Pièce 16 - Letter from Arthur Waley to R. C. Trevelyan

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Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, London, W.C.1 - Thanks Bob for [his translations of] "Theocritus", the letter about "[The Tale of] Genji" - the errata have now been incorporated into a second, US-only printing, as the 'demand is far greater than here - and his 'little book about the future of poetry ["Thamyris"].' Likes the [Theocritus] epigrams 'very much', but thinks the meter Bob uses for the "Idylls" goes 'too slowly'; however, the 'best judges' do not agree with him and he is probably 'eccentric' about this. Thinks that in the pamphlet ["Thamyris"] Bob does not discuss the things he himself sees as 'straws showing which way the wind will blow': sees 'European poetry' as a whole, with it being impossible only to discuss English, and believes that '[m]odern French poetry (Apollinaire, Reverdy, Tzara even) indicates what is going to happen as regards outward forms'. Regarding Oswald [Sickert's] writings, he himself does not know the Woolfs, 'save for one or two casual meetings'.