Robert Stephen Hawker (3 December 1803 – 15 August 1875), often known as Stephen Hawker, was a Cornish poet, antiquarian of Cornwall, Anglican clergyman and reputed eccentric. He is best known as the writer of Cornwall's national anthem "The Song of the Western Men", that includes the chorus line "And shall Trelawney die? There's 20,000 Cornish men shall know the reason why", which he published anonymously in 1825. His name became known after Charles Dickens acknowledged his authorship of "The Song of the Western Men" in the serial magazine Household Words. Hawker was born in the vicarage of Charles Church, Plymouth, on December 3, 1803, the eldest of ten children. By the age of ten was already reading and writing poetry. He was educated at Liskeard Grammar School and Cheltenham Grammar School. As an undergraduate, aged 19, he was married to his godmother, Charlotte I'ans, aged 41. The couple spent their honeymoon at Tintagel in 1823, a place that kindled Hawker's life-long fascination with Arthurian legend and inspired him to write The Quest of the Sangraal. This marriage, along with a legacy, helped to finance his studies at Pembroke College, Oxford. He graduated in 1827 and won the 1827 Newdigate Prize for poetry.
on the dark, still, dry warm weather, occasionally happening in the winter months
When day declining sheds a milder gleam,
What time the may-fly haunts the pool or stream;
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What time the may-fly haunts the pool or stream;
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the invitation to selborne
See Selborne spreads her boldest beauties round
The varied valley, and the mountain ground,...[read poem]
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The varied valley, and the mountain ground,...
the burial hour
"At eve should be the time," they said,
"To close their brother's narrow bed:"
'Tis at tha...[read poem]
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"To close their brother's narrow bed:"
'Tis at tha...
the naturalist's summer-evening walk
Th'imprison'd winds slumber within their caves
Fast bound: the fickle vane, emblem of change,...[read poem]
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Fast bound: the fickle vane, emblem of change,...
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