Rycote House

Rycote House (also Rycote Manor) the manor of Rycote, Oxfordshire, England, was a Tudor (and later Georgian) country house. First built in the early 16th century, the present site was rebuilt in the 1920s.
Rycote is a large house built of brick and limestone rubble arranged around three sides of a courtyard. The main wing has two storeys with attics and a 4-centre arched entrance. It is a Grade II* listed building. 
History.
Origins.
Carved masonry has been found from a substantial house that stood here in the 14th century. Rycote House was a great Tudor country house that was built here early in the 16th century, probably for Sir John Heron, Treasurer of the Chamber to first Henry VII and then Henry VIII, who bought the manor of Rycote on his retirement in 1521. The exact origins of the house remain uncertain, however. Henry VIII and his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, honeymooned here in 1540. Pictures from "circa" 1674-1685 and 1714 show that the main part of the house was arranged around a courtyard. It had stepped gables, a gatehouse and polygonal corner turrets with cupolas and was surrounded by a moat. Tudor buildings were constructed on a symmetrical pattern, with a focal central part being the Great Hall. It was all surrounded by a large moat. Archaeologist Julian Munby analysed the bricks as being small and slim and typically from the Tudor period; some of the bricks were recycled from rubble masonry.
Use.
According to historian Robin Bush the palace was built between 1500-1530, and then sold by the original owner to pay off debts. In 1542 Rycote was bought by Sir John Williams, Master of the Jewels to Henry VIII and later created Baron Williams of Thame. Baron Williams died without a male heir, so Rycote became part of the Norreys family estates descending to his son-in-law Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys. Charles I visited Rycote in 1625. In 1682 James Bertie, 5th Baron Norreys of Rycote was created 1st Earl of Abingdon. He died in 1699 and a memorial to him was erected in the chapel in 1767.

Alfonsina Storni

Alfonsina Storni (29 May 1892 – 25 October 1938) was an Argentine poet of the modernist period.
Early life.
Storni was born on May 29, 1892 in Sala Capriasca, Switzerland. Her parents were Alfonso Storni and Paola Martignoni, who were of Italian-Swiss descent. Before her birth, her father had started a brewery in the city of San Juan, Argentina, producing beer and soda. In 1891, following the advice of a doctor, he returned with his wife to Switzerland, where Alfonsina was born the following year; she lived there until she was four years old. In 1896 the family returned to San Juan, and a few years later, in 1901, moved to Rosario because of economic issues. There her father opened a tavern, where Storni did a variety of chores. That family business soon failed, however. Storni wrote her first verse at the age of twelve, and continued writing verses during her free time. She later entered into the Colegio de la Santa Union as a part-time student. In 1906, her father died and she began working in a hat factory to help support her family.
In 1907, her interest in dance led her to join a traveling theatre company, which took her around the country. She performed in Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts," Benito Pérez Galdós's "La loca de la casa," and Florencio Sánchez's "Los muertos". In 1908, Storni returned to live with her mother, who had remarried and was living in . After a year there, Storni went to Coronda, where she studied to become a rural primary schoolteacher. During this period, she also started working for the local magazines "Mundo Rosarino" and "Monos y Monadas", as well as the prestigious "Mundo Argentino".
In 1912 she moved to Buenos Aires, seeking the anonymity afforded by a big city. There she met and fell in love with a married man whom she described as "an interesting person of certain standing in the community. He was active in the politics..." That year, she published her first short story in Fray Mocho. At age nineteen, she found out that she was pregnant with the child of a journalist and became a single mother. Supporting herself with teaching and newspaper journalism, she lived in Buenos Aires where the social and economical difficulties faced by Argentina's growing middle classes were inspiring an emerging body of women's rights activists.
Literary career.
Storni was among the first women to find success in the male-dominated arenas of literature and theater in Argentina, and as such, developed a unique and valuable voice that holds particular relevance in Latin American poetry. Storni was an influential person, not only to her readers but also to other writers. Though she was known mainly for her poetic works, she also wrote prose, journalistic essays, and drama. Storni often gave controversial opinions. She criticized a wide range of topics from politics to gender roles and discrimination against women. In Storni's time, her work did not align itself with a particular movement or genre. It was not until the modernist and avant-garde movements began to fade that her work seemed to fit in. She was criticized for her atypical style, and she has been labeled most often as a postmodern writer.
Early work.
Storni published some of her first works in 1916 in Emin Arslan's literary magazine "La Nota", where she was a permanent contributor from 28 March until 21 November 1919. Her poems “Convalecer” and “Golondrinas” were published in the magazine. In spite of economic difficulties, she published "La inquietud del rosal " in 1916, and later started writing for the magazine "Caras y Caretas" while working as a cashier in a shop. Even though today Storni's early works of poetry are among her most well known and highly regarded, they received harsh criticism from some of her male contemporaries, including such well known figures as Jorge Luis Borges and Eduardo Gonzalez Lanuza. The eroticism and feminist themes in her writing were controversial subject matter for poetry during her time, but writing about womanhood in such a direct way was one of her principal innovations as a poet.
Wider recognition.
In the rapidly developing literary scene of Buenos Aires, Storni soon became acquainted with other writers, such as José Enrique Rodó and Amado Nervo. Her economic situation improved, which allowed her to travel to Montevideo, Uruguay. There she met the poet Juana de Ibarbourou, as well as Horacio Quiroga, with whom she would become great friends. Quiroga led the Anaconda group and Storni became a member together with Emilia Bertolé, Ana Weiss de Rossi, Amparo de Hieken, Ricardo Hicken and Berta Singerman
During one of her most productive periods, from 1918 to 1920 Storni published three volumes of poetry: "El dulce daño" (Sweet Pain), 1918; "Irremediablemente" (Irremediably), 1919; and "Languidez" (Languor) 1920. The latter received the first Municipal Poetry Prize and the second National Literature Prize, which added to her prestige and reputation as a talented writer. she also published many articles in prominent newspapers and journals of the time. Later, she continued her experimentation with form in 1925's "Ocre", a volume composed almost entirely of sonnets that are among her most traditional in structure. These verses were written around the same time as the more loosely structured prose poems of her lesser-known volume, "Poemas de Amor", from 1926.
Theater.
After the critical success of "Ocre", Storni decided to focus on writing drama. Her first public work, the autobiographical play "El amo del mundo" was performed in the "Cervantes" theater on March 10, 1927, but was not well received by the public. However, this was not a conclusive indication of the quality of the work; many critics have observed that during those years Argentinian theater as a whole was in a state of decline, so many quality works of drama failed in this atmosphere. After the play's short run, Storni had it published in "Bambalinas", where the original title is shown to have been "Dos mujeres". Her "Dos farsas pirotécnicas" were published in 1931.
She wrote the following works intended for children: "Blanco...Negro...Blanco", "Pedro y Pedrito", "Jorge y su Conciencia", "Un sueño en el camino", "Los degolladores de estatuas" and "El Dios de los pájaros". They were brief theatre pieces with songs and dances. They were meant for her students at "Teatro Labardén" theatre. For "Pedrito y Pedro" and "Blanco...Negro...Blanco", Alfonsina wrote the music for the plays. These were performed in 1948 at "Teatro Colón" theatre in Buenos Aires. On these, Julieta Gómez Paz says: ""These present, ironically, adult situations transferred to the children's world to outline errors, prejudice and damaging customs by adults, but corrected by the poetic fantasy with happy endings"." 
Later work.
After a nearly 8-year hiatus from publishing volumes of poetry, Storni published "El mundo de siete pozos" (The World of Seven Wells), 1934. That volume, together with the final volume she published before her death, "Mascarilla y trébol" (Mask and Clover), 1938, mark the height of her poetic experimentation. The final volume includes the use of what she termed "antisonnets," or poems that used many of the versification structures of traditional sonnets but did not follow the traditional rhyme scheme.
Illness and death.
In 1935, Storni may have discovered a lump on her left breast and decided to undergo an operation. On May 20, 1935, she underwent a radical mastectomy. In 1938 she found out that the breast cancer had reappeared. Around 1:00 AM on Tuesday, 25 October 1938. Storni left her room and headed towards the sea at "La Perla" beach in Mar del Plata, Argentina and committed suicide. Later that morning two workers found her body washed up on the beach. Although her biographers hold that she jumped into the water from a breakwater, popular legend is that she slowly walked out to sea until she drowned. She is buried in La Chacarita Cemetery. Her death inspired Ariel Ramírez and Félix Luna to compose the song "Alfonsina y el Mar" ("Alfonsina and the Sea").
Work.
Some of Storni's work
Teeth of flowers, cap of dew
hands of grass, you, kind nurse, 
have ready for me sheets of earth
and the eiderdown of fresh moss
I shall sleep now, my nurse; help me to bed. Put a lamp at the head; 
a constellation, whichever you choose; 
all are fine; turn down a light a bit.
Leave me now; hear the buds bursting...
from above a heavenly foot will rock you
and a bird will sing to you
that you might forget... Thank you. Ah, 
One request! If he should phone again, tell him not to persist, 
for I have left...
Post mortem:
Awards and recognition.
In 1910 she receives her title as "Maestra Rural"
In 1917 Storni receives the Premio Annual del Consejo Nacional de Mujeres.
In 1920 Languidez, one of her publications was awarded the First Municipal prize as well as the second National Literature Prize.