Kilvert's diary, 1870-1879 : selections from the diary of the Rev. Francis Kilvert

by Robert Francis Kilvert

Other authorsWilliam Plomer (Editor)

1977

Publication

Penguin, 1977.

Status

Available

Description

Few have written more beautifully about the British countryside than Francis Kilvert. A country clergyman born in 1840, Kilvert spent much of his time visiting parishioners, walking the lanes and fields of Herefordshire and writing in his diary. Full of passionate delight in the natural world and the glory of the changing seasons, his diaries are as generous, spontaneous and vivacious as Kilvert himself. He is an irresistible companion. This new edition of William Plomer's original selection contains new archival material as well as a fascinating introduction illuminating Kilvert's world and the history of the diaries. 'One of the best books in English' Sunday Times 'Kilvert has touched and delighted (and mildly shocked) readers of his diaries ever since they were first published. New readers are in for a treat' Alan Bennett… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Polaris-

Couldn't finish it.

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LibraryThing member starbox

I'd vaguely heard of this but was inspired to read it after Susan Hill's repeated recommendations in 'Howard's End is on the Landing.'
The recollections of a curate in Clyro, Radnorshire...later Wiltshire and Herefordshire. The reader is introduced to the locals, from the poor to the gentry

(Kilvert's aspirations to a connection with a couple of local ladies are firmly quashed by parents). He recounts stories they tell him, interesting things he sees, events in the church, everyday life. But perhaps what makes Kilvert's diary memorable are his vivid, magical descriptions of the beauties of the world around him.

"Why do I keep this voluminous journal? I can hardly tell. Partly because life appears to me such a curious and wonderful thing that it almost seems a pity that even such a humble and uneventful life as mine should pass away altogether without some such record as this, and partly too because I think the record may amuse and interest some who come after me."

Kilvert died aged 39. Throughout the diary is a sense of time passing, of ephemerality. Quite lovely.

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LibraryThing member EricCostello

I'm not sure why this book seems to have the reputation it does. The diary of a low-level Church of England cleric who spent much of his career in Wales and the Welsh border country. Because of relatives doing the usual and censoring or destroying much of his documents, we don't have much more than

a fraction of what he really wrote, so it can be tricky to get a feel for the man himself. The last bit of the diary is very sketchy indeed, and aside from the author's concern for his parishioners, there's not really a whole lot of interest, here. A pretty edition with contemporary photographs to give a sense of place and setting, but I can't honestly recommend this.

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