More than Writers

We all know what ascends the brightest heaven of invention . Shakespeare's New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon  Photo credit Abigail Robinson Yes, it's a muse of fire , which Shakespeare wished for in his Prologue to Henry V , as if the power of creativity were indeed a separate being, in this case from Greek mythology.  And I believe that it may sometimes be helpful to visualise our source of inspiration as a separate being - maybe an angel, if not a muse. And as writers, we love and work with metaphor and figurative language all the time, and one of the most loved devices is of course personification,  which can often be highly effective in, for instance, comic writing. A couple of years ago I went to a special event in the garden at New Place, site of Shakespeare’s former family home in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire: an event which stands out as my most imaginative and inspiring experience in that town, even with its rich supply of Shakespeare properties....