A Wreath In Memory of William Barnes, St. Peter's Church, Dorchester

Dorset's Unofficial Saint! It's high time Barnes was canonised! He's certainly well-established in the Western Literary Canon. William Barnes died on 7 October, 1886.

Instead of a sermon by The Rev. Vicky Thurtell, Brian Caddy talked about Barnes' life, and read from the poem  Night A-Zetten In*

After the William Barnes Service and the laying of the wreath on October 13th, 2013. Brian (Vice Chairman and Hon. Treasurer of the William Barnes Society), read out the inscription on the plaque:

*Night A-Zetten in.


When leäzers wi’ their laps o’ corn

Noo longer be a-stoopèn,

An’ in the stubble, all vorlorn,

Noo poppies be a-droopèn;

When theäse young harvest-moon do weäne,

That now’ve his horns so thin, O,

We’ll leäve off walkèn in the leäne,

While night’s a zettèn in, O.


When zummer doust is all a-laid

Below our litty shoes, O;

When all the raïn-chill’d flow’rs be dead,

That now do drink the dews, O;

When beauty’s neck, that’s now a-show’d,

’S a-muffled to the chin, O;

We’ll leäve off walkèn in the road,

When night’s a-zettèn in, O.


But now, while barley by the road

Do hang upon the bough, O,

A-pull’d by branches off the lwoad

A-ridèn hwome to mow, O;

While spiders roun’ the flower-stalks

Ha’ cobwebs yet to spin, O,

We’ll cool ourzelves in out-door walks,

When night’s a-zettèn in, O.


While down at vword the brook so small,

That leätely wer so high, O,

Wi’ little tinklèn sounds do vall

In roun’ the stwones half dry, O;

While twilight ha’ sich aïr in store,

To cool our zunburnt skin, O,

We’ll have a ramble out o’ door,

When night’s a-zettèn in, O.

"We’ll have a ramble out o’ door,

When night’s a-zettèn in, O".

A Wreath of Snow

Two Obituary Poems, In Memoriam, 1886