Vernon Watkins
Encyclopedia
Vernon Phillips Watkins (27 June 1906 — 8 October 1967), was a British poet, and a translator and painter. He was a close friend of Dylan Thomas
, who described him as "the most profound and greatly accomplished Welshman writing poems in English".
in Glamorgan
, and brought up mainly in Swansea
. His birth coincided with slight earth tremors; another baby born that night was christened John Earthquake Jones. His mother was Sarah ("Sally") daughter of Esther Thomas and James Phillips of Sarnau, Meidrim. Her father was a devoted Congregationalist and was reputed to know most of his Welsh bible by heart. Sarah had a great love of poetry and literature, her headmistress arranging for her to spend two years as a pupil-teacher in Germany. Sarah married William Watkins in 1902 and in addition to Vernon they had two daughters, Marjorie and Dorothy. William was a bank manager for Lloyds Bank at Wind Street, Swansea and the family lived at Redcliffe, Caswell Bay, a large Victorian house about four miles from Swansea.
Vernon read fluently by the age of four and at the age of five announced that he would be a poet, although he did not wish to be published until after his death. He wrote poetry and read widely from about eight or nine years of age and was especially fond of the works of Keats and Shelley
.
in Derbyshire, and Magdalene College, Cambridge
. His headmaster at Repton was Dr. Fisher, who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury
. Despite his parents being strict Nonconformists, his school experiences influenced him to join the Church of England
. He was reading modern languages at Cambridge: but left before completing his degree, the start of a very troubled period in his life at the end of the 1920s. His sister Dorothy later wrote that,
He wanted to travel abroad, but family pressure made him take a bank job in Cardiff
; it ended in a breakdown that marked him permanently. One Saturday evening he had been reading poetry when he started to become increasingly manic. He started shouting that he had conquered time and could now control both his own destiny and that of others. At this very moment he heard a crash outside and on going to the window he saw a motor-cyclist dead on the road and his bloodstained pillion passenger staggering up the path towards him. Vernon was convinced that he had willed this to happen and promptly collapsed. The next day he caught a train to Repton, attended chapel, then burst into Dr. Fisher's study and attacked him. He was committed to a mental hospital in Derbyshire, on one occasion trying to leap from a window to see if the angels would save him. After a year he returned home to Cardiff.
He started work at Lloyds bank in Cardiff in the autumn of 1925 and after moving to the St.Helen's Road branch in Swansea, he would remain there, with little responsibility, for much of his life. He used to joke that his father had been the Bank's youngest manager and he was its oldest cashier. He had many a battle with branch managers who wanted to promote him. However, his only interest was having sufficient time to work on his poetry.
, who was to be a close friend, in 1935 when Watkins had returned to a job in a bank in Swansea. About once a week Dylan would come to Vernon's parents` house, situated on the very top of the cliffs of the beautiful Gower peninsula. Vernon was the only person from whom Dylan took advice when writing poetry and he was invariably the first to read his finished work. They remained life-long friends, despite Thomas's failure, in the capacity of best man, to turn up to the wedding of Vernon and Gwen in 1944. Dylan used to laugh affectionately at his friend's gossamer-like personality and extreme sensibility. A story is told that one evening in Chelsea, during the war time blackout, they were walking along and Vernon tripped over something and fell to the ground. Dylan looked with a torch to see what the offending object was and to his delight all that they could find was a small, black feather (FitzGibbon 1966). Vernon was godfather to Dylan's son Llewelyn, the others being Richard Hughes
and Augustus John
. Letters to Vernon Watkins by Thomas was published in 1957. The 1983 book Portrait of a Friend by Watkins' wife Gwen(doline) (née Davies) deals with the relationship.
Others in the Swansea group known as the "Kardomah boys" were the composer Daniel Jenkyn Jones
, writer Charles Fisher
and the artists Alfred Janes
and Mervyn Levy. Vernon wrote the obituary for Dylan Thomas and when he died, Philip Larkin
wrote his obituary.
at Bletchley Park
, where he worked during World War II
as part of the cryptographic team. They were married at the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great in London on 2 October 1944. The couple had five children, Rhiannon Mary, Gareth Vernon. William Tristran David, Dylan Valentine and Conrad Meredith.
group. With his first book Ballad of the Mari Llwyd (1941) accepted by Faber and Faber
, he had a publisher with a policy of sticking by their authors. In his case this may be considered to have had an adverse long-term effect on his reputation, in that it is generally thought that he over-published.
He wrote poetry for several hours every night and by way of contrast, Caitlin, Dylan Thomas's wife, could not recall her husband staying in even for one night during their whole married life! Vernon knew William Butler Yeats
, T. S. Eliot
and Philip Larkin
. He was awarded a degree of Doctor of Literature from Swansea University in 1966 after retiring from the Bank. He was being considered for poet laureate at the time of his death.
A poem by Vernon Watkins from the Anglo-Welsh Review. The widow mentioned may be Caitlin Thomas.
where he had gone to teach a course in Modern Poetry at the University of Washington
.
His body was returned to Britain, and was buried in Pennard churchyard. A small granite memorial to him stands at Hunt's Bay, Gower, on which are inscribed two lines from his poem, 'Taliesin in Gower'; I have been taught the script of stones, and I know the tongue of the wave'.
A portrait of Vernon Watkins by his friend Alfred Janes
may be seen in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
, Swansea.
Most of Watkins's manuscripts are held by the National Library of Wales
, Aberystwyth.
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
, who described him as "the most profound and greatly accomplished Welshman writing poems in English".
Early life
Vernon was born in MaestegMaesteg
Maesteg is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2001, Maesteg had a population of 17,859, but it is now at an estimate of 20,000....
in Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
, and brought up mainly in Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
. His birth coincided with slight earth tremors; another baby born that night was christened John Earthquake Jones. His mother was Sarah ("Sally") daughter of Esther Thomas and James Phillips of Sarnau, Meidrim. Her father was a devoted Congregationalist and was reputed to know most of his Welsh bible by heart. Sarah had a great love of poetry and literature, her headmistress arranging for her to spend two years as a pupil-teacher in Germany. Sarah married William Watkins in 1902 and in addition to Vernon they had two daughters, Marjorie and Dorothy. William was a bank manager for Lloyds Bank at Wind Street, Swansea and the family lived at Redcliffe, Caswell Bay, a large Victorian house about four miles from Swansea.
Vernon read fluently by the age of four and at the age of five announced that he would be a poet, although he did not wish to be published until after his death. He wrote poetry and read widely from about eight or nine years of age and was especially fond of the works of Keats and Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
.
Education and breakdown
Vernon was educated at a preparatory school in Sussex and then sent to Repton SchoolRepton School
Repton School, founded in 1557, is a co-educational English independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the British public school tradition, located in the village of Repton, in Derbyshire, in the Midlands area of England...
in Derbyshire, and Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
. His headmaster at Repton was Dr. Fisher, who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. Despite his parents being strict Nonconformists, his school experiences influenced him to join the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. He was reading modern languages at Cambridge: but left before completing his degree, the start of a very troubled period in his life at the end of the 1920s. His sister Dorothy later wrote that,
Although intellectually advanced he was in most ways very immature. His absorption in poetry and total a lack of knowledge of all practical aspects of real life made him quite unfit to cope with the demands of self-sufficiency in university life –Vernon Watkins, the Early Years, a privately published booklet.
He wanted to travel abroad, but family pressure made him take a bank job in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
; it ended in a breakdown that marked him permanently. One Saturday evening he had been reading poetry when he started to become increasingly manic. He started shouting that he had conquered time and could now control both his own destiny and that of others. At this very moment he heard a crash outside and on going to the window he saw a motor-cyclist dead on the road and his bloodstained pillion passenger staggering up the path towards him. Vernon was convinced that he had willed this to happen and promptly collapsed. The next day he caught a train to Repton, attended chapel, then burst into Dr. Fisher's study and attacked him. He was committed to a mental hospital in Derbyshire, on one occasion trying to leap from a window to see if the angels would save him. After a year he returned home to Cardiff.
He started work at Lloyds bank in Cardiff in the autumn of 1925 and after moving to the St.Helen's Road branch in Swansea, he would remain there, with little responsibility, for much of his life. He used to joke that his father had been the Bank's youngest manager and he was its oldest cashier. He had many a battle with branch managers who wanted to promote him. However, his only interest was having sufficient time to work on his poetry.
Dylan Thomas and the Swansea group
He met Dylan ThomasDylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
, who was to be a close friend, in 1935 when Watkins had returned to a job in a bank in Swansea. About once a week Dylan would come to Vernon's parents` house, situated on the very top of the cliffs of the beautiful Gower peninsula. Vernon was the only person from whom Dylan took advice when writing poetry and he was invariably the first to read his finished work. They remained life-long friends, despite Thomas's failure, in the capacity of best man, to turn up to the wedding of Vernon and Gwen in 1944. Dylan used to laugh affectionately at his friend's gossamer-like personality and extreme sensibility. A story is told that one evening in Chelsea, during the war time blackout, they were walking along and Vernon tripped over something and fell to the ground. Dylan looked with a torch to see what the offending object was and to his delight all that they could find was a small, black feather (FitzGibbon 1966). Vernon was godfather to Dylan's son Llewelyn, the others being Richard Hughes
Richard Cyril Hughes
Richard Cyril Hughes is a Welsh historian.Hughes was born in Anglesey. He started his career as a teacher of Welsh at Grove Park School in Wrexham before moving to Bangor Normal College to lecture in education...
and Augustus John
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John OM, RA, was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a short time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom....
. Letters to Vernon Watkins by Thomas was published in 1957. The 1983 book Portrait of a Friend by Watkins' wife Gwen(doline) (née Davies) deals with the relationship.
Others in the Swansea group known as the "Kardomah boys" were the composer Daniel Jenkyn Jones
Daniel Jones (composer)
Daniel Jenkyn Jones OBE was a composer of classical music, who worked in Britain. He used both serial and tonal techniques...
, writer Charles Fisher
Charles Fisher (poet)
Charles Fisher was a British journalist, writer, poet and adventurer. Charles was the last surviving member of the Kardomah group, a literary and artistic circle in Swansea circa 1930, which included Dylan Thomas, Vernon Watkins and Daniel Jones.Fisher was educated at the Bishop Gore School,...
and the artists Alfred Janes
Alfred Janes
Alfred George Janes was a Welsh artist, who is also remembered as one of The Kardomah Gang; a group of bohemian friends that included the poets Dylan Thomas and Vernon Watkins, and the composer Daniel Jones....
and Mervyn Levy. Vernon wrote the obituary for Dylan Thomas and when he died, Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
wrote his obituary.
Bletchley Park and marriage
Watkins met Gwen, who came from Harborne, BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
, where he worked during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as part of the cryptographic team. They were married at the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great in London on 2 October 1944. The couple had five children, Rhiannon Mary, Gareth Vernon. William Tristran David, Dylan Valentine and Conrad Meredith.
Poetry
His ambitions were for his poetry; in critical terms they were not to be fulfilled. On the other hand, he became a major figure for the Anglo-Welsh poetry tradition, and his poems were included in major anthologies. During the war he was for a time associated with the New ApocalypticsNew Apocalyptics
The New Apocalyptics were a poetry grouping in the UK in the 1940s, taking their name from the anthology The New Apocalypse , which was edited by J. F. Hendry and Henry Treece...
group. With his first book Ballad of the Mari Llwyd (1941) accepted by Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
, he had a publisher with a policy of sticking by their authors. In his case this may be considered to have had an adverse long-term effect on his reputation, in that it is generally thought that he over-published.
He wrote poetry for several hours every night and by way of contrast, Caitlin, Dylan Thomas's wife, could not recall her husband staying in even for one night during their whole married life! Vernon knew William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
, T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
and Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
. He was awarded a degree of Doctor of Literature from Swansea University in 1966 after retiring from the Bank. He was being considered for poet laureate at the time of his death.
A poem by Vernon Watkins from the Anglo-Welsh Review. The widow mentioned may be Caitlin Thomas.
Death and memorial
Vernon had developed a serious heart condition which he made light of, insisting on playing his beloved tennis and squash with his usual vigour. He died on 8 October 1967, aged 61, playing tennis in SeattleSeattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
where he had gone to teach a course in Modern Poetry at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
.
His body was returned to Britain, and was buried in Pennard churchyard. A small granite memorial to him stands at Hunt's Bay, Gower, on which are inscribed two lines from his poem, 'Taliesin in Gower'; I have been taught the script of stones, and I know the tongue of the wave'.
A portrait of Vernon Watkins by his friend Alfred Janes
Alfred Janes
Alfred George Janes was a Welsh artist, who is also remembered as one of The Kardomah Gang; a group of bohemian friends that included the poets Dylan Thomas and Vernon Watkins, and the composer Daniel Jones....
may be seen in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery
The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery is the public art gallery of the city of Swansea, Wales. The gallery is situated in Alexandra Road, near Swansea railway station, opposite the old Swansea Central Library and near Swansea Central police station...
, Swansea.
Most of Watkins's manuscripts are held by the National Library of Wales
National Library of Wales
The National Library of Wales , Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales; one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies.Welsh is its main medium of communication...
, Aberystwyth.
Published works
- The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd (1941)
- The Lady with the Unicorn (1948)
- The Death Bell (1954)
- The North Sea (1955) [verse translation by Watkins from H. Heine]
- Cypress and Acacia (1959)
- Affinities (1962)
- Fidelities (1968)
- Uncollected Poems (1969)
- Vernon Watkins Selected Verse Translations With An Essay On The Translation Of Poetry (1977)
- The Ballad of the Outer Dark and Other Poems" (1979)
- The Breaking of the Wave (1979)
- The Collected Poems of Vernon Watkins (1986) [reprinted as paperback Golgonooza Press, Ipswich 2000. ISBN 0 903880 73 3, and 2005]
- LMNTRE Poems by Vernon Watkins Illustrated by Alan Perry (1999) [chiefly poems for children]
- Taliesin and the Mockers by Vernon Watkins ... images by Glenys Cour (Old Stile Press, 2004)
- Vernon Watkins New Selected Poems Edited ... by Richard Ramsbotham (Carcanet, 2006) ISBN 1 85754 847 7
- 'Four Unpublished Poems by Vernon Watkins', in The Anglo-Welsh Review; vol. 22 no. 50 (date), p. 65-69.
Further reading
- Rowan WilliamsRowan WilliamsRowan Douglas Williams FRSL, FBA, FLSW is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003.Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and...
, 'Swansea's Other Poet: Vernon Watkins ...', in Welsh Writing in English; 8 (2003) - B. Keeble, Vernon Watkins Inspiration as Poetry, Poetry as Inspiration (Temenos Academy, 1997)
- J. Harris, A Bibliographical Guide to Twenty-Four Modern Anglo-Welsh Writers (1994)
- Kathleen RaineKathleen RaineKathleen Jessie Raine was a British poet, critic, and scholar writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently Platonism and Neoplatonism, she was a founder member of the Temenos Academy.-Life:Raine was...
, 'Vernon Watkins and the Bardic Tradition', in Defending Ancient Springs (1985) - G. Watkins, Portrait of a Friend (1983) [republished as Dylan Thomas: Portrait of a Friend, 2005]
- P. Evans, A History of the Thomas Family [privately published and distributed]
- D. Park, Vernon Watkins and the Spring of Vision (1977)
- David Jones Letters to Vernon Watkins (1976)
- R. Mathias, Vernon Watkins (1974)
- G. Watkins, Poet of the Elegiac Muse (1973)
- L. Norris, ed., Vernon Watkins 1906-1967 (1970)
- C. FitzGibbon, The Life of Dylan Thomas (1965)
- Dylan Thomas Letters to Vernon Watkins (1957)
External links
- Memories of the poet written by a student
- Portrait of Vernon Watkins Retrieved : 2011-02-27