Josephine Kermode (Cushag)
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Josephine Kermode (1852–1937) was a Manx poet and playwright better known by the pen name "Cushag".


Early life

Margaret Letitia Josephine Kermode was born on 18 September 1852, at 73 Parliament Street,
Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Geography British Isles * Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England * Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England ** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey" * Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...
.'Cushag: An Appreciation’by Constance Radcliffe, in ''Them ‘Oul Times: Poems by Cushag'', Edited and Published by Constance Radcliffe, 1993, pp. i–iii (available o
''Manx Literature'' on Flickr
(accessed 20 June 2013))
She was one of seven children who lived beyond childhood to Rev William Kermode (1815–1890), and his second wife, Jane née Bishop (1818–1858), of Shelton Hall, Staffordshire.'Philip Moore Callow Kermode, 1855–1935', by Frances Coakley o
www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook
/ref> As well as being Chaplain of St. Paul's Church, Ramsey, Josephine Kermode's father was President of the Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society and he was to initiate a Parish Book for Ballaugh, in which he wrote a useful account of the antiquarian remains in the parish. He inspired devotion in his children and "a love of learning, a love of country and a love of service."''P.M.C. Kermode: An Appreciation on the Centenary of the Manx Museum'' by Marshall Cubbon, available o
www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook
/ref> Cushag, as she came to be known, and her sisters were educated at home by a governess, while her brothers went to public school. She and the family moved around the north of the island as her father changed jobs, moving from St. Paul's in Ramsey to become, first, Vicar at Kirk Maughold (1871–77) and then
Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of
Ballaugh Ballaugh ( ; , ) is a small village on the Isle of Man in the parish of the same name, in the sheading of Michael. It is the only village in the parish. The parish adjoins Jurby to the north, Lezayre to the east, Michael to the south and sout ...
(1877–1890).'Kermode, Josephine ('Cushag')’ by Sue Woolley, in ''New Manx Worthies'' ed. Dollin Kelly, Douglas, Manx National Heritage, 2006 After her father's death in 1890, the family moved back to Ramsey, to Hillside on Vernon Road. Here Cushag took up a voluntary role as a District Nurse, until her health was adversely affected and she was obliged to stop. Eventually the family moved to the former home of Cushag's grandparents' in Claughbane, on the outskirts of Ramsey. Cushag never married, and she acted as housekeeper for her brother P.M.C. Kermode from 1908, the year after his seminal work on the Manx Crosses was published. P.M.C., as he was known, was an amateur archaeologist and historian at this time, whilst working full-time as Clerk to the Justices at Ramsey. Cushag was described as sharing with her brother "the same gentle kindliness and old-fashioned courtesy; proud, yet modest; sensitive and yet lovable." She respected P.M.C with the "reverence for a genius." They lived in a secluded house in Glen Auldyn, with the river running through its garden and a meadow next to it for the grazing of their horse, Brownie.


''Poems by "Cushag"'', 1907

Kermode's first published work was 'A Lonan Legend', in 1899. Her first collection of poems, ''Poems by "Cushag"'', was published in August 1907. It was at this time that she adopted the
nom de plume A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...
, "Cushag", by which she then came to be universally known. The name comes from the Manx word for
ragwort ''Jacobaea vulgaris'', syn. ''Senecio jacobaea'', is a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia, usually in dry, open places, and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere. Common names inc ...
, the official flower of the Isle of Man. The collection featured a poem about the flower:
:Now, the Cushag, we know, :Must never grow, :Where the farmer's work is done. :But along the rills, :In the heart of the hills, :The Cushag may shine like the sun. :Where the golden flowers, :Have fairy powers, :To gladden our hearts with their grace. :And in Vannin Veg Veen, :In the valleys green, :The Cushags have still a place.
The collection was well received on the island, which was at the time undergoing the blossoming of the Manx cultural revival, with much work on the island's culture being done in the wake of the poet and T. E. Brown and the novelist
Hall Caine Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (14 May 1853 – 31 August 1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, poet and critic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Caine's popularity during ...
. The English press received Cushag's collection in a positive though reserved manner, as shown by a review in the Manchester City News:
“a modest little volume of seventy-two pages, contains some forty short poems, mostly tales in verse, in all of which the introspective temperament so characteristic of the Manx people, with its resultant note of sadness, is well reflected. While not soaring to empyrean heights, “Cushag,” in pleasing rhyme and varied measure, sings of the love, the longing, the parting, and the griefs of the Islanders, heightened here and there with homely philosophy, or tinged with the superstition still lingering in the scattered hamlets or lonely farmhouses of Ellan Vannin. The
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
verse, in which most of the poems are written, presents an almost insuperable obstacle to English readers, but if this difficulty can be surmounted, there is in the volume ample reward for the trouble involved"


Theatre

In 1908 Cushag published ''Peel Plays'', a collection of three short plays: ‘Rosy Basins’, ‘The Lazy Wife’ and ‘Eunys (or the Dalby Maid)’. They were produced in Peel by
The Peel Players The Peel Players were an amateur theatre group from the Isle of Man in operation during the 1910s and specialising in Anglo-Manx dialect productions. Through the initiation of Sophia Morrison,Mona Douglas, 'Story of a Militant Manxwoman: Sophia ...
thanks to Sophia Morrison. The plays show Cushag's deep interest in Manx folklore, as they are stage re-workings of various folk tales. Written in the
Anglo-Manx Manx English (Manks English), or Anglo-Manx (Anglo-Manks; gv, Baarle Ghaelgagh), is the historic dialect of English spoken on the Isle of Man, though today in decline. It has many borrowings from Manx, a Goidelic language, and it differs wid ...
dialect and with a realist tone, the plays are a clear defence of the Manx folk heritage against the encroachment of modern scientific rationalism. This is shown most clearly in 'Eunys (or the Dalby Maid)', where the foundling daughter returns to her fairy family to escape the unjust and destructive influence of the progressive English priest. The plays focus on women, children and family and so stand out in Manx literature, which was, at that time, otherwise dominated by traditional male types. She wrote other plays, including the collection, ''Glen Aldyn Plays'', which included the play, 'The Christmas Pudding', which was performed in 1915 in Glen Auldyn by the theatre group, the Glen people. Kermode's longer dramas include 'Mylecharaine' and 'The Quakers of Ballafayle'.


Folklore

Cushag was also involved in the collection of Manx
folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
. This was particularly encouraged through her friendship with
Sophia Morrison Sophia Morrison (24 May 1859 – 14 January 1917) was a Manx cultural activist, folklore collector and author. Through her own work and role in encouraging and enthusing others, she is considered to be one of the key figures of the Manx cultur ...
. Having first met in 1907, they soon became good friends and Cushag would accompany Morrison on field trips to collect folklore. Cushag was especially useful in this respect as she was a fluent Manx speaker, having been brought up with the language from her childhood. Her fluency in Manx also gave birth to at least one piece of literature, a folk story in Manx Gaelic entitled ''Harry-Crab as yn Mob-beg'', published in 1913. Although her role with Morrison was mainly as a companion in her folklore collecting, Cushag also contributed a number of short folklore pieces as "Folklore Notes" in the publication, ''Mannin''. Upon Morrison's death at the age of 57 in January 1917, Cushag dedicated a poem to her memory in the final edition of ''Mannin'', which came out in May of that year.


''Ellan Vannin'' and ''Manx Melodies''

In 1911 came Cushag's second collection of poems, ''Ellan Vannin''. In 1913 she had a large number of her poems collected in ''A Book of Manx Poetry'', edited by
William Cubbon William Cubbon M.A. (28 May 1865 – 1 January 1955) was a Manx nationalist, antiquarian, author, businessman and librarian who was the first secretary of the Manx Museum, later becoming Director of the Museum.''Isle of Man Examiner Yearbook ...
, an anthology covering the entire history of poetry from the Isle of Man. She had various individual other poems published in places such as the '' Ramsey Courier'', ''Mannin'' (the journal of the Manx Language Society, edited by Sophia Morrison) and ''Ellan Vannin'' (the magazine of the World Manx Association). Some of these poems were collected together with those of her prior two publications and some original pieces to make the 1922 book, ''Manx Melodies''. One of her most notable poems from this collection is ''Traa-dy-Liooar''. The title of the poem is a common Manx phase which translates into English as "time enough":
Traa-dy-Liooar

There's a wickad little falla that goes among us here,
An' the wickadness thass at him is tellin' far an' near;
He's prowlin' in the haggart an' in at every dhure,
An' coaxin' an' persuadin', an' his name is Traa-dy-Liooar.

The house is all through others, the childher's late for school,
The man is spendin' all his time in lookin' for a tool,
The wumman's tired thremendjus with clearin' up the flure,
An' the wan that's doin' all the jeel is wickad Traa-dy-Liooar.

The fields is full of cushag, the gates is darned with gorse,
You'll hardly see the harness for the mire upon the horse;
The cows is shoutin' shockin', an' puzzlin' them for sure,
Is the waitin' doin' on them at that tejus Traa-dy-Liooar.

There's a power of foes within us, and enemies without,
But the wan that houls the candle is that little lazy lout;
So just you take an' scutch him, an' put him to the dhure,
An' navar let him in again, that tejus Traa-dy-Liooar.


Later life

It was in 1922, the year in which ''Manx Melodies'' was published, that Cushag moved with her brother to
Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...
, the island's capital, when P.M.C. was appointed the first Curator of the newly formed
Manx Museum The Manx Museum (Thie Tashtee Vannin) in Douglas, Isle of Man is the national museum of the Isle of Man. It is run by Manx National Heritage. In general, the museum covers 10,000 years the history of the Isle of Man from the Stone Age to the mode ...
. They first lived at Clifton House on Finch Road and then 6 Primrose Avenue. She remained in Douglas for the next ten years, until her brothers’ sudden death in 1932. Now aged 80, Cushag moved to live with her sister, Cherill, in Bournemouth where she died five years later on 15 February 1937. She is buried in Maughold Parish Churchyard, Isle of Man.Grave details available at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/199287110/margaret-letitia_josephine-kermode


Publications

* ''Poems by Cushag'', Douglas: G & L Johnson, 1907, pp. 71 (available o
ManxLiterature.im
* ''Peel Plays'', Douglas: G & L Johnson, 1908 (available o
ManxLiterature.im
* ''Granny: A Tale of Old Christmas'', Douglas: G & L Johnson, 1910, pp. 23 (available o
ManxLiterature.im
* ''Ellan Vannin'', Douglas: G. & L. Johnson, 1911 pp. 79 (available o
ManxLiterature.im
* ''Mylecharaine'', Douglas: G. & L. Johnson, 1915, pp. 26 (available o
ManxLiterature.im
* ''Glen Aldyn Plays'', Douglas: S. K. Broadbent, 1916, pp. 36 (available o
ManxLiterature.im
* ''The Glen'', Ramsey: J. W. Strickett, 1919, pp. 12 (available o
ManxLiterature.im
* ''Manx Melodies'', London: John Long, 1922. pp. 91 (available o
ManxLiterature.im
* ''The Quakers of Ballafayle'', in ''Ramsey Courier'', 24 September 1926. (available o
ManxLiterature.im


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kermode, Josephine 1852 births 1937 deaths 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights British women dramatists and playwrights Manx poets Manx dramatists and playwrights 20th-century British women writers Manx women writers Manx women poets 20th-century Manx writers