The Buckley School's founder believed all public speakers should hone their presentation skills by reading poetry out loud. We keep that worthwhile practice alive by including a poem in our magazine each month for you to read aloud. Above, a photograph of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from 1914.
"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"
– Sherlock Holmes in "The Sign of the Four"
Of course, when anyone mentions Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, we all think of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, two of the most famous characters in English literature. Doyle was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. He created the detective stories that actually became part of the required reading for English police detectives who were in training.
Doyle was born in 1859, studied to become a doctor, and published his first Sherlock Holmes story in 1888. Three years later, the success of Sherlock Holmes allowed him to give up his medical practice and earn his living as a full-time writer. Doyle wrote four novels and 55 stories about Holmes and Watson, as well as other novels, plays, and poetry.
Like something out of a story he might have written, Doyle used a clever trick to communicate with British prisoners-of-war during World War I: He sent them books in which he had made pin pricks under key words throughout the pages, in order to create a message.
Doyle died in 1930, though for many he still feels very much alive in the characters he left for us.
Below, find a poem by Doyle to read aloud, one that invites you to experiment with repetition and cadence.
The Song of the Bow
What of the bow?
The bow was made in England:
Of true wood, of yew-wood,
The wood of English bows;
So men who are free
Love the old yew-tree
And the land where the yew-tree grows.
What of the cord?
The cord was made in England:
A rough cord, a tough cord,
A cord that bowmen love;
And so we will sing
Of the hempen string
And the land where the cord was wove.
What of the shaft?
The shaft was cut in England:
A long shaft, a strong shaft,
Barbed and trim and true;
So we’ll drink all together
To the grey goose-feather
And the land where the grey goose flew.
What of the mark?
Ah, seek it not in England,
A bold mark, our old mark
Is waiting over-sea.
When the strings harp in chorus,
And the lion flag is o'er us,
It is there that our mark will be.
What of the men?
The men were bred in England:
The bowmen—the yeomen,
The lads of dale and fell.
Here's to you—and to you!
To the hearts that are true
And the land where the true hearts dwell.
