
BRIEFLESS BALLADS
By JAMES WILLIAMS
Justinian at Windermere
A Vision of Legal Shadows
The Squire's Daughter
Her Letter in Chambers
Law and Poetry
Somewhere
Roman Law
Bologna
A witty collection that stitches together the rigor of Roman law with the spontaneity of verse, this work invites listeners into the mind of a legal scholar who can’t resist a good rhyme. The poems wander from bustling London streets to the tranquil shores of Windermere, where a handful of academics lug a hundred‑weight of books and grapple with ancient statutes between bouts of rowing and steak‑filled lunches. The language is lively and conversational, peppered with references to classic authors, making the scholarly material feel unexpectedly approachable.
Interwoven throughout are the misadventures of a character named Jack, whose infatuations and solitary wanderings provide a humorous counterpoint to the dense legal commentary. His flirtations and the narrator’s reflections on the balance between study and leisure create a playful tension, while the occasional apparition of Roman jurists adds a whimsical, almost mythic flavor. Listeners will enjoy the blend of literary nostalgia, academic satire, and the gentle ribbing of a profession that often seems far removed from poetry.
Full title
Briefless Ballads and Legal Lyrics Second Series
Language
en
Duration
~46 minutes (44K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2008-05-02
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects
1851–1911
A Liverpool-born legal scholar and poet, he spent much of his career at Oxford, where he taught Roman law and wrote on both legal and literary subjects. His work ranged from commentary on Justinian to volumes of verse, giving him an unusual place between academia and poetry.
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