The Providence Journal and The Evening Bulletin

PROVIDENCE 2. R. I.

12 Jan. 49

SEVELLON BROWN
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

Dear Norman:

These many weeks - but several of them
bulged with Christmas, a wedding in NY, other
trips, "reading" appearances - I have owed you
thanks for a particularly kind letter about "Mr
Whittier." No less sincere thanks for being so
tardy.

No, I don't think there's any Gregory touch
in those poems. Might be nice if there were; but
I, certainly, am unaware of any.

The Mrs. Lovecraft memoir is to be reissued
as a pamphlet by the Friends of the J. Hay. Soon.

When you're in Providence, make Randall call
me up - will you? - and then you both come over and
we could all gather 'round the whiskey.

May 31, 1949

Mr. Winfield T. Scott
312 Morris Avenue
Providence, Rhode Island

Dear Win:

Forgive me for so long a delay in thanking you for the suggestions of selections from Whittier for the anthology. It is not simply a question of my being grateful for this particular purpose, but for my teaching in general. Really it is shocking to think how easily we fall into line with the old choices. If I do not seem to have selected many from the list you gave me, it is mainly because it seemed to me right, after all, to include all of "Snow-Bound" and all of "The Brewing of Soma," both of which I had put in only in part. But the Prelude to "Among the Hills" is really one of Whittier's best and is irresistible. I added also, at your suggestion, "The Dead Feast of the Mol-Folk," in order to give a little change in facing to the usual Whittier topic. Finally, I put in, in addition, "Telling the Bees," "Ichabod," and "For Righteousness Sake." This was about all the space that I could afford, for after all "Snow-Bound" is no sonnet.

I look forward to the fall or winter, when we hope to get you down for the lecture at the Elizabethan Club, of which we spoke when I saw you last.

I am asking Macmillan to send you a copy of H.D.'s "By Avon River," which should be ready in a fortnight or so. I hope you will read it with some care and no little pleasure, for the poem seems to me one of her best and the dramatic essay to be an interesting use of the presentness of the past. When she talks about plagues in the Elizabethan Age, I think we can read war already in the turmoil of our own time; and love remains love for any age, with the two together making up a kind of Heaven and Hell for the creative mind. I suppose what I am really most anxious for is that the book should receive some attention, not necessarily favorable reviews, but at least the courtesy of being called to the notice of the public. H.D. has written so little during the past years that she seems almost to be a reclusive from the past, an historical figure rather than a living body. She certainly is not altogether in the manner which is fashionable at Kenyon, but if one reads her poetry carefully one can see that there is the same concern for the use of words which marks other work, a junglin sense of the myth which is in line with her own time. Review it or not, as you see fit, but take a look at it at least for my sake.

My best to your wife.

Sincerely yours,

312 Morris Ave.

Providence R.I.

14 April 1949

Dear Norman:

If you'll forgive a semi-ignorant note, I'd like
to send you an X inadequate paragraph on J. G. Whittier. The
other night you were wondering if there were anything "fresh"
or at least not anthologized to death which one could find in
JGW's work, and my immediate reaction was blank X X X X stupidly.
Years ago I was very much "up" on him; but that was - years ago.

Then I began to think about it - because I do think JGW is an
American poet and a damned good one - and I remembered I had
once lined out the inevitable contents of a Selected Poems. And
of course I can't find that, and probably destroyed it long
since. But I have pulled some suggestions out of an old XXXXX
article I did for the N.E. Quarterly, June 1934. Please under-
stand that I'm as rusty as ever on this - I can't offer an up-
to-date judgment among these suggestions; but I'm ready enough
to say that if any of these happen to be things you haven't looked
at, they might be worth a look.

"The Last Walk in Autumn." "Abram Morrison;" (By the by, à
very interesting anticipation of E.A.Robinson - quite remarkably
like the sort of thing he did: though he'd never seen the XXXXX
poem - I recall - till I showed it to him). "What the Birds Said."
"The Henchman." Lines beginning "the age is dull & mean." "The
Dead Feast of the Kol-Folk." "Brewing of Soma." The prelude -
a short, Wordsworthian, very beautiful passage - to "Among the
Hills." "Kathleen." "The Sycamores." And of course the more
familiar successes, the hymns: "Dear Lord & father," "The Eternal
Goodness," & "When on my day of life the night is falling."

Mind you: I don't think you can beat "Snow-Bound" and "Unabred";
but I'm trying to think of poems disregarded by the schoolrooms
& not generally noted in W's best work.... Forgive my late-at-night
typing; accept my best regards, & Eleanor's with them. Mours,

11 November 1949

Mr. Herman W. Liebert
Room 177M
Sterling Memorial Library

Dear Fritz:

You will remember that last year we were more or less placed in the position of having to invite Winfield Townley Scott, the poet and critic from Providence, to speak at the Elizabethan Club. At that time I suggested that we put off the engagement until this year, when perhaps through my classes, etc. we could guarantee a reasonable audience for him. The matter came to my attention yesterday when I read in the *Poetry* magazine a review of his latest book, and I am wondering if we ought not to take steps to set a date for this sometime after Christmas. As you know, Brad Swann has spoken of the matter to Scott on numerous occasions so that Scott is counting on the matter.

Sincerely yours,

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

16 NOVEMBER 1949

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

DEAR NORMAN:

✓ Has anything further been done about
Win Scott's speaking date at Yale this season?
I wanted to get in to see you when I was down
for the Brown game, but I got tied up with Jim
Babb and Don Gallup until game time and couldn't
make it.

Gallup is planning an exhibition, which
will include some of my Mencken, some time this
winter, and I want to get down to see it. I
hope then that we'll be able to get together
for a good talk.

HAVE you any news or gossip ?

PROVIDENCE 2. R. I.

2 DECEMBER 1949

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

DEAR NORMAN:

YESTERDAY I RECEIVED a LETTER from you and last night I had dinner with your future guest, Dr. HAYES of the National Library of Ireland. HE'S a fascinating fellow and, I think, the most energetic librarian I'VE EVER MET outside of NEW Haven.

I was glad to hear that you have kept the Scott affair in mind and that Fritz is doing something about it.

FRET not about the MENCKEN. I'VE BEEN down to NEW HAVEN several times since summer and each time I took down a load of stuff. SPEAKING in GENERAL TERMS, the MENCKEN is all there now. I still have a FEW stray books, for I KEEP acquiring them at the rate of at least one a WEEK, and I have a large hoard of clippings, reviews, tear-sheets, and such MISCELLANEOUS stuff which I hope to put into SOME sort of order before wishing it on the Library.

I'VE also done a piece for Don Gallup for the forthcoming GAZETTE on the building of the collection. And I hope to be able to get down for the big four-man show Gallup is planning.

BE SURE to let me know when you are heading this way, BECAUSE WE can always feed you and perhaps give you shelter, and certainly I'd like to have a chat.

Until WE MEET, then,

BEST REGARDS,

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

24 Jan. 1950

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

Dear Norman:

I have a problem.

As you know, Win Scott is coming down to address the Elizabethan Club on Feb. 14, and I would like to accompany him as guide and mentor. I thought we could make a junket of it and I could show him about the campus and library in the afternoon, following lunch at Mory's. Also I have some bibliographical work to do on a Columbus Letter down there.

Now, what I'd like to know is: Can an outlander like me get himself invited to hear Scott at the club? If I can't, maybe I'll just come down and steer him around, do my work, and catch an evening train home. If I can, and therefore decide to stay over, I thought I'd ask Jim Babb if he could put us up in the Fellows' suite at Davenport. Win tells me you've invited him to be your guest for the night, and he has accepted because I didn't know my plans. (over)

I thought the Davenport scheme might be better if we are staying over, and please don't take this as hinting for a bed at your place because I can always stay at Davenport or with Alex Vietor.

Any way, summing up: My decision and future action depends upon whether I can stay for the Elizabethan Club affair. Will you let me know what the dope is on that?

See you the 14th anyway.

Sincerely,

PROVIDENCE, 2. R. I.

1 February 1950

Dear Norman:

Thanks for clearing the path to the Lizzie
for me, and also for your kind invitation to
put me up for the night. The latter isn't at
all necessary, however, for, as I told you,
Jim always offers me the hospitality of the
Davenport suite if I need it.

Win tells me he thought he wrote you that
Eleanor isn't making the trip with him, but I
proffer the news since you seem to be in doubt.
We intend to get down there before noon, so
that I can show Win about the place. We'll drop
over to 233 HGS and let you know we're in town.
I think you, Fritz, and Don Gallup should be my
guests at lunch at Mory's, so save the time if
you can work it into your schedule—and, if
possible, let Fritz and Don know.

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

17 FEB. 1950

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

Dear Norman:

I thought the NEW Haven invasion by Scott WENT off very well, and I think you deserve our heartfelt thanks for all you did, both in making arrangements and in personal hospitality.

Win was much taken with the place---which is a tremendous concession for a Brown man, what with their natural antipathy toward NEW Haven. He told me yesterday noon that he had recently come into possession of a letter from Ficke to Anna Brown (?) in which Ficke passes judgment on E.A.Robinson. Miss Esther Bates, E.A.'S SECRETARY, found it among her papers and gave it to Win. Now, he says, he's going to give it to Yale. It's not terribly important, but it would provide an important insight into Ficke's feeling toward Robinson for any scholar who might be tackling the job.

WE got back on time and I promptly begged

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

2

GARRETT D. BYRNES
SUNDAY EDITOR

imminent "old age": he was full of joshing about taking things easy, letting the "young fellers" carry on, etc etc. All this of course with his Southern persiflage; still, he may have been feeling a physical depression and tiredness.

As to the Tates, the Miss Adams et. al. - I say to myself: Who is ever going to be left to carry on the stout, independent, agnostic Hardy position? And the answer comes back: Me.

All best to you & Susan.

Yrs,

PS: I'll check again on R.S. for you, in about a week.

PROVIDENCE 2. R. I.

26 January 1950

Dear Norman:

You are very kind to ask me
to stay overnight. I should like to. I
haven't heard from Mr Leibert since re-
plying to the E. Club invitation and
saying I preferred to read Q- with some
commentary & general gab -- and not, strictly
speaking, to give a speech. Assuming he's
going to offer no objection, I shall be
at NEW HAVEN on February 14.

Mrs Scott will not be able to
get away at that time. Possibly that old
Yale man Brad Swan will come along, first
goading me into an early start, so he can
take me to the various high places and show
me the wonders of the world; but his
coming along is indefinite as yet.

PROVIDENCE 2, R. I.

3 October 1950

Dear Norman:

Well, Riley Hughes is an ambitious, learned, eager, and altogether very competent book reviewer, he did a great deal of reviewing here; later moved on to Georgetown & more national fields - a K of C magazine, the SRL now & then. He's a good Catholic. As to any tie-up via Riley between Providence College and, in the early 1940s, the XXXX then book editor (W T Scott) of the Journal - I'm wholly mystified. At best, I've heard, the RCs pray for me; at worst, they avoid in their own sheets reviewing anything I have praised. They don't like me... I'd say Riley is a very able fellow who is perhaps not quite so very able as he fancies himself.

Magnificent job you & Auden have done. And a highly useful article of yours on Longfellow. Thanks so much for sending it to me, for I shouldn't want to have missed it. That slant on yours on L's mythmaking powers is absolutely fresh; and, too, the division you perceive in his audience inclinations. Will you do a book on 19th century US poets? I hope so.

I have a four weeks old daughter whose name you are bound to approve of: Susan.

All best,

312 Morris Ave.
Providence R.I.

16 May 1951

Dear Norm:

Not to be mysterious (nor have you brooding
over me in a breadline): it's just that my wife, who
is very securely trust-funded, suggested two or three
years ago that I quit the bread&butter routine. So, to
reduce a very long series of bull sessions to next to
nothing.

I got a hunch - still to be followed up - last
summer that a hell of an unexpected book might be built,
like a wheel, around Snow-Bound: a critical, biographical
"reading" of it - putting in whatever came into my head as
a propos. That's my only prose notion, aside from an
occasional review & perhaps now and then an article, at
the moment. My own poetry of course is what I aim chiefly
to write.

Thanks so much for writing me. I hope we shall
meet before long - and frequently. By the way, I hear
Randall is looking & acting quite well; Eleanor has seen
him, but I haven't.

COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY

FOUNDED IN 1693

WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA 23185

4 August 1969

Prof. Norman Holmes Pearson
231 Hall of Graduate Studies
Yale University
New Haven, Conn.

Dear Norman Pearson:

I'm working on a biography of Winfield Townley Scott, with his widow's blessing, and write to ask you for help.

I've read your letters to Win in the collection at the John Hay library at Brown, but have not of course seen the letters he wrote you. May I have an opportunity to see them? I will be happy to return them or to place them in the collection at the Hay, whichever you prefer.

In addition, would you be willing to set down some of your impressions -- especially of characteristic incident or conversation -- of Win Scott as a man and as a poet, and on his place in American poetry? I know I'm asking an impossibly great deal of you, on the inadequate presumption of once having been your student. Perhaps we could talk: I hope to be in New Haven on Wednesday, Aug. 12: will you be? I'll call this mid-week to see if a meeting is possible.

Best regards,

Scott Donaldson
Assoc. Prof., English/
History

Summer address:
35 Sunset Road
Bristol, R.I. 02809

BROWN UNIVERSITY Providence, Rhode Island • 02912

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

February 18, 1971

Professor Norman Holmes Pearson
Department of English
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut

Dear Professor Pearson:

As a tribute to the distinguished poet, Winfield Townley Scott, who was a graduate of Brown University and Literary Editor of the Providence Journal for many years, a group of his colleagues and friends wish to establish at the University a graduate fellowship in the writing program in his memory. This fellowship would be awarded to a gifted young poet who wishes to come to Brown and participate in the writing program. The new program at Brown includes such well-known fiction writers and poets as John Hawkes, R. V. Cassill, Edwin Honig, James Schevill, Charles Philbrick and Bernard Waldrop. Young writers who come to Brown now have the opportunity of developing their own programs, which may consist largely of independent work. Also, the poets have an opportunity to read and discuss their poems in schools throughout Rhode Island under a program sponsored by the State Council on the Arts.

We are writing to ask your permission to include your name as a member of an honorary committee to endorse the effort to establish the Winfield Townley Scott Memorial Fellowship. We would write to those who have already asked what part they might have in helping to establish a Winfield Townley Scott Memorial and subsequently to others whom we believe would be interested.

Any additional money that is raised beyond that necessary to establish the Memorial will be used to fund a series of poetry reading programs in memory of Scott. Both the idea of the fellowship and the poetry reading programs have the approval of his widow, Mrs. Eleonor Scott. As you may know, she has deposited all of her husband's manuscripts and papers here at the library at Brown University. A

The Winfield Townley Scott Memorial Fund

P. O. BOX 1877 • BROWN UNIVERSITY • PROVIDENCE, R. I. 02912 • (401) 863-3382

SAMPLE

Dear

As a tribute to the distinguished poet, Winfield Townley Scott, who was a graduate of Brown University and Literary Editor of the Providence Journal for many years, a group of his colleagues and friends wish to establish at the University a graduate fellowship in the writing program in his memory. This fellowship would be awarded to a gifted young poet who wishes to come to Brown and participate in the writing program. The new program at Brown includes such well-known fiction writers and poets as John Hawkes, R. V. Cassill, Edwin Honig, James Schevill, Michael Harper, and Bernard Waldrop. Young writers who come to Brown now have the opportunity of developing their own programs, which may consist largely of independent work. Also, the poets have an opportunity to read and discuss their poems in schools throughout Rhode Island under a program sponsored by the State Council on the Arts.

We are writing to ask your thoughtful consideration of a contribution to help establish the Winfield Townley Scott Memorial Fellowship at Brown.

Any additional money that is raised beyond that necessary to establish the Memorial will be used to fund a series of poetry reading programs in memory of Scott. Both the idea of the fellowship and the poetry reading programs have the approval of his widow, Mrs. Eleanor Scott. As you may know, she has deposited all of her husband's manuscripts and papers here at the library at Brown University. A biography of Scott based on these manuscripts and papers has been written by Scott Donaldson and will be published by the University of Texas Press.

Please use the enclosed card and envelope to transmit your gift. The University will acknowledge the gifts to provide donors with financial records for tax purposes.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Andrew J. Sabol
Acting Chairman,
English Department
For the Committee

AJS:br
Enclosure

Committee of Sponsors

Anne Bernays • Malcolm Cowley • Maurice Dolbier • Scott Donaldson • Richard Eberhart • George P. Elliott • Robert Fitzgerald
Edwin Honig • Paul Horgan • Justin Kaplan • Anne Hutchens McCormick • Josephine Miles • Wright Morris • Norman Holmes Pearson
M. L. Rosenthal • James Schevill • Samuel S. Vaughn • Thornton Wilder

Tomatis a Cleonis son

I sing of a maiden
That is matchless;
King of all kings
To her Son she chose.

He came all so still
There His mother was,
As dew in April
That falleth on the grass.

He came all so still
To His mother's bower,
As dew in April
That falleth on the flower.

He came all so still
There His mother lay,
As dew in April
That falleth on the spray.

Mother and maiden
Was never none but she;
Well may such a lady
Godde's mother be.

Agnus Dei