The Legend of
Robert James DeBurgh (Poet)

Rumor hath it, and the continuing �discoveries� of The Works of The Master tend to confirm it, that Robert James DeBurgh (Poet) indeed may have been, The World�s Worst Poet. DeBurgh:- Pretentious, half-baked, anti-grammarian, woeful rhymer, dilletante, �seeker after Universal Truths�, disciple of Purdjieff (not to be confused with the other one), traveller, Orientalist, possibly a stringer for the Victorian Secret Service and all that stuff, libertine, dabbler in the Black Arts, outrageously Romantic, sadist, masochist, spy, friend of the Highly Placed, buddy to the Low Life types, and above all a meddler in the Art Of Poesie (all fairly bad stuff). However, press on regardless.

Dated Works �discovered� so far, as far as they can be relied upon, place The Master in and around The Levant, and some other places, during the period 1888 to 1901, or thereabouts, and by the dates of The Works, show him to have been an inveterate traveller, sometimes covering distances of several hundreds of miles in a day or two, or a week or two, or whatever.

Works have been �Placed� as far apart as Alexandria and Sofia, Cstesiphon and Venice, Sebastopol and Iskendurun, not to mention Constantinople and Istanbul, to name but a few. B. Svertlovich mentions that DeBurgh may even have been seen in Algiers, but then, that�s Svertlovich for you.

Thus then is the Life of Robert James DeBurgh (Poet) one of the great forgotten legends of the 19th Century, and a good thing, say some people (but they are not one of us) However his Poetry lives on, and it is to continue the appreciation of the Works of Robert James DeBurgh (Poet) that The Society has been Established.

The Robert James DeBurgh (Poet) Appreciation Society exists to continue with the �discovery� of hitherto unknown Works, to find them in Old Jars, woven in to Turkoman Rugs, written on the Walls of Disused Cellars, tucked in to Back Bindings of Saddleback Ledgers, in Turkish Cigarette Tins, lining Drawers, or sent to you by your Friend somewhere in the Levant or in The Balkans, The Middle East, Cyprus, Schmyprus, what have you, together with a short note on the circumstances of their discovery�.

Because we sort of know his dates, you will find that each Work, as well as its Provenance (see typical examples), will bear a Place and Date of its writing down.

Members of The Society need have no trepidation (nice word that - we�ll say that again- trepidation) that there will be any conflict as to Dates and Places found on works discovered by other Members and not yet known to them. This matter was raised by T.J Hubert-Gressling in 1995, but was quickly put to rest by the application of The Extended Descartes Principle (EDP) - see the address by Dr Hubert Ramakrishna Mukerjee -which adequately explains how DeBurgh appears to have been in two places simultaneously, and at great distances from each other. It may be one of The Great Quests of the Members to re-discover the working principles of the EDP, or on the other hand it may not. The Main Thing is to continue with the �discovery� of hitherto unknown Works of The Master, that is to Appreciate the volume of Works, and to have some literary fun in doing so.

So gather some literary friends around! Announce the formation of a New Chapter of The Robert James DeBurgh (Poet) Appreciation Society, and exhort them to seek to their utmost in any likely-or unlikely- places for those Works that may be lying in wait to be discovered. Of course they may have to look no further than their own writing pads to see BEFORE THEIR VERY EYES a hitherto unknown Work appearing there, right under their very own hand as the pen draws itself unresistingly across the page.
The spirit of The Master is everywhere!!

Certain Examples of previously Discovered Works are shown below, which will indicate the general Style of Robert James DeBurgh (Poet) and the usual Style of the Provenances in order that one may be able to Instantly Recognise a Genuine DeBurgh when Discovered!!.

Please feel free to also peruse the Charter of The Society, just click the links below....