Famous explorers were often inspired by literature; none read more widely than Shackleton. Motivated and encouraged by the poets, he habitually quoted them, with phenomenal memory. Robert Browning was paramount. No explorer wrote so eloquently either – poems, magnificent expedition narratives, and sentences in the Quest diary a few hours before death.
Join guest curator of the Society’s exhibition, Dr Jan Piggott, former Keeper of Archives and Rare Books at Dulwich College, as he considers this important aspect of Shackleton’s life and career.