Kilvert’s Diary

Abstract

Kilvert is a real literary discovery.¹ Just before the war there came to light some twenty-two notebooks containing the diary of this young Victorian clergyman. It makes fascinating reading; for, even apart from a liking for diaries in general, this one had exceptional qualities. It gives a sensitive and observant picture of country life in the 1870s, mostly of Radnorshire and central Wales, where Kilvert was a curate, but also of the West Country, for his home was in Wiltshire, and during this year, 1870–1, he visited a good deal in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. Above all, he wrote like an angel; his gift was for prose rather than verse — though his verses are charming enough. The result is an addition to literature. In an odd way, the discovery of this unknown curate reminds one of the resurrection of Gerard Hopkins, though Kilvert was a gentler, less original genius than that.