RAYMOND GARLICK - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 03/29/1979 - HFSID 344469

RAYMOND GARLICK
The poet writes to an admirer what one must use to write poetry, and explains that he thinks language and surroundings are key factors in a poet's style
Autograph Letter Signed: "Raymond Garlick" in black ink. 4p, 8½x11½. March 29, 1979. Written on personal letterhead to "Dear Mr. Norbutt" in part: "Those are big questions that you ask, & I can only attempt to give an answer from my own experience. I suspect that we are born human beings, & nearly everything else about us is created by the society we are born into. A poet is to some extent created by his language he inherits, &in particular the literature. I doubt whether there has ever been a good poet who has not steeped himself in all the poetry of his own society, learning from it how other poets have used this language memorably & with precision..." Raymond Garlick (1926-2011) was an Anglo-Welsh poet. He was also the first editor of the The Anglo-Welsh Review, a lecturer, critic, and non-violent campaigner for the use of the Welsh language. He studied English Literature at Bangor University he was taught by R. T. Jenkins, H. D. Lewis and Charles Davies, and became an admirer of many Welsh artists and poets. His wife, a native of Wales, taught him the Welsh language. In 1967 he returned to Britain, and eventually he became a Principal Lecturer, in charge of the Welsh Studies course, at Trinity College, Carmarthen. In the 1970s he and his family took part in non-violent campaigning for the use of Welsh-language road signs in Wales, and at one point his wife and son were arrested. Garlick was a lifelong pacifist. Some of his works include; The Welsh-Speaking Sea (1954), A Sense of Europe: collected poems 1954-1968 (1968), Anglo-Welsh Poetry 1480-1980 (edited, with R. Mathias) (1984), and The Delphic Voyage and Other Poems (2003). Lightly toned. Normal mailing folds. Otherwise, fine condition.