I am an experienced poet and storyteller, or ‘metre ballad-monger’ as Hotspur would have it. My poetry makes frequent use of form, rhyme and metre, and often features pirates, murderous aristocrats, Greek myths and kingfishers. I’m a regular at open mics in Cardiff, where I perform my verse from memory and I’m available for workshops and readings.
I recently became Dr Thomas R Tyrrell, a title I’m proud enough of to have transferred onto all my bank cards, passports and correspondence. My thesis Remapping Milton: Place, Space and Influence 1700-1800 analysed the influence of John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost on the poets of the eighteenth century. I’m currently trying to use it as a stepping stone to a career in academia while I juggle my other creative project.
In addition to the above, I’m also a GCSE tutor in Maths and English, a keen hiker, a half-decent climber, a lousy glider pilot, a thoroughly competent cyclist and an enthusiastic kayaker, swimmer, forager, hitch-hiker and wearer of hats. It’s the goal of my blog to convey something of these experiences – or at the least, to tell a good story.
Growing Wiser the Foolish Way
This webpage was originally started as a blog all the way back in 2012 when I was a mere BA, before falling into desuetude during my Ph.D thesis. I’ve chosen to keep the earlier blog online, because while it’s a bit of a jumble of current interests, some of the content seems to be useful: my post on how Benjamin Franklin met Voltaire still gets multiple hits per day.
A Fool Grows Wise 