Literature and Folklore
The River Dart is the source of much folklore on Dartmoor, where it is traditionally respected and feared - the waters have a tendency to rise without notice following heavy rainfall on the moors above, adding to the dangers of its rapids and powerful currents. This gave rise to the couplet:
- "River of Dart, Oh River of Dart!
- Every year thou claimest a heart."
The 1951 non-fiction book The River Dart by Ruth Manning-Sanders centres on the river and its history.
The English poet Alice Oswald wrote the 48-page poem Dart (2002), which was awarded the T. S. Eliot Prize for 2002. The poem's voice is that of the River Dart, which Oswald adapted from three years of recorded conversations and research with people who inhabit the communities along the river.
The Weaver Twins from Stoke Gabriel wrote a song entitled, "Dart". The music video was filmed along the river and has been featured on Radio Caroline television.
Read more about this topic: River Dart
Famous quotes containing the words literature and/or folklore:
“Literature that is not the breath of contemporary society, that dares not transmit the pains and fears of that society, that does not warn in time against threatening moral and social dangers—such literature does not deserve the name of literature; it is only a façade. Such literature loses the confidence of its own people, and its published works are used as wastepaper instead of being read.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)
“Someday soon, we hope that all middle and high school will have required courses in child rearing for girls and boys to help prepare them for one of the most important and rewarding tasks of their adulthood: being a parent. Most of us become parents in our lifetime and it is not acceptable for young people to be steeped in ignorance or questionable folklore when they begin their critical journey as mothers and fathers.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)