The Festive Wreath

Various

Lu par Phil Benson

The Festive Wreath, edited by John Bolton Rogerson, and subtitled 'A Collection of Contributions Read at a Literary Meeting Held in Manchester, March 24th 1842 at the Sun Inn Long Millgate', was the first published collection of work by Lancashire Poets. Since 1840, local poets had been gathering at the Sun Inn around John Critchley Prince who was a regular drinker there. Spotting a business opportunity, landlord William Earnshaw, renamed the inn 'Poets Corner' and held more formal events, including the 'Festival of Poetry' with 40 poets and a Manchester Guardian journalist in attendance that led to the publication of The Festive Wreath. The Sun Inn Group, as it became known, consisted of a mixture of working class and wealthier poets, of whom the wealthiest was the so-called 'Bard of Colour', Richard Rose, a plantation owner from the Carribbean. The Sun Inn Group was male-dominated and meetings were often rowdy with singing and much drinking - the four women poets whose contributions appear in the collection did not attend the festival. The contents of the collection tend toward a classical style and several were written specially for the event. The most interesting contribution is, perhaps, Alexander Wilson's 'The Poet's Corner', which was designed as a drinking song to be performed as an interlude in the proceedings and referenced many of those of who were present on the day. (Summary by Phil Benson)