Benjamin Britten - The Children and Sir Nameless

Sir Nameless, once of Athelhall, declared:
"These wretched children romping in my park
Trample the herbage till the soil is bared
And yap and yell from early morn till dark!
Go keep them harnessed to their set routines:
Thank God I've none to hasten my decay;
For green remembrance there are better means
Than offspring, who but wish their sires away."

Sir Nameless of that mansion said anon:
"To be perpetuate for my mightiness
Sculpture must image me when I am gone."
- He forthwith summoned carvers there express
To shape a figure stretching seven-odd feet
(For he was tall) in alabaster stone
With shield, and crest, and casque, and sword complete:
When done a statelier work was never known

Three hundred years hied; Church-restorers came
And, no one of his lineage being traced
They thought an effigy so large in frame
Best fitted for the floor. There it was placed
Under the seats for schoolchildren. And they
Kicked out his name, and hobnailed off his nose;
And, as they yawn through sermon-time, they say
"Who was this old stone man beneath our toes?"

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Benjamin Britten - Biography

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was one of the 20th century’s greatest opera composers. Born in Suffolk, England, he studied at the Royal College of Music. He fell into the circle of W.H. Auden, and though he left a few years later, he met the tenor Peter Pears, who would become his greatest musical interpreter and his personal partner until Britten’s death. After spending part of the years of World War II in America, he leapt to prominence in 1945 with his opera Peter Grimes. Later successes on the stage included Albert Herring, Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice. He wrote music for other venues as well, and his great successes include the Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings; the Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge; the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; and the War Requiem. Shortly before his death, he became the first composer to be awarded a life peerage by the British crown.

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Benjamin Britten - The Children and Sir Nameless

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