Vernon Watkins
New Selected Poems
Published on 29. June 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
144 pages
978-1-85754-847-1 (ISBN)
Description
Brought back into print in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of Vernon Watkins' death. Vernon Watkins (1906-1967) was called by Kathleen Raine: 'the greatest lyric poet of my generation.' Dylan Thomas referred to him as: 'the most profound and greatly accomplished Welshman writing poems in English', or, in a letter, as 'the only other poet except me whose poetry I really like today.' Philip Larkin wrote: 'In Vernon's presence poetry seemed like a living stream, in which one had only to dip the vessel of one's devotion. He made it clear how one could, in fact, 'live by poetry'; it was a vocation, at once difficult as sainthood and easy as breathing.' All Watkins's poetry was published by Faber & Faber in his lifetime, and he was friends with such widely differing poets as: W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, David Jones, Dylan Thomas, Marianne Moore, Philip Larkin, R.S. Thomas and Kathleen Raine. When he died, in 1967, he was being considered for poet laureate, after the death of John Masefield. Since that time, however, although a few have continued to praise his poetry very highly, public awareness of it has ceased almost completely, creating a bizarre gap in the perception of 20th Century poetry.100 years after Watkins's birth (June 27th, 1906), "New Selected Poems of Vernon Watkins" offers the first widely available selection of his poetry since his death, with a new introduction and notes, outlining the literary and biographical context of his work, and a foreword by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is a rare joy thus to be reintroducing the work of a major poet to a new generation of readers.
Reviews / Votes
'In Vernon's presence poetry seemed like a living stream, in which one had only to dip the vessel of one's devotion. He made it clear how one could, in fact, 'live by poetry'; it was a vocation, at once difficult as sainthood and easy as breathing.' - Philip Larkin.More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 134 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
254 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85754-847-1 (9781857548471)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
VERNON WATKINS was born on June 27th, 1906, in Maesteg, South Wales. During his lifetime 8 volumes of his poetry were published by Faber & Faber - with a 9th appearing posthumously. At his death he had won several major poetry prizes, was a visiting Professor of Poetry in America, and was being considered for poet laureate. He was friends with poets as diverse as: W. B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, David Jones, Dylan Thomas Philip Larkin, R.S. Thomas and Kathleen Raine. The latter called Watkins: 'The greatest lyric poet of my generation.' Dylan Thomas called him: 'the most profound and greatly accomplished Welshman writing poems in English.' He lived most of his life on the Gower Peninsula, with his wife and five children, and earned his living working as a clerk for Lloyds Bank. He died in America on October 8th, 1967. Richard Ramsbotham was born in Northumberland in 1962. He read English at Cambridge, and lectured in English at Warsaw University (1989-1993). He teaches Speech and Drama for a living. He is the author of Who Wrote Bacon? William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon and James 1. A Mystery for the Twenty-First Century (Temple Lodge, 2004), and is currently writing the authorised biography of Vernon Watkins.
Content
Table of Contents
Foreword by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterburyix
Introductionxi
from The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd (1941)
The Collier1
Griefs of the Sea3
Two Decisions4
Stone Footing5
from Ballad of the Mari Lwyd 5
from The Lady with the Unicorn (1948)
Music of Colours: White Blossom10
The Feather12
Crowds13
Lover and Girl13
Gravestones14
The Listening Days15
from The Death Bell (1954)
Time's Deathbed16
The Dead Shag18
The Shell20
Art and the Ravens22
Taliesin in Gower24
Ballad of the Rough Sea27
from Cypress and Acacia (1959)
Three Harps30
Taliesin and the Spring of Vision31
A Man with a Field32
The Mare33
Hunt's Bay34
Trust Darkness35
The Exacting Ghost37
The Curlew39
Angel and Man39
The Tributary Seasons41
Moonrise44
Ode at the Spring Equinox44
Good Friday47
Great Nights Returning49
from Affinities (1962)
The Precision of the Wheel50
The Interval52
Rewards of the Fountain52
Vine53
Affinities54
from The Childhood of Hllderlin 55
Bishopston Stream60
Music of Colours: Dragonfoil and the Furnace of Colours61
Five Poems of Magdalenian Darkness64
Returning from Harvest67
from Fidelities (1968)
Two Sources of Life69
Earth and Fire69
The Sibyl70
The Guest71
The Razor Shell72
Fisherman72
Cornfields73
Trees in a Town74
Sonnet75
Rebirth76
The Snow Curlew77
Means of Protection77
Vultures 78
The Stayers79
Strictness of Speech79
Unity of the Stream79
Fidelities80
To a Shell81
The Beaver82
Triads83
from Uncollected Poems (1969)
Air85
Second air85
The Coin86
from The Ballad of the Outer Dark (1979)
A Dry Prophet88
Rhadamanthus and the New Soul89
from The Breaking of the Wave (1979)
May You Love Leaves91
I Do Not Ask a Gentle Way91
Villanelle92
Though to Please Man93
Rarely Published and Unpublished Poems
True Lovers94
from Sonnets of Resurrection95
Untitled95
Parable Winkle96
Attis97
The Melodramatic100
Aphorisms (Prose)101
Notes 103
Selected Bibliography113
Foreword by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterburyix
Introductionxi
from The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd (1941)
The Collier1
Griefs of the Sea3
Two Decisions4
Stone Footing5
from Ballad of the Mari Lwyd 5
from The Lady with the Unicorn (1948)
Music of Colours: White Blossom10
The Feather12
Crowds13
Lover and Girl13
Gravestones14
The Listening Days15
from The Death Bell (1954)
Time's Deathbed16
The Dead Shag18
The Shell20
Art and the Ravens22
Taliesin in Gower24
Ballad of the Rough Sea27
from Cypress and Acacia (1959)
Three Harps30
Taliesin and the Spring of Vision31
A Man with a Field32
The Mare33
Hunt's Bay34
Trust Darkness35
The Exacting Ghost37
The Curlew39
Angel and Man39
The Tributary Seasons41
Moonrise44
Ode at the Spring Equinox44
Good Friday47
Great Nights Returning49
from Affinities (1962)
The Precision of the Wheel50
The Interval52
Rewards of the Fountain52
Vine53
Affinities54
from The Childhood of Hllderlin 55
Bishopston Stream60
Music of Colours: Dragonfoil and the Furnace of Colours61
Five Poems of Magdalenian Darkness64
Returning from Harvest67
from Fidelities (1968)
Two Sources of Life69
Earth and Fire69
The Sibyl70
The Guest71
The Razor Shell72
Fisherman72
Cornfields73
Trees in a Town74
Sonnet75
Rebirth76
The Snow Curlew77
Means of Protection77
Vultures 78
The Stayers79
Strictness of Speech79
Unity of the Stream79
Fidelities80
To a Shell81
The Beaver82
Triads83
from Uncollected Poems (1969)
Air85
Second air85
The Coin86
from The Ballad of the Outer Dark (1979)
A Dry Prophet88
Rhadamanthus and the New Soul89
from The Breaking of the Wave (1979)
May You Love Leaves91
I Do Not Ask a Gentle Way91
Villanelle92
Though to Please Man93
Rarely Published and Unpublished Poems
True Lovers94
from Sonnets of Resurrection95
Untitled95
Parable Winkle96
Attis97
The Melodramatic100
Aphorisms (Prose)101
Notes 103
Selected Bibliography113