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.

'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.

• Table of ContentsForeword by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of CanterburyixIntroductionxifrom The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd (1941)The Collier1Griefs of the Sea3Two Decisions4Stone Footing5from Ballad of the Mari Lwyd 5from The Lady with the Unicorn (1948)Music of Colours: White Blossom10The Feather12Crowds13Lover and Girl13Gravestones14The Listening Days15from The Death Bell (1954)Time's Deathbed16The Dead Shag18The Shell20Art and the Ravens22Taliesin in Gower24Ballad of the Rough Sea27from Cypress and Acacia (1959)Three Harps30Taliesin and the Spring of Vision31A Man with a Field32The Mare33Hunt's Bay34Trust Darkness35The Exacting Ghost37The Curlew39Angel and Man39The Tributary Seasons41Moonrise44Ode at the Spring Equinox44Good Friday47Great Nights Returning49from Affinities (1962)The Precision of the Wheel50The Interval52Rewards of the Fountain52Vine53Affinities54from The Childhood of Hllderlin 55Bishopston Stream60Music of Colours: Dragonfoil and the Furnace of Colours61Five Poems of Magdalenian Darkness64Returning from Harvest67from Fidelities (1968)Two Sources of Life69Earth and Fire69The Sibyl70The Guest71The Razor Shell72Fisherman72Cornfields73Trees in a Town74Sonnet75Rebirth76The Snow Curlew77Means of Protection77Vultures 78The Stayers79Strictness of Speech79Unity of the Stream79Fidelities80To a Shell81The Beaver82Triads83from Uncollected Poems (1969)Air85Second air85The Coin86from The Ballad of the Outer Dark (1979)A Dry Prophet88Rhadamanthus and the New Soul89from The Breaking of the Wave (1979)May You Love Leaves91I Do Not Ask a Gentle Way91Villanelle92Though to Please Man93Rarely Published and Unpublished PoemsTrue Lovers94from Sonnets of Resurrection95Untitled95Parable Winkle96Attis97The Melodramatic100Aphorisms (Prose)101Notes 103Selected Bibliography113

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.

'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.

• Table of ContentsForeword by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of CanterburyixIntroductionxifrom The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd (1941)The Collier1Griefs of the Sea3Two Decisions4Stone Footing5from Ballad of the Mari Lwyd 5from The Lady with the Unicorn (1948)Music of Colours: White Blossom10The Feather12Crowds13Lover and Girl13Gravestones14The Listening Days15from The Death Bell (1954)Time's Deathbed16The Dead Shag18The Shell20Art and the Ravens22Taliesin in Gower24Ballad of the Rough Sea27from Cypress and Acacia (1959)Three Harps30Taliesin and the Spring of Vision31A Man with a Field32The Mare33Hunt's Bay34Trust Darkness35The Exacting Ghost37The Curlew39Angel and Man39The Tributary Seasons41Moonrise44Ode at the Spring Equinox44Good Friday47Great Nights Returning49from Affinities (1962)The Precision of the Wheel50The Interval52Rewards of the Fountain52Vine53Affinities54from The Childhood of Hllderlin 55Bishopston Stream60Music of Colours: Dragonfoil and the Furnace of Colours61Five Poems of Magdalenian Darkness64Returning from Harvest67from Fidelities (1968)Two Sources of Life69Earth and Fire69The Sibyl70The Guest71The Razor Shell72Fisherman72Cornfields73Trees in a Town74Sonnet75Rebirth76The Snow Curlew77Means of Protection77Vultures 78The Stayers79Strictness of Speech79Unity of the Stream79Fidelities80To a Shell81The Beaver82Triads83from Uncollected Poems (1969)Air85Second air85The Coin86from The Ballad of the Outer Dark (1979)A Dry Prophet88Rhadamanthus and the New Soul89from The Breaking of the Wave (1979)May You Love Leaves91I Do Not Ask a Gentle Way91Villanelle92Though to Please Man93Rarely Published and Unpublished PoemsTrue Lovers94from Sonnets of Resurrection95Untitled95Parable Winkle96Attis97The Melodramatic100Aphorisms (Prose)101Notes 103Selected Bibliography113

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.

'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.

• Table of ContentsForeword by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of CanterburyixIntroductionxifrom The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd (1941)The Collier1Griefs of the Sea3Two Decisions4Stone Footing5from Ballad of the Mari Lwyd 5from The Lady with the Unicorn (1948)Music of Colours: White Blossom10The Feather12Crowds13Lover and Girl13Gravestones14The Listening Days15from The Death Bell (1954)Time's Deathbed16The Dead Shag18The Shell20Art and the Ravens22Taliesin in Gower24Ballad of the Rough Sea27from Cypress and Acacia (1959)Three Harps30Taliesin and the Spring of Vision31A Man with a Field32The Mare33Hunt's Bay34Trust Darkness35The Exacting Ghost37The Curlew39Angel and Man39The Tributary Seasons41Moonrise44Ode at the Spring Equinox44Good Friday47Great Nights Returning49from Affinities (1962)The Precision of the Wheel50The Interval52Rewards of the Fountain52Vine53Affinities54from The Childhood of Hllderlin 55Bishopston Stream60Music of Colours: Dragonfoil and the Furnace of Colours61Five Poems of Magdalenian Darkness64Returning from Harvest67from Fidelities (1968)Two Sources of Life69Earth and Fire69The Sibyl70The Guest71The Razor Shell72Fisherman72Cornfields73Trees in a Town74Sonnet75Rebirth76The Snow Curlew77Means of Protection77Vultures 78The Stayers79Strictness of Speech79Unity of the Stream79Fidelities80To a Shell81The Beaver82Triads83from Uncollected Poems (1969)Air85Second air85The Coin86from The Ballad of the Outer Dark (1979)A Dry Prophet88Rhadamanthus and the New Soul89from The Breaking of the Wave (1979)May You Love Leaves91I Do Not Ask a Gentle Way91Villanelle92Though to Please Man93Rarely Published and Unpublished PoemsTrue Lovers94from Sonnets of Resurrection95Untitled95Parable Winkle96Attis97The Melodramatic100Aphorisms (Prose)101Notes 103Selected Bibliography113