T. H. White
Overview
Terence Hanbury White was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 best known for his sequence of Arthurian
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

 novels, The Once and Future King
The Once and Future King
The Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel written by T. H. White. It was first published in 1958 and is mostly a composite of earlier works written in a period between 1938 and 1941....

, first published together in 1958.
White was born in Bombay
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, British India to English parents, Garrick Hanbury White, an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n police superintendent, and Constance White. Terence White had a discordant childhood, with an alcoholic father and an emotionally frigid mother, and his parents separated when Terence was fourteen.

White went to Cheltenham College
Cheltenham College
Cheltenham College is a co-educational independent school, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.One of the public schools of the Victorian period, it was opened in July 1841. An Anglican foundation, it is known for its classical, military and sporting traditions.The 1893 book Great...

 in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, a public school
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...

, and Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

, where he was tutored by the scholar and occasional author L.
Quotations

God is love, the bishops tell.Yes, I know, But love is hell.

"All For Love"

Helen whose face was fatal must have weptMany salt tears to keep her eyes so brightMany long nights alone: and every nightMen died, she cried, and happy Paris keptSweet Helen.

"PARIS"

Be kind, Helen, I am so tired of thinking;There are so many difficult corridors of thought,With equal iron banisters leading back again:So many stone stairs, Helen, up which I soughtTo rediscover the windy sky, and stand, blinking,In the lost sunlight: as bright as pain,Helen. I would give almost anything nowEven for pain.

"Lost"

Little childWho was me once,My pity on you—And reverence.If we could meetWhere I once strayed,The betrayerAnd the betrayed.If we could win backIn Time's defiance,Would you be afeared of me,Ten-year-old Terence?No, you would not fear.You would love, trust,Cherish, admireThis tedious dust.For oh! we were all brimming onceWith the sun-sparkled dew.One heart could have loved this hulk—The ignorant heart of you.

"To My Self, Forty Years Ago"

The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to watch somebody else doing it wrong, without comment.

The Godstone and the Blackymor (1959) p. 161

The fisherman fishes as the urchin eats cream buns, from lust.

Dogs, like very small children, are quite mad.

Aviators live by hours, not by days.

I would recommend a solo flight to all prospective suicides. It tends to make clear the issue of whether one enjoys being alive or not. Originally titled The Witch in the Wood

Ther days may come,/Ther days may go,/But still the light of Mem'ry weaves/Those gentle dreams/Of long ago

 
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