Sam Pope
@sampopewriter.bsky.social
Writer of gothic, ghostly tales. Polar history buff and devotee of Eleanor Anne Porden. Find out more at www.sampopewriter.com and www.eleanorporden.com
In honour of Sir Walter Scott's 255th birthday, a post on his effect on Eleanor Porden: eleanorporden.com/2026/08/15/g... Thank you, @orkneylibrary.bsky.social, for today's post, which was my inspiration! @derbyshiredro.bsky.social
Great Scott!!!
Sir Walter Scott, novelist and poet – painted by Sir William Allan (1782 – 1850) (Scottish): Today, 15 August 2026, marks Sir Walter Scott’s 255th birthday. I discovered this from the wonderf…
eleanorporden.com
To celebrate today's solar eclipse: a snippet from Eleanor Porden's paper: 'The Sublime, Terror and The Supernatural', in which she recounts a conversation with friend and fellow poet, Anna Vardill: @derbyshiredro.bsky.social, ref: D8760-F-FEP-3-5
Happy birthday to the witty and delightful poet, Eleanor Anne Porden! eleanorporden.com/2026/07/14/h...
Happy 231, Eleanor!
As is the case every year, I like to post something on Eleanor’s birthday. Last year, I gave a talk about her life at the wonderful National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which you can watch, if yo…
eleanorporden.com
Happy #InternationalDanceDay! To celebrate, a brief post about how Eleanor Porden, while being talented in many things, struggled with dance. It did not put her off trying, though! @derbyshiredro.bsky.social @wellcomecollection.bsky.social eleanorporden.com/2026/04/29/l...
Let’s dance!
Public Domain, Today is International Dance Day, so I thought I would write a quick post about dance in the life of Eleanor Porden. If you’ve ever seen a Jane Austen adaptation, you will no d…
eleanorporden.com
RIP Eleanor Anne Porden/Franklin. Always in my mind and heart on 22 February. 201 years since the world lost a bright and beautiful light. eleanorporden.com/2026/02/22/r... @derbyshiredro.bsky.social #poetry #poetrylovers #romanticpoetry
Rest in Poetry (RIP) Eleanor Anne Porden / Franklin
Last year, I marked the 200th anniversary of Eleanor Porden’s death. This year, I thought I would bring you some snippets from the 200th anniversary of her obituary, published in The Annual Biograp…
eleanorporden.com
#HappyValentinesDay! For some amusing romantic poetry, check out my post featuring #Regency poets from the Attic Chest literary salon, including Eleanor Porden. eleanorporden.com/2026/02/14/f... Thanks to @derbyshiredro.bsky.social @englishheritage.bsky.social @britishmuseum.bsky.social
For Many a Heart is Thine
There is perhaps no better time of year for poets than Valentine’s Day. It provides them with an opportunity to write loving, ironic, comic or silly verse (or any other type, really) – hopefully of…
eleanorporden.com
British Museum £100k away from Henry VIII pendant target - BBC News share.google/7mX3epjmovdq... I've donated. Surely the Royal Family, with their vast wealth, could contribute, too? @britishmuseum.bsky.social
British Museum £100k away from Henry VIII pendant target - BBC News
Efforts to raise £3.5m are under way to give the jewellery a public rather than private home.
share.google
A lovely #Christmas treat for me, found in an @oxfamgb.bsky.social bookshop. I grew up reading Richard Scarry books but never had this one. My daughter (22) wants to read this as soon as she comes home tomorrow, as she's another Scarry fan!
I had a brilliant evening performing three ghost stories in Oxford tonight at Curio Bookshop. One by Dickens, one by E. Nesbit and one of my own. Great fun and I discovered that white foundation is an actual thing (thank goodness - no more putting flour on my face to look ghostly). #ghoststories
Christmas is a perfect time of year for ghost stories! Come to a special evening of terrifying tales at Curio Bookshop in Oxford, where I and Catrin Lawrence, will be your storytellers. Be prepared for a delightful evening of chills...and not because of the weather! wegottickets.com/event/682550...
On 24 October 1812, Eleanor Porden wrote fascinating account of an evening spent with her family’s close friends, in which they discussed superstition and the supernatural, particularly the possibility of possessing the gift of Second Sight.
Killed by a white horse
Two hundred and eleven years ago, on 24 October 1812, Eleanor Porden wrote a fascinating account of an evening spent with her family’s close friends, in which they discussed superstition and the su…
wp.me
Thank you so much, @oxonlibraries.bsky.social, for displaying Lindy with these excellent scary stories for Halloween! It made my day seeing this! @foxandinkbooks.bsky.social
Night after night, something has been moving our mini-pumpkins in our garden. We set up a camera and caught the culprit! (S)He comes every night, multiple times a night, and either carries or noses them down to the other end of the garden!
Happy #WorldLetterWritingDay! To mark this occasion, here's a brief write-up of some of the letters I read @bodleian.ox.ac.uk today, between William and Eleanor Porden and various correspondents. Turnips make a very odd appearance! eleanorporden.com/2025/09/01/h...
Happy World Letter Writing Day!
It seems very appropriate that I spent a very fruitful half day in the Bodleian Library, reading the various letters between the Pordens (Eleanor and William) and Francis Douce (antiquary and museu…
eleanorporden.com
Happy World Letter Writing Day! It seems very appropriate that I spent a very fruitful half day in the Bodleian Library, reading the various letters between the Pordens (Eleanor and William) and Francis Douce (antiquary and museum curator) and Benjamin D'Israeli. Whenever I visit an archive, I can…
Happy World Letter Writing Day!
It seems very appropriate that I spent a very fruitful half day in the Bodleian Library, reading the various letters between the Pordens (Eleanor and William) and Francis Douce (antiquary and museum curator) and Benjamin D'Israeli. Whenever I visit an archive, I can never quite believe my fortune. The fact that we have these invaluable places available to visit, for…
eleanorporden.com
This cat is adorable. Used to live in a cat café til we adopted her two years ago (she'd been there the longest as black cats are unpopular). She's gorgeous and funny BUT she's a typical black cat: daft as a brush. She's started trying to haul herself out of windows and we found her on the ...
A fine S. T. Coleridge letter up for auction at £10,000. A bit depressed. Longing for greatness. Pantisocracy. Infatuated with Mary Evans. Hits all the right notes, really. 😉
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wanted to ‘bid farewell’ to writing at 22, letter reveals
Young poet details low mood and disappointment in love in 1795 letter, written not long before he met Wordsworth
theguardian.com
Not the biggest fan of the named Coke bottles as I always feel I'm stealing someone else's but in France it's been fun to pretend I'm Anaïs.
An alert to all creatives using #WeTransfer. Basically, stop immediately! As of August, they will begin scraping everything you send for AI purposes (see the new paragraph in their Terms and Conditions below). If, like me, you’re a voice artist, they’ll clone your voice. Avoid at all costs.
If you're a member of the Maritime Museum, please come to my talk tomorrow night, at 6.30pm, on the life of Eleanor Anne Porden! She's done much more than *just* being married to John Franklin - she was an acclaimed poet and fascinating person. Hope to see you there! www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/nat...
Members' Lecture: Eleanor Anne Porden
Uncover the often-forgotten life of John Franklin's first wife, Eleanor Anne Porden, with author Sam Pope
rmg.co.uk
My beloved Captain is visiting us for a couple of days while he has dental work done and my lovely Anise is not thrilled. AT ALL.
We are indebted to @nuitsdeyoung.bsky.social for sharing this fascinating piece with us.
Sam Pope@sampopewriter.bsky.social · last yr.Passport photos are unflattering for most of us mortals. Perhaps a better form of identification is thro' written description. See how the French described William Porden in his passport in my latest post: eleanorporden.com/2025/04/10/w... & compare this to his portrait! @derbyshiredro.bsky.social
Passport photos are unflattering for most of us mortals. Perhaps a better form of identification is thro' written description. See how the French described William Porden in his passport in my latest post: eleanorporden.com/2025/04/10/w... & compare this to his portrait! @derbyshiredro.bsky.social
William Porden’s passport identity revealed!
While transcribing William Porden’s 1818 travel journal, I came across some details, in which he revealed how the officials at the customs house in Calais described him in his passport. I found it …
eleanorporden.com
William Porden’s passport identity revealed! While transcribing William Porden’s 1818 travel journal, I came across some details, in which he revealed how the officials at the customs house in Calais described him in his passport. I found it intriguing, not only because I gained a better idea of…
William Porden’s passport identity revealed!
While transcribing William Porden’s 1818 travel journal, I came across some details, in which he revealed how the officials at the customs house in Calais described him in his passport. I found it intriguing, not only because I gained a better idea of his appearance (as separate to the one portrait of him) but also because it showed how people’s identity had to be secured via written description rather than one of the awful, unsmiling photographs we have to suffer through in our current iterations.
eleanorporden.com
William Porden's #wotd: 'voiturier' - a coachman or driver. Porden describes being "besieged by Voituriers from the moment we entered Lausanne" - one of whom became such a wretched pest that "I was compelled the first night to drive him out of my Bed Room..." @derbyshiredro.bsky.social
William Porden #wotd - Camera Lucida: "a special device...which projects an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed onto the surface upon which the artist is drawing. The artist sees both scene and drawing surface simultaneously, as in a photographic double exposure" (Wikipedia)
