Dorset Dialect Poet

William Barnes 1801-1886 was considered by Thomas Hardy to be his equal and other notable writers and poets have said that had he not written a lot of his work in Dorset Dialect he would have been one of the revered English poets but it is the dialect he is remembered for.

William was the son of a Dorset farm worker. His first job was that of a solicitor's clerk before becoming a school teacher. He and his wife opened a school in Mere, Wiltshire. In 1848 he was ordained a priest and moved to the area around Dorchester. He published his Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect in 1844 followed by other works including articles for the Gentleman's Magazine on Dorset history and customs and on the origins of the English language rather rejecting foreign words and prefering to go back to the Anglo Saxon roots.

This statue is outside St Peter's Church in the High Street in Dorchester. (Another visit to the dentist!)

Better in LARGE.