Sir Philip Sydney, of the 16th Century, created an ideal landscape in his view of Arcady. Dr Sean Street placed before us for consideration the pastoral idyll held by the Dymock poets, and the Arcadian view within literature, painting and music touched by that lost way of life of rural content, of shepherds and shepherdesses.

Innumerable quotes from the Dymock poets, frequently written in euphemistic language, helped to clarify. But it was emphasised that the roots of many of these thoughts were antiquated, notably found in writings of Virgil (70-19BC).

Comparison could be made between Sydney and Rupert Brooke. Both lived short lives (Sidney 31 years; Brooke 26 years), and both wrote of the beauty of England with a sense of their own personal loss and poignant nostalgia.

Other Dymock poets who glimpsed their lost Arcadia with powerful forcefulness included Lascelles Abercrombie, Edward Thomas, John Drinkwater, and Robert Frost all of whom reflected on a golden age they could not recover.

Paintings by artists such as Gainsborough and Constable held these idealised images too. Music also reflected the same conception in musicals of the age: The Arcadians (1908) and The Immortal Hour (1927).

In concluding his thoughtful and thought provoking talk, Dr Street suggested we thought of our own Arcadia.

Jill Hopkins