Autumn Journal
by Louis MacNeice

And I am in the train too now and the summer is going
South as I go north
Bound for the dead leaves falling, the burning bonfire,
The dying that brings forth
The harder life, revealing the trees’ girders,
The frost that kills the germs of laissez-faire;
West Meon, Tisted, Farnham, Woking, Weybridge,
Then London’s packed and stale and pregnant air.

My dog, a symbol of the abandoned order,
Lies on the carriage floor,
Her eyes inept and glamorous as a film star's,
Who wants to live, i.e. wants more
Presents, jewellery, furs, gadgets, solicitations
As if to live were not
Following the curve of a planet or controlled water
But a leap in the dark, a tangent, a stray shot. 

This extract from one of his longest poems was written between August and December 1938. Autumn Leaves is considered one of the most valuable and moving testaments of living through the thirties by a young writer.  It is a record of the author’s emotional and intellectual experience during the months leading up to the second World War.

©  Louis MacNeice Faber & Faber

 UNDER DEVELOPMENT - to be continued

In this corner of the churchyard lies a story from the 20th century

There are further sources of historical information on West Meon with other websites.  Using this will take you away from the West Meon site.