Hello Jim

'Alongside the poems of Waugh, Axon, Bamford and the other weaver poets...'

Just to clarify, Waugh seems not to have been a 'weaver poet'.

If the Axon referred to is William Axon, this person was a journalist.

Bamford attended Manchester Grammar School for a while, presumably at a time when it still had more of its original charitable intentions, so he was by no means a naive uneducated 'poet', unused to setting material down on paper.

Your point on what is accent and what is 'dialect' is interesting, though I don't quite follow it. There is a fine line between the two. Dialect is, as you suggest, often seen more a matter of grammar and vocabulary then just pronunciation. I agree that some of this material attempts to convey pronunciation, but then I lose you.


Some of the quotations given by Waugh seem to include examples of vocabulary varying according to dialect, including 'hond' for 'hand', 'yo' for 'you' 'co'de' for 'called' (pronounced a bit like code) and so on.

I'm guessing that some of these writers might have been to some extent 'bi-dialectical' as a result of their education and other factors.


Here's some Bamford. He was a fan of Byron, it appears. Fairly typical 19th century stuff.


God help the poor, who in this wintry morn,
Come forth of alleys dim and courts obscure;
God help yon poor, pale girl, who droops forlorn,
And meekly her affliction doth endure!
God help the outcast lamb! she trembling stands,
All wan her lips, and frozen red her hands;
Her mournful eyes are modestly down cast,
Her night-black hair streams on the fitful blast;
Her bosom, passing fair, is half reveal'd,
And oh! so cold the snow lies there congeal'd;
Her feet benumb'd, her shoes all rent and worn; ?
God help thee, outcast lamb, who stand'st forlorn!
                                           God help the poor!

Interesting rhyming scheme. Iambic pentameter with some variation. Some biblical references and lexical choices eg 'thee', 'lamb', 'doth'.