar alongside the other villagers. Manolo is the leader of a group of fishermen and labourers and they discuss the expected revolution.
+In the winter of 1935 Lee decides to stay in [[Almuñécar]].  He manages to get work in a hotel. Lee and his friend Manolo, the hotel's waiter, drink in the local bar alongside the other villagers. Manolo is the leader of a group of fishermen and labourers, and they discuss the expected revolution.
-In February the Socialists win the election and a [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] begins.  In the spring, the villagers, in an act of revolt, burn down the church but then change their minds. In the middle of May, there is a strike and the peasants come in from the countryside to lend their support as the village splits between 'Fascists' and 'Communists'.
+In February 1936 the Socialists win the election and the [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] begins.  In the spring the villagers burn down the church, but then change their minds. In the middle of May there is a strike and the peasants come in from the countryside to lend their support, as the village splits between Fascists and Communists.
-In the middle of July 1936 war breaks out.  Manolo helps organise a militia.  [[Granada]] is held by the rebels, and so is Almuñécar's neighbour ''Altofaro''.  A British destroyer from Gibraltar arrives to pick up any British subjects who might be marooned on the coast and Lee is taken on board.
+In the middle of July 1936 war breaks out.  Manolo helps to organise a militia.  [[Granada]] is held by the rebels, and so is Almuñécar's neighbour Altofaro.  A British destroyer from Gibraltar arrives to pick up any British subjects who might be marooned on the coast and Lee is taken on board.
-The epilogue describes Lee's return to his family home in Gloucestershire and his desire to help his comrades in Spain. He finally manages to make his way through France and crosses the Pyrenees into Spain.
+The epilogue describes Lee's return to his family home in Gloucestershire and his desire to help his comrades in Spain. He finally manages to make his way through France and crosses the Pyrenees into Spain in December 1937.
 ==Title ==
-An insight into the origin of the title of the book is found in the second episode the [[BBC Four]] documentary series ''[[Travellers' Century]]'' presented by [[Benedict Allen]]. In the episode, which looks at ''As I Walked Out...'', a friend of Lee reveals that the title of the book comes from a Gloucestershire folk song. The traditional song "[[The Banks of Sweet Primroses]]" starts with the line 'As I walked out one mid-summer morning'.<ref>[http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=451 'The Banks of Sweet Primroses' lyrics] on Folkinfo.org {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403043749/http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=451 |date=3 April 2008 }}</ref>
+The title of the book is the first line of the Gloucestershire folk song "[[The Banks of Sweet Primroses]]".<ref>[http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=451 'The Banks of Sweet Primroses' lyrics] on Folkinfo.org {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403043749/http://www.folkinfo.org/songs/displaysong.php?songid=451 |date=3 April 2008 }}</ref>
 ==Critical responses==
+Robert McFarlane<ref>Robert McFarlane, book review, The Guardian, 20/6/2014</ref> compares Lee's travels with those of his contemporary, [[Patrick Leigh Fermor]]. Both walked across parts of Europe that were in political turmoil between the world wars. McFarlane praises Lee's use of metaphor and argues that the "rose-tinted" descriptions in ''Cider with Rosie'' are replaced by "very dark passages". Sex with several partners is described "euphemistically". Life on the road is another key theme. ''As I Walked Out'' is about movement, where ''Cider with Rosie'' is about staying in one place.
-Robert McFarlane<ref>Robert McFarlane, book review, The Guardian, 20/6/2014</ref> compares Lee's travels with those of his contemporary, [[Patrick Leigh Fermor]]. Both walked across a Europe in political turmoil. McFarlane praises Lee's powerful use of metaphor and notes that the 'rose-tinted' descriptions of Cider with Rosie are replaced here by 'very dark passages'. Sex with several partners is described 'euphemistically'. 'Life on the road' is another key theme; 'As I Walked Out' is all about movement, where Cider with Rosie was about staying in one place.
-Michael Kerr<ref>'Michael Kerr's Top Ten Travel Books', Daily Telegraph, October 2011</ref> says that Lee was 'hungry for experience, and often just hungry'. BBC Radio Four presented Lee's work as their [[Book of the week]] in his centenary year, 2014.
 ==References==
@@ Line 67: / Line 63: @@
 *{{cite web|title=A Rough Sketch of Laurie Lee's Spanish Journey on Google Maps |url=http://goo.gl/maps/bYgAI|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140811191056/http://goo.gl/maps/bYgAI|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-08-11}}
-[[Category:1969 books]]
+[[Category:1969 non-fiction books]]
 [[Category:English non-fiction books]]
 [[Category:British memoirs]]
+[[Category:André Deutsch books]]