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Vernon Watkins manuscripts
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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Papers, [1920s]-1988, of Vernon Watkins, comprising drafts of poems published in collections and elsewhere, 1934-1967, unpublished poems, [1920s]-1967, and verse translations from German, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish and Hungarian, [1920s]-1967; drafts and translations of verse dramas,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

Poetry, prose and correspondence

Typescript draft, [1940s], of Vernon Watkins's poem 'Yeats in Dublin' (ff. 1-7; see also NLW MS 21263E, ff. 46-58); a radio script, 1958, of Watkins's 'The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd', produced by Douglas Cleverdon and annotated by him (ff. 8-30); and personal and family correspondence, [c. 1946]-1988 (ff. 31-70).

Poetry

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1946-1967, and photocopies of poems by Vernon Watkins chosen by Ruth Pryor and Gwen Watkins for inclusion in The Ballad of the Outer Dark (1979), together with draft introduction and notes by Ruth Pryor, and correspondence, 1976-1978, relating to publication.

Watkins, Gwen

Correspondence, P-R

Some eighty-two letters, 1937-1977, to Vernon Watkins, with a few addressed to Mrs Gwen Watkins, from various correspondents (surnames P-R), including Keidrych Rhys (22, with one copy letter from Vernon Watkins) 1937-1956, and Ceri Richards (26, together with six of Watkins's replies) [c. 1948]-1967.

Correspondence, H-O

Some ninety-eight letters, 1939-1976, to Vernon Watkins, with a few addressed to Mrs Gwen Watkins, from various correspondents (surnames H-O), including Michael Hamburger (12, including two poems) 1949-1967, Alfred Janes (4) 1949-1967, Dr Daniel Jones (5) 1947-1970, Glyn Jones (1) 1945, Professor Gwyn Jones (3) 1939-1976, Ray Howard-Jones (1) 1966, and Roland Mathias (1) 1965.

Correspondence, A-G

Over a hundred letters, 1938-1968, to Vernon Watkins, with a few addressed to Mrs Gwen Watkins, from various correspondents (surnames A-G), including Douglas Cleverdon (14) 1958-1968, Cyril Connolly (1) 1947, T. S. Eliot (1 transcript) 1947, and Roy Fuller (1) 1967.

Correspondence, S-W

Some ninety-three letters, 1939-1968, mostly to Vernon Watkins, with one to Dorothy Watkins, 1968, from various correspondents (surnames S-W), including Roberto Sanesi (3) 1957-1968, M. J. Tambimuttu (4) 1940-1964, and Grace Williams (12) 1965-1967, together with eight letters, 1950-1964, to various correspondents from Vernon Watkins, some being drafts or copies.

Poems

Miscellaneous autograph and typescript drafts, 1931-1967, of shorter poems by Vernon Watkins, all apparently unpublished.

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

Light verse and prose

Autograph and typescript drafts, [c. 1944]-1967, of light verse, acrostics and poems for children by Vernon Watkins, composed 1925-1967 (ff. 1-85), together with drafts for published articles, lectures and radio talks, 1948-[1964] (f. 86-138).
Most of the verse (ff. 1, 3-28, 35-56, 58-68, 71-82) was published in Vernon Watkins, LMNTRE Poems (Swansea, 1999). The prose includes drafts of an article and radio script variously called 'The Place and the Poem', [?1949] (ff. 86-99), 'The Place and the Poem. Swansea' (ff. 100-101) and 'Swansea Poems', 1948 (ff. 102-107), a version of which was published as 'Swansea', Texas Quarterly, 4.4 (Winter 1961), 59-64; 'Poetry of the Second Phase', 1962 (ff. 111-114), partly published as 'The Second Phase in Poetry', Unicorn, 10 (Spring 1963), 9-10; and radio scripts, 'The Need of the Artist', 1962 (ff. 108-110), published in The Listener, 8 November 1962, pp. 756-757, and 'Problems of Communication', 1963 (ff. 115-122), published as 'The Joy of Creation', Listener, 30 April 1964, pp. 720-721.

Verse translations

Autograph and typescript drafts, [1920s]-1967, by Vernon Watkins of verse translations from French, many apparently unpublished. Cuttings are included of some poems published in periodicals and anthologies.

Verse translations

Autograph and typescript drafts, [1920s]-1967, of verse translations from German by Vernon Watkins, many apparently unpublished. Proofs and cuttings are included of some poems published in periodicals and anthologies, together with a few notes by Ruth Pryor and original German texts used by Watkins.

Pryor, Ruth.

On W. B. Yeats

Autograph and typescript drafts, [c. 1940]-[1967], by Vernon Watkins of essays and lecture notes on W. B. Yeats and his work.

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.

Notebook

Notebook, [?1948]-1967, of Vernon Watkins, containing bibliographical lists of his poems published in Italy (inside front cover, f. 1) and poems and translations sent for publication in America (ff. 1 verso-11).

Poetry

Autograph and typescript drafts, 1935-1967, of poems by Vernon Watkins, mostly published in The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd (1941), The Lady with the Unicorn (1948), Cypress and Acacia (1959), Affinities (1962), Fidelities (1968), Uncollected Poems (1969), I That Was Born in Wales (1976) and The Breaking of the Wave (1979).

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.

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