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Vernon Watkins manuscripts
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Radio scripts

Cyclostyled radio scripts, including poetry readings, and talks, 1949-1967, by Vernon Watkins or relating to him and his work.

Repton

Exercise book containing a draft poem, 1928, by Vernon Watkins entitled 'Repton. An Epic', apparently unpublished.

Stories for children

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1929-1932, of an unpublished collection of stories and verse produced by Vernon Watkins in collaboration with two friends from Cambridge, one of whom prepared the lino-cut illustrations. Also included is a verse fragment of a Fairy Comic Opera entitled 'Garden of Chimaera' (ff. 127-32).

Taliesin

Exercise book containing a draft poem, [1920x1939], by Vernon Watkins entitled 'Taliesin', apparently unpublished (ff. 2-4).

Talks and lectures

Autograph and typescript notes and drafts, 1947-1967, for talks and lectures by Vernon Watkins on subjects including the translation of poetry, poetry in English, including his own, and the art of Ceri Richards.

The Harz Mountains

Notebook, 1933, containing drafts of apparently unpublished poem sequences by Vernon Watkins entitled 'The Harz Mountains'.

The Harz Mountains

Notebook, 1933, containing drafts of apparently unpublished poem sequences by Vernon Watkins entitled 'The Harz Mountains'.

The Influences

Autograph drafts, 1935-1938, by Vernon Watkins of 'The Influences. A Masque' (1976), performed at the Little Theatre, Swansea, July 1939.

The Influences

Typescript drafts, 1935-1947, by Vernon Watkins of 'The Influences. A Masque' (see also NLW MS 22466E), including the text of the stage version performed at the Little Theatre, Swansea, July 1939 (ff. 154-170), later used for publication (see Vernon Watkins, The Influences (Hayes: Bran's Head Books, 1976)).

The Prisoners

Exercise book containing draft poems, 1927-1928, apparently unpublished, composed by Vernon Watkins for a sequence entitled 'The Prisoners'.

The Sleeper

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1937-1943, of a long, apparently unpublished poem by Vernon Watkins entitled 'The Sleeper'.

Translations and drama

Autograph and typescript drafts of translations and plays, [1940s]-[1967], by Vernon Watkins, including 'The Salzburg Great World Theatre', [1963], a typescript draft of a translation from the German of Hofmannsthal's play, 'Das Salzburger grosse Welttheater' (ff. 13-63).
It was published, with some revisions, as 'The Salzburg Great Theatre of the World' in Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Selected Plays and Libretti, ed. by Michael Hamburger (New York, 1963), pp. 79-172. Also included are translations from the German, most apparently unpublished, of poems by Rilke, [1948] (f. 2), Theodor Storm, 1962, 1966 (ff. 3-4), Friederich Hölderlin, [1960x1967] (ff. 5-9), and Eduard Mörike, [1960x1967] (f. 12), and a translation from the French of the first seven verses of François Villon's 'Le Petit Testament', [1960x1967] (ff. 10-11); drafts of parts of 'The Island' (ff. 64-75) and 'The Eclipse' (ff. 76-78), two proposed plays by Watkins, [1940x1967]; a verse 'Epilogue for a play', [1940x1967] (ff. 79-80); and 'A Book from Venice', 1948, a poem by Watkins (published in Botteghe Oscure, 2 (1948), 270-1) (f. 2 verso). The translation of Storm's 'Cats' (f. 3) was published in TLS, 9 March 1962, p. 162.

Unpublished early poems

Exercise book containing drafts of a poem, 1924, composed by Vernon Watkins during his year at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and apparently unpublished (ff. 48-54 verso, 57 recto-verso).
The volume also contains notes, 1924, on the Epistle to the Ephesians (ff. 1-11).

Unpublished poems

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1930-1964 and undated, of shorter poems by Vernon Watkins, almost all apparently unpublished.
Two poems, 'Note towards a poem' (f. 74) and 'There is a pattern...' (f. 75) appeared in Poetry Wales, 12.4 (Spring 1977), 38, 43.

Unpublished poems

Autograph and typescript drafts, [1930s]-1967, of poems by Vernon Watkins, almost all apparently unpublished.
There are copies of both short and long poems, as well as fragments, including multiple drafts of 'The Birth to Destruction', 1937-1947 (ff. 6-17), 'The Moth', 1952-1966 (ff. 55-89, thirty-seven drafts), 'The Will', 1960-1961 (ff. 93-100), 'The Melodramatic', 1965-1967 (ff. 101-112), and 'The Fall of Sodom', [1960x1967] (ff. 285-300), and a number of apparently different poems on the theme of 'Taliesin', 1938 (ff. 18-33). 'The Measure Moves' (ff. 70 verso, 72 verso, 73 verso, 75 verso) and 'The Guest' (f. 223 verso) appeared in Fidelities (London, 1968), pp. 26, 96.

Vernon Watkins letters

Twelve letters, 1949-1967, from Vernon Watkins to various correspondents, together with eleven letters, 1940-1941, to Watkins from J. R. Ackerley, chiefly concerned with the poet's work.

Ackerley, J. R. (Joe Randolph), 1896-1967

Vernon Watkins manuscripts

  • GB 0210 MSVERNWAT
  • Fonds
  • [1920s]-1988

Papers, [1920s]-1988, of Vernon Watkins, comprising drafts of poems published in collections and elsewhere, 1934-1967, unpublished poems, [1920s]-1967, and verse translations from German, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish and Hungarian, [1920s]-1967; drafts and translations of verse dramas, [1920s]-[1940x1967]; prose articles and essays, [1935]-1967; radio scripts, 1948-1967; talks and lecture notes, 1947-1967; correspondence, 1937-1988, including letters to Gwen Watkins following her husband's death; diaries, 1931, 1966; bibliographical lists of his poetry, [?1941]-1967; and some literary material relating to posthumous publications, 1976-1978.

Watkins, Vernon Phillips, 1906-1967

Verse drama

Incomplete autograph and typescript drafts, [?1920s]-[1940s], of 'Susanna. A Masque' by Vernon Watkins (ff. 1-38), together with fragmentary autograph drafts of a verse dramatisation of the story of Judith and Holofernes (ff. 39-52), and a dramatic fragment in prose and verse, 'The Dog's Head' (f. 53), all apparently unpublished.

Verse translations

Exercise book, 1938, of Vernon Watkins, containing drafts of translations from German of eight poems by Theodor Storm (ff. 2-4), Rilke (ff. 5-8) and Novalis (ff. 10-11).
Four of the poems (ff. 2-3, 5, 8) were published in Vernon Watkins, Selected Verse Translations (London, 1977), pp. 70-1, 73.

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