Don Paterson’s poetry reading at the Whipple Museum
08th February 2013 | 0 Comment(s) |
Friday 1 February was a busy day for Don Paterson in the Whipple Museum.
In the afternoon he led a masterclass with 13 Cambridgeshire poets, followed by an evening reading to over 50 people who enjoyed an after hours visit to the museum.
Don’ reading was a mixture of published and unpublished poems.
The first poem he reads is The Lover – my favourite poem and also the Whipple staff’s favourite poem. You can listen to this by clicking the link below, and you can find his other poems under the Downloads section of the Resources page.
Many of the extraordinary objects in the Whipple’s collection have caught Don’s eye during his residency but the one he has been thinking about most, and as he revealed, may be the inspiration for his commissioned poem is the Artificial Horizon (image attached) which was part of Robert Whipple’s original gift to the University of 1000 scientific instruments (hence the very low accession number, Wh.0566).
An artificial horizon can be used in darkness, fog, or when the real horizon is obscured for any other reason. They were often used in conjunction with other instruments that need a horizontal level, such as a sextant or reflecting circle. There are records of use from the
mid 16th century onwards.
The 2 basic types of artificial horizon were mercury with a glass cover – the top layer of the mercury always staying level (this type is not very practical for use on a ship) and bubble levels, where the position of bubbles in a liquid shows which way the axis is tilting.
The Whipple’s artificial horizon description:
Black glass artificial horizon, mounted in brass, with three brass levelling screws. Glass bubble level. Fitted wooden box, covered with shagreen leather and lined with blue velvet.
Brass hinge and hook fasteners.
1800-1900 (c)
Come and see it.
Helen Taylor
