Hills and the Sea

by Hilaire Belloc

Overview

Hilaire Belloc, in full Joseph-Hilaire-Pierre-René Belloc, (born July 27, 1870, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Fr.--died July 16, 1953, Guildford, Surrey, Eng.), French-born poet, historian, and essayist who was among the most versatile English writers of the first quarter of the 20th century. He is most remembered for his light verse, particularly for children, and for the lucidity and easy grace of his essays, which could be delightfully about nothing or decisively about some of the key controversies of the Edwardian era.

Belloc was educated at the Oratory School, Birmingham, and then worked as a journalist. After military service, as a French citizen, he entered Balliol College, Oxford, in 1894. He graduated with first-class honours in history, was president of the Union (debating society), and in 1896 married Elodie Hogan (1870-1914) of Napa, Calif. He became a naturalized British subject in 1902 and sat as a member of Parliament for Salford (1906-10), first as a Liberal and then as an Independent.

Verses and Sonnets (1895) and The Bad Child's Book of Beasts (1896) launched Belloc on his literary career. Cautionary Tales, another book of humorous verse for children, which parodied some Victorian pomposities, appeared in 1907. His Danton (1899) and Robespierre (1901) proved his lively historical sense and powerful prose style. Lambkin's Remains (1900) and Mr. Burden (1904) showed his mastery of satire and irony. In The Path to Rome (1902) he interspersed his account of a pilgrimage on foot from Toul to Rome with comments on the nature and history of Europe. Born and brought up a Roman Catholic, he showed in almost everything he wrote an ardent profession of his faith. This coloured with occasional inaccuracy and overemphasis most of his historical writing, which includes Europe and the Faith (1920), History of England, 4 vol. (1925-31), and a series of biographies ranging in period from James II (1928) to Wolsey (1930). But he had the power of bringing history to life.

The Four Men (1912) described a walk through Sussex, the county where he made his home, and his love of sailing was vividly illustrated in The Cruise of the "Nona" (1925). In political and economic matters Belloc was a follower of William Cobbett, English author, journalist, and radical influential in the early 19th century. Among Belloc's volumes of lighter verse are The Modern Traveller (1898) and the Heroic Poem in Praise of Wine (1932). He also wrote a number of satiric novels, which were illustrated by his close friend, the novelist G.K. Chesterton.
Belloc engaged in much heated controversy, particularly with H.G. Wells, whose Outline of History he vigorously attacked, and with the Protestant scholar and historian G.C. Coulton. Belloc is one of the masters of modern English prose, a good poet, and a deeply interesting literary personality. (britannica.com)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647999933
Publisher:	Bibliotech Press
Publication date:	08/24/2020
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.43(d)

About the Author

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (27 July 1870 - 16 July 1953) was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters and political activist. He is most notable for his Catholic faith, which had a strong impact on most of his works and his writing collaboration with G. K. Chesterton. He was President of the Oxford Union and later MP for Salford from 1906 to 1910. He was a noted disputant, with a number of long-running feuds, but also widely regarded as a humane and sympathetic man.

Table of Contents

Foreword
The North Sea
The Singer
On "Mails"
The Pyrenean Hive
Delft
The Wing of Dalua
On Ely
The Inn of the Margeride
A Family of the Fens
The Election
Arles
The New Griffin
The First Day's March
The Sea-Wall of the Wash
The Cerdagne
Carcassonne
Lynn
The Guns
The Looe Stream
Roncesvalles
The Slant off the Land
The Canigou
The Man and His Wood
The Channel
The Mowing of a Field
The Rotman Road
The Onion-Eater
Return to England
The Valley of the Rother
The Coronation
The Men of the Desert
The Departure
The Idea of a Pilgrimage
The Arena
At the Sign of the Lion
The Autumn and the Fall of Leaves
The Good Woman
The Harbour in the North