Item 45 - Letter from Martin Dodsworth to James Smith

4 single sheets

Wadham College, Oxford.—Apologises for not writing sooner. Has been busy preparing for the prelims in March, which include a paper on Latin, two on Anglo-Saxon, and three on tragedy—Greek, Shakespearean, and neo-classical. Is unsure whether he likes Anglo-Saxon, and suspects they only learn it to ‘keep the dons at work’. His present tutors are [George] Forrest, [Alan] Ward, and [John] Bamborough; later this term they will have Humphry House for the Poetics. Five people are taking prelims in English at Wadham this year. Refers to the college’s connections with twentieth-century literature through C. Day Lewis, Rex Warner, and Humbert Wolfe, and discusses lectures he has been attending by Miss [Pamela] Gradon, Dorothy Whitelock, House, Helen Gardner, and Lord David Cecil. Describes his rooms and gives his impressions of the college. Has joined three clubs: the English Club, the Poetry Society, and University Critical Club. The English Club engages people like James Laver (on Huysmans), Angus Wilson, Richard Church, and Louis Macneice to talk or read poems. The last talk, by J. I. M. Stewart on ‘Literature and the New Psychology’, was very bad. The Poetry Society is an ‘Art-y affair, favouring the modern romantic verse’. Their first meeting, featuring readings by Clifford Dyment and his wife, was ‘frightful’. ‘We also have Patrick [sic] Dickinson, Day Lewis and a production of Macneice’s Eclogues (with music) besides other things to come.’ The Critical Society is ‘a somewhat elusive organization’ sponsored by F. W. Bateson. Has only attended one of their meetings so far, a talk by Leavis on Yeats’s Byzantium poems, which was excellent. ‘The other two talks this term are D. W. Harding on Shelley, and Wilson Knight re-interpreting the Scholar Gipsy, which should be interesting. There are also two discussion groups on William Faulkner’s “Sanctuary” and Langland.’ Refers to some recent book bargains. Is reading Coningsby, which is disappointing. Asks how Smith’s lectures on the Nineties are proceeding and whether his promised assistance has come. There is a revival of interest in Ezra Pound. Will try to describe some of the ‘fancy-waistcoated gentlemen themselves’ in his next letter. Asks whether Smith did any travelling this summer, as planned.