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Lady Clara Vere de Vere

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Keene as Lady Clara Vere de Vere. Photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1866

"Lady Clara Vere de Vere" is an English poem written by Alfred Tennyson, part of his collected Poems published in 1842. The poem is about a lady in a family of aristocrats, and includes numerous references to nobility, such as to earls or coats of arms. One such line from the poem goes, "Kind hearts are more than coronets, and simple faith than Norman blood." This line gave the title to the film Kind Hearts and Coronets. Lewis Carroll's poem "Echoes" is based on "Lady Clare Vere de Vere".

Tennyson spent some time as a guest at Curragh Chase and wrote the poem to show his close friendship with the de Vere family.[1]

References in other works

In J.M Barry's play "What Every Woman Knows", "Vere de Vere" is referred to as a slightly cynical metaphor for "the noble nobility" COMTESSE. It seems to be no joke to you, Mr. Shand. Sybil, my pet, are you to let him off?

SYBIL [flashing]. Let him off? If he wishes it. Do you?

JOHN [manfully]. I want it to go on. [Something seems to have caught in his throat: perhaps it is the impediment trying a temporary home.] It’s the one wish of my heart. If you come with me, Sybil, I’ll do all in a man’s power to make you never regret it. [Triumph of the Vere de Veres.]

In C. J. Mathews' "My Awful Dad" (1881) the name Vere de Vere is used humorously as a stereotypical name of a member of the nobility: "You shall sit next to Evangeline Clara Vere de Vere, nee Tadpole, the grand double-jointed sentimental comic clog and pump dancer."

References

  1. ^ Joyce, Mannix (1964). Adare and Its Poets (PDF). The Capuchin Annual. p. 330.