Jarvis Cocker's Poem on a Wall in Sheffield

Always well respected for his lyrics with Pulp or as a solo artist, it's hardly a surprise that Jarvis Cocker should have been chosen to make a contribution to the Off the Shelf literary festival in 2005. That his poem 'Trashed on Cider' should be placed in huge brushed steel letters on The Forge student accommodation building in Boston Street, Sheffield, is surprising, though. But it looks good:

'Within these walls
the future may be
being forged
Or maybe
Jez is getting trashed
on cider
But when you melt
you become the shape
of your surroundings:
Your horizons
become wider.
Don't they teach
you no brains
at that school?'

Jarvis Cocker
Off the Shelf 2005

Ebenezer Elliott in Rotherham, Sheffield and Darfield

The poet Ebenezer Elliott was born in Masbrough, Rotherham, now in South Yorkshire. Neville Northey Burnard (1818–1878) sculpted this statue which is in Weston Park, Broomhill, Sheffield. It originally stood in the centre of Sheffield from 1854 to 1874.

 

An information panel on front of the sculpture gives a brief biography of Elliott, mentioning his campaign against the Corn Laws which increased the price of bread (which he called 'the bread tax'), and of his nicknames: 'The Paupers' Poet' and 'The Corn-Law Rhymer'. He is most remembered for his Corn Law Rhymes (1831).

 

In 1846, three years before Elliott's death, the Corn Laws were repealed.

It's probably a mark of how well known Elliott was that the base of this structure simply gives his surname, and this was the simple title of John Greenleaf Whittier's poetic tribute to him. The plaque includes part of John Betjeman's poem 'An Edwardian Sunday, Broomhill, Sheffield':

 

'Your own Ebenezer
Looks down from his height
On back street and ally

And chemical valley
Laid out in the light;
On ugly and pretty
Where industry thrives
In this hill-shadowed city
Of razors and knives'.

 

 

 Elliott lived here, 22 Blake Grove Road, Upperthorpe, Sheffield, from 1834 to 1841.

 

'"Harvest" by Martin Heron 2009

The sculpture situated on Bradgate Roundabout
commemorates the industrialist, philanthropist and poet
Ebenezer Elliott who was born in Rotherham in 1781.
He died 1849 and is buried at Darfield near Barnsley.

A passionate campaigner on behalf of the poor and oppressed
Elliott's indignation against the Corn Laws of 1815–1846
inspired his famous Corn Law Rhymes which made him nationally
and internationally famous after their publication in 1831.

 

WHEN wilt Thou save the people?
O God of mercy! when?'

 

I don't know if it's just me, but I find it slightly odd that the plaque – just outside Bradgate Park, Kimberworth, Rotherham, and facing the roundabout – doesn't state the obvious: that the artwork represents ears of corn. The sculpture is at the junction of Wortley Road and Meadow Bank Road, and the traffic junction has now in fact been renamed Rhymer's Roundabout.

 

Another tribute to Elliott, this time in the centre of Rotherham, is Wetherspoon's The Corn Law Rhymer on the High Street, which was opened in 2009.

A very similar painting to this is attributed to John Birch. 

 

All Saints Church, Darfield, South Yorkshire.

 

And Elliott's grave lies in the churchyard.

 

'EBENEZER ELLIOTT
DIED DECEMBER 1ST 1849
AGED 68 YEARS.'

On the other side of the tombstone:

'FANNY GARTSIDE
HIS WIFE
DIED DECEMBER 4TH 1858
AGED 75 YEARS.'
 

'Ebenezer Elliott, Corn Law Rhymer: Poems of Sheffield and Environs,', edited by Agnes Lehoczky and Adam Piette, is linked below.

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Ebenezer Elliott, Corn Law Rhymer: Poems of Sheffield and Environs