LatinosUSA

Hi everyone, it’s Robbie Cheadle here with you today with the April post in the Famous Artworks series on LatinosUSA – English Edition.

If you have a favourite Famous Artwork you’d like to share, please email me at cheadlerobbie@gmail.com. Your email should be titled Famous Artworks. You need to include a free use picture of the artwork or your own photograph and a short writeup about the picture.

Rodin’s sculpture of The Burghers of Calais

What Laura says about this amazing sculpture:

«There are several copies in existence, including one outside the Houses of Parliament in London, but the picture below shows the one outside the  Hôtel de Ville in Calais.

The true story occurred in 1346, when the English under Edward III laid siege to Calais. When starvation forced the city to bargain for surrender, Edward said he’d spare the population if six leading citizens would give themselves up to him, with nooses around their necks and the keys to the city in their hands. Rodin’s larger-than-life sculpture imagines their heroic self-sacrifice in the face of defeat, along with despair at their imminent death.

In the event their lives were spared through the intervention of Edward’s queen, Philippa.

Laura has written a beautiful poem about this sculpture.

Larger than Life, a poem by Laura Lyndhurst

«The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity.»

-Alberto Giacometti.

I saw it there before me, within the flower garden

surrounding Calais town hall, this well-known work by Rodin.

Sculpted and cast, those six now-famous burghers,

the leaders of this town, six centuries and more ago,

prepared to sacrifice themselves to save their people.

There’s anguish there, despair and grief,

but stoic resignation also; a fitting tribute

to these men’s humanity. Heroic, but not standing

tall and proud and haughtily defiant; just doing

for their city what they felt they had to do.

Immortalised in bronze they stand, the first cast by the sculptor,

placed within the city which they were prepared to die for.

They stand in ropes and rags and chains, but over all that, honour.

To never be forgotten for the sacrifice they made.

They didn’t die though; mercy was bestowed.

They lived, they’re living now, they’ll live into the future.

The sculptor never saw these men, they never posed before him.

Remade from his imagination, their lives are amplified.

Intensely seen, intensely felt, they moved me then,

they move me now. Art from real life. Real life from art.

The alchemy of humble men, turned noble men,

turned monumental tribute.

© Laura Lyndhurst 2021

Photo: Romain Berthaud ©

Laura’s poetry books

Laura has a number of delightful poetry books. Today, I am featuring Poet-Pourri which I have yet to read.

Blurb

I wasn’t sure if I would continue to write poetry after I’d published October Poems and Thanksgiving Poems and Prose Pieces in quick succession. Writing my psychological suspense thriller You Know What You Did took over, the idea having come to me while I was writing the poems and needing attention therefore when I’d finished publishing the poetry. When that was also sent on its way into the public domain I had to get back to my Criminal Conversation trilogy, finishing and publishing Degenerate, Regenerate in January 2021 and moving on immediately to All That We Are Heir To in the face of wishes expressed by readers of the first two books to know what happened next.

I’d been writing a few poems in the background whilst writing those books, as well as beginning a couple of new psychological thrillers, but poem ideas were coming to me all the time, helped in no small measure by some prompts supplied once again by Nancy Bonnington for both poetry and prose. I therefore felt it expedient to finish and publish this new set of poems, interspersed with some pieces of prose, and Poet-Pourri is the result.

The poems and prose are, as usual, a mixture of humorous and serious, touching upon social issues on both the darker and the lighter side of life. There’s little else to say, except thank you for reading and I hope that you will enjoy them.

5-Star Amazon review

From rain as an entity that loves the earth and nature, and weeps at what mankind is doing to the planet, Lyndhurst then takes us to a rain-drenched funeral where the wronged widow, dressed in scarlet, enters the crematorium and declares her relief that he’s gone. And that’s just the first two in this book of poems and prose by the talented Laura Lyndhurst. The rest are as good. There’s a couple about lockdown and a brilliant modern-day play on classic fairytales.

Lyndhurst also does a take on various fruit and veg. What it’s like to be a strawberry or a melon, or even an orange. I loved these ones, and my favourite is ‘Grapes of Wrath.’ And don’t forget the humble spud, and the mysterious mushroom.

I’m getting quite hungry now. I think I need a bag of crisps and a glass of Pinot Noir, or maybe a G&T with a slice of lime, while I’m reading the rest of this excellent poetry and prose book. Which isn’t all about food and drink. It covers art, hitchhiking, global warming, a romantic evening in Iceland watching a volcano, waking up on a frosty morning, and many, many more topics.

Read it. You’ll love it.

Amazon US purchase link for Poet-Pourri: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09CNNYWJ1

Laura Lyndhurst’s Amazon US author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Laura-Lyndhurst/author/B088QFJJ3Q

About Laura Lyndhurst

I was born and grew up in North London, England, and engaged in various occupations, including dental nurse, laboratory assistant and shop assistant, before I married aged twenty and travelled the world following my husband’s career. I spent much time reading, a passion since childhood, and toyed with writing.

Eventually settled in the UK I took evening classes and gained ‘A’ levels in Psychology, Sociology and English before becoming a mature student and gaining Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English and Literature before training and working as a teacher. In 2016 we moved to the peace of rural Lincolnshire, and my sporadic writing activities became more permanent.

To date I’ve published fifteen books, beginning in May 2020 with ‘Fairytales Don’t Come True,’ my debut novel. Since then I’ve written and published four books of poetry: ‘October Poems,’ ‘Thanksgiving Poems & Prose Pieces,’ ‘Poet-Pourri’ and ‘Social Climbing and Other Poems.’ In January 2021 I published a sequel to ‘Fairytales’ entitled ‘Degenerate, Regenerate,’ and at the end of March 2021 I published a psychological suspense story, ‘You Know What You Did,’ and in June 2021 ‘All That We Are Heir To,’ the third book in the ‘Criminal Conversation; series. In November 2022 I published a sequel to ‘You Know What You Did,’ entitled ‘What Else Did You Do?’. The work didn’t stop, as alongside this sequel I was writing a fourth book for the ‘Criminal Conversation’ series. Entitled ‘Innocent, Guilty,’ it was published in January 2023, and a fifth book, ‘The Future of Our House’ came out in June 2023. The sixth and final book, ‘Uphill, Downhill, Over, Out’ came out in August 2023. January 2025 saw a standalone novel about an arranged marriage, ‘An Honourable Institution’ and September of that year saw another psychological suspense, ‘The Guilty Party’. Most recently, in February 2026 I published a Whodunnit, ‘Fatal.’ I’ve nothing ongoing at present, but watch this space.

In late 2021 I undertook some editorial training and freelance work as a sub-editor. I terminated that work in late 2022, but have my hands full with writing my own books and reviewing those of others. In November 2023 I built my own website, with my own books, blog posts, my reviews of other authors’ books and interviews with some of those authors. You can find me on Facebook for the link.

And of course there’s reading, something which I have loved since I was a child. I became a convert to eBooks and subscribed to the Kindle Unlimited programme, because although I love physical books, my bookcases are groaning under the weight and I don’t have room for any more. I review everything I read, since I became an author myself and realise the value of these in getting our work in front of as many eyes as possible; but it does mean that I have a large virtual To Be Read pile.

For other leisure activities I walk—or use a stepper at home, when the weather’s bad—play the recorder (badly), and listen to music of all types. I like a good meal with wine, whether out or at home, and spend most evenings binge-watching one series or another.

Life is busy and certainly not boring.

About Robbie Cheadle

South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

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