June 16, 1943

Wycliffe S. Bennett,
The Poetry League,
c/o Surveyor of Customs,
Kingston, Jamaica.

Dear Wycliffe,

I have been a travelling man since you saw me, from Florida to California, Montreal to Texas, all over on a long lecture tour which I have just completed. And certainly I am happy to be home at last!

In a few days Arna Bontemps will be in New York for a week and we hope to complete our Anthology of poetry. Toward that end we need immediately the biographies of the Jamaican poets we are including: STEPHANIE ORMSEY, VIVIAN L. VIRTUE, CONSTANCE HOLLAR, LENA KENT, ROGER MAIS, UNA MARSON, BASIL McFARLANE, LOUIS SIMPSON, and PHILIP M. SHERLOCK. (Roberts is in it, too, but we find his biography in our WHO'S WHO.) I've written Vivian asking him to send me data on these folks at once. Perhaps you-all will have it in the files of the Poetry League and can air-mail it to me this week.

Also I'd like immensely to have the new FOCUS, if it is out, or proofs of the poets included, so that we might make a few more selections. And we could not find the Adolph Roberts book of poems in any library here, so I've asked Vivian to lend me his book by air, to be returned to him as soon as we have made further selections since Bontemps liked the few Roberts poems I had copied so much he would like to see the others.

My publishers, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., were delighted with the Victor Reid novel I told them about, and have accepted it for publication—which delights me, too!

I had a letter from Wesley Levy telling me he has gone into the church.

There are two new books the Poetry League ought to have, both very interesting and quite well written:

STORY OF THE NEGRO by Arna Bontemps, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., ($3.00)

WITNESSES FOR FREEDOM, Negro Americans in Autobiography, by Rebecca Chalmers Barton, Harper & Brothers, ($3.50)

By the way, drop Mr. Arna Bontemps, Fisk University Library, Nashville 3, Tennessee, an official Poetry League note telling him that you received the other books, as he talls me he frequently has duplicates of review copies of new books he can send you, but he did not hear if you received the other package or not. (I just recently told him I had heard from Vivian.)

How is your wife and the children? Give them my very best regards.
ALAN L. BONTEMPS. (Don't he like me?)

September 12, 1949

Mr. Wycliffe S. Bennett
% H.M. Customs
Kingston, Jamaica, B.W.I.

Dear Wycliffe:

I have been meaning to write you for a long time, too, but was kept so busy last winter at the University of Chicago where I was poet in residence at the Laboratory School. And when I came back home I had to make the deadline on a new book for Simon & Schuster plus having to complete the lyrics for a new Broadway musical show. So you can readily see how busy I have been. However I thought about you often and was delighted to have news of you from Searchwell, who spent about ten days here with me recently on his way to London.

Yesterday the Trinidad poet, Harold Telemaque, was here, having just returned from London and flying on to Trinidad today. He said that he had received a letter from you in London regarding the Anthology, and thinks that it is a wonderful idea. He believes that you should have sub-editors in each of the Caribbean countries to help you secure poetry from the many writers who may not yet have had wide publication and of whom you perhaps have not heard. He indicated that he would probably be willing to assist you in gathering material in Trinidad. His address is on the list which I am enclosing for you.

I would of course be delighted to have you use any of my translations of Guillen, Pedroso, and Roumain who are, I believe, the only Caribbean poets I have translated. Oh yes, there are also the translations from Leon Damas included in THE POETRY OF THE NEGRO. Let me know when you are ready for these as I have some translations of Pedroso which are not included in that book.

When your wife reaches New York, ask her to let me know as we will certainly be delighted to see her here at my house. I hope that you will be coming up too later in the year. When you do we will have a literary party so that you can meet our writers. If I can be of any further help to you in preparing your anthology, please let me know.

Lots of good wishes to you, as ever,

Si ncerely,

FOUNDED 1923.

FIRST VICE PRESIDENT:
W. ADOLPHE ROBERTS

SECOND VICE PRESIDENT:
THE HON. SIR NOEL LIVINGSTON, KT.

THIRD VICE PRESIDENT:
THE REV. CANON WALTER BROWN

SECRETARIAT
HON. SECRETARY:
WYCLIFFE S. BENNETT

HON. ASST. SECRETARIES:
VIVIAN L. VIRTUE, M.R.S.L.
MARJORIE SMITH

PUBLICITY SECRETARIES:
UNA M. MARSON (OVERSEAS)
MARIA E. HOWDEN (LOCAL)

THE POETRY LEAGUE
OF
JAMAICA

OWNER & PRESIDENT
J. E. CLARE McFARLANE, O.B.E., J.P., F.R.S.A.

ADDRESS:
THE HON. SECRETARY

C/O H.M. CUSTOMS,
KINGSTON, JA., B.W.I.

HON. TREASURER:
AMY B. BAILEY
CHAIRMAN FINANCE COMMITTEE:
ERIC W. PATTERSON, B.A. (HONS.) D.P.A. (LOND.)

CHAIRMAN SCHOOLS COMMITTEE:
HOWARD A. SPENCER, B.A. (LOND.)

LIBRARIAN:
VIVIAN L. VIRTUE, M.R.S.L.

13th July, 1950, 19 50,

My dear Langston,

You don't expect an apology from me of all people for not writing before! I must begin by saying thanks--thanks for the delightful book, SIMPLE SPEAKS HIS MIND. I had it reviewed by Micky Hendriks in the Daily Gleaner--a good review he gave it. I thought I would have seen copies in the local book stores, but I haven't. You might ask your publishers to contact The Phoenix Library, Port Royal Street, Kingston and Sangster's Book Room, 99 Harbour Street, Kingston. The trouble with American books, I'm afraid, is that the devaluation of the £ has put most of them out of the reach of most book buyers, but at 12c or 7/-, many people should be able to afford SIMPLE SPEAKS....

You'll be interested to learn of our progress with the Anthology of the Poetry of the Caribbean. We've finished the English-speaking section, nearly finalised Cuba and Haiti, and have made selections from all the other territories of the region, including Central America. We hope to use quite a few of your translations--Quand Bat Le Tam-Tam, Guinee (Jacques Roumain), Conceptos del Nuevo Estudiante (Regino Pedroso) and Papa Montero (Nicolas Guillen). Could we see your translations (with originals) of other poems by Pedroso.

Cuba will be the largest section, followed by Jamaica and Haiti. There isn't very much poetry of quality in the other English-speaking territories. Unfortunately, although we have selections from, we still have to get Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic under control.....

There are, we understand, some distinguished translations of Cuban poetry by William Cullen Bryant and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, copies of which we should like to get, as we have the originals in our selection. They are:

Poem

Author

Translator

Niagara

José María Heredia

William Cullen Bryant

En una Tempestad

José María Heredia

William Cullen Bryant

Gota de Rocío

Rafael María de Mendive

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

These should be in the New York Library. Could you get someone to make copies for us, and let us know the cost. They are the only items holding up the Cuban section.

Also, there used to be a magazine called "Pan American Poetry" (sub-titled "A Magazine of Song in English and Spanish") edited by Salomon de la Selva. I have the February, 1918, issue. In this number, it was announced that one would soon be devoted to Rubén Darío. Perhaps we could use some of the translations in this issue. Over thirty years ago! Can you help?

Then, there is the James Weldon Johnson's "Book of American Poetry" published some twenty-five years ago. With this we ought to have been familiar. We cannot obtain a copy in Jamaica. Can you lend us yours?

7

2.

All this must give considerable bother. It is in the sure belief that you'll be only too happy to give all the help that lies in your power that we do not hesitate to ask you......

Under separate copy, I'm sending you a copy of Edgar Mittelholzer's novel, A MORNING AT THE OFFICE, You'll like it...it's the most authentic study of the colour and shade problem in the West Indies.

Isn't it time you paid another visit to Jamaica? Perhaps some lectures could be arranged with the W.I. University College.

Yours as ever,

Langston Hughes, Esq.,
20 East 127th Street,
New York 35, N.Y., U.S.A.

THE HON. SECRETARY
THE POETRY LEAGUE OF JAMAICA,
C/O H. M. CUSTOMS, KINGSTON,
JAMAICA, B.W.I.

8

July 25, 1950

Mr. Wycliffe S. Bennett
The Poetry League of Jamaica
% H.M. Customs
Kingston, JAMAICA, B. W. I.

Dear Mr. Bennett:

Mr. Hughes left for Ogunquit, Maine this morning. His Musical show, JUST AROUND THE CORNER, is being presented at the Ogunquit Playhouse for about two weeks and naturally he had to be on hand to make last-minute revisions. This seems to be the established pattern with his this year—continually out of town—since it is, without a doubt, the busiest year of his career. Only recently he returned from upstate New York in the country where he was working on a new opera libretto with a composer. When you add to this a weekly column for the DEFENDER, a new book, SIMPLE SPEAKS HIS MIND, an anthology, lectures, autograph engagements, the last minute revisions on his opera, THE BARRIER, (which, incidentally, opens on Broadway at the Mansfield Theatre in September) then you have some idea of how hectic things have gone with him this year.

However, before he left this morning, he asked me to thank you for the copy of A MORNING AT THE OFFICE by Edgar Mittelholzer which you say you are sending. He looks forward to reading it with a great deal of interest.

For Mr. Hughes, all good wishes to you. And please convey his regards to Mr. Vivian L. Virtue, won't you?

August 17, 1950

Mr. Wycliffe S. Bennett
% H. M. Customs
Kingston, Jamaica, B.W.I.

Dear Wycliffe:

I am just back in town and hasten to answer your letter of
July 13th.

1. I shall send you in a few days the Bryant and Longfellow translations of Cuban poems if we can find them in the library.

2. The magazine, PAN AMERICAN POETRY, February, 1918, could probably be found only in the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. You might write them or write the Pan American Union, Washington, D. C. and inquire if they can photostat the issue for you, or send you a list of contents from which you might make selections.

3. I do not own the James Weldon Johnson book of American Negro Poetry. But I think the only poem in there which you might wish to use in your Caribbean anthology would be Johnson's translation of Placido's FAREWELL TO MY MOTHER. And this you will find on page 383 of my THE POETRY OF THE NEGRO which you have.

4. Under separate cover I am sending you my translation of DAWN, a poem by Regino Pedroso.

I think this covers all the requests in your letter. I am delighted to hear that you are making such good headway with your anthology and I think it will be a very valuable contribution to world literature.

Gerry myndtashgaidisGLANESHtsamh, msaVowpofanfemyoithrofniynds
SIMPLE book.

LH/nvw

August 31, 1950

P.S. Unfortunately we have been unable to help you on the translations of Heredia and Rafael Maria de Endive. We looked in the complete works of Bryant and Longfellow but found no reference to the poems you were interested in. Longfellow Spanish translations were of Manrique, De Vega, De Aldana; Bryant's of de Argensola, de Leon, and various anonymous sources. However, there is no indication in these complete works by Bryant and Longfellow of translations by either Heredia or Endive.

Dear Mr. Bennett:

Mr. Hughes is, as usual, out of the city working on still another musical show. However, in his absence, I am taking the liberty of passing on to you the following information.

We have just received from a Mr. J. R. Ralph Casimir of Roseau, Dominica, B.W.I., a copy of an anthology entitled POESY. Knowing that you are a member of the Jamaican poetry league, and feeling that perhaps you might not know about this one, I feel that POESY might be of special interest to you.

POESY
An Anthology of Dominica Verse
Book Four
Compiled by
J. R. Ralph Casimir
Bookbinder, Bookseller, Etc
Old Street
Roseau, Dominica, B.W.I.

Mr. Hughes has been working very hard this last year. He has three musical shows pending production simultaneously. THE BARRIER, his opera goes into rehearsal shortly and will open in Washington, D.C. on September 24th with Lawrence Tibbett and Muriel Rahn in the leading roles. Subsequently it will come to the Mansfield Theatre in New York sometime in mid-October for what we hope will be a long and successful run.

13

FOUNDED 1923.

THE POETRY LEAGUE
OF
JAMAICA

OWNER & PRESIDENT

J. E. CLARE MCFARLANE, O.B.E., J.P., F.R.S.A.

ADDRESS:
THE HON. SECRETARY

C/O H.M. CUSTOMS.
KINGSTON, JA., B.W.I.

HON. TREASURER:
AMY B. BAILEY

CHAIRMAN. SCHOOLS COMMITTEE:
HOWARD A. SPENCER, B.A. (LOND.)

28th October, 1950.

My dear Langston,

By now your opera, THE BARRIER, should be in New
York, for what I hope will be a long and successful run.

I've interested a local group, the Kingston Male Voice
Choir, whose conductor, Eglon Fairweather, is a friend of mine, in
TROUBLED ISLAND, which had a wonderful write-up sometime ago in "Ebony".
For recitals, they often collaborate with a group of ladies, the
Shortwood Old Girls' Choir. Combined, they consist of between 70 and
80 voices, and they can draw from other groups. Would you send me a
copy of the script (including the music) for their study. It would
make history in Jamaica, if TROUBLED ISLAND could be produced here.

Thanks to you, I learnt of POESY, the anthology of
verse from Dominica. I immediately wrote to Ralph Casimir, who very
promptly sent me the four books of it.

asked
Also, I've/Henri Deschamps to send me a copy of
PANORAMA DE LA POESIE HAITIENNE. I'm eager to see this.

We've also been in communication with a number of men
of letters and professors in American Universities, who've been making
a study of Latin American literature. Their spontaneous interest and
co-operation is overwhelming. Among the books mentioned in which Latin
American poetry of the Caribbean has appeared in translation are:

1. **Blackwell, Alice Stone**, SOME SPANISH AMERICAN POETS. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia: 1937 2d edit.

2. **Craig, G. Dundas**, THE MODERNIST TREND IN SPANISH AMERICAN POETRY. University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif.:1934.

3. **Ruben Dario**, ELEVEN POEMS OF RUBEN DARIO. Translated by Thomas Walsh and Salomon de la Selva. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London: 1916 (Publications of the Hispanic Society of America).

4. **Thomas Walsh**, HISPANIC ANTHOLOGY. Hispanic Society of America, New York: 1920.

I've written to the publishers, but unfortunately the books are all out
of print. Perhaps some of these and others can be had at some of the
large second hand bookstores in New York. Can enquiries be made for me?
I'd send a draft to cover as soon as you can let me know the prices.

(14)

2.

I knew the particular Longfellow and William Cullen Bryant translations were not in their collected works. Perhaps the Hispanic Society of America can help. I'll be writing them.

As you are, no doubt, aware, the English-speaking units have been in cultural and intellectual isolation from the Western Hemisphere in general and the rest of the Caribbean in particular; and books from and concerning their Latin American neighbours very seldom reach them. We're hoping that apart from giving the outside world a fair picture of the comparative literature of the region, our anthology will also help to encourage, in the English-speaking countries, an interest in, and a study of, the literatures of the Spanish-, French- and Dutch-speaking territories.

Part of the overall plan also is an Exhibition of the Poetry of the Caribbean, scheduled for the Institute of Jamaica early next year. By means of books, photographs of the poets and places of interest in their lives, and of our translators and benefactors, manuscripts, and maps, we hope to be able to illustrate the subject in the most interesting and human manner possible. The fine photograph I have of you will keep company with Longfellow, Bryant, Muna Lee, John Peal Bishop, Donald Devenish Walsh, and so on, in the section for translators and benefactors.

Under separate cover I'm sending you a copy of MEDALLIONS, a small collection of Adolphe Roberts' latest poems, which the author intends to give his friends at Christmas. Did you get the books I sent?

Una Marson asked me for your address. I believe she has in mind a visit to the U.S.A.

"Where and how is Virtue?" I showed him your last letter; he laughed and said he'd be writing soon. That is, if he hasn't done so already.

Claire begs to be remembered and joins in sending best wishes.

Yours as ever,

Wycliffe S. Bennett

FOUNDED 1923.

THE POETRY LEAGUE
OF
JAMAICA

FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
J. E. CLARE MCFARLANE, O.B.E., J.P., F.R.S.A.

ADDRESS:
THE HON. SECRETARY

HON. TREASURER:
AMY B. BAILEY

30th November, 1950.

Mr. Langston Hughes,
20 East 127th Street,
New York 35, New York.

My dear Langston,

I was just about writing you, when your poem, PRELUDE
TO OUR AGE, arrived. I enjoy it. Not many writers can write interesting
chronicle poetry, and few achieve poetry in social verse. I like it all,
but will remember best, I think:

And the beaten drum
That carried instant history
Across the night,
Or linked man with the mystery
Of powers beyond sight.

"Instant history" is most authentic.

What about "Troubled Island"?

You'll be interested to learn that my wife, Claire,
arrived in New York on Monday night (November 27th), and is staying with
her mother, Mrs. Muriel Penna at 2412 7th Avenue (apartment 11) New York
City.

She holds a permanent visa, and plans to be in the U.S.
A. for about three years, during which she hopes to do a number of things,
including working to earn her keep and taking a degree in dramatics. For
the past five years, she has been among the top three lady elocutionists
in Jamaica, winning the all-island title in 1947 and taking second place
last year and in 1950. She has also been studying dramatics for the past
five years under an English lady, who holds a diploma from the Royal
Academy.

Earlier this year, in open competition with comers
from all over the island, she secured and played the role of Jessica in
The Merchant of Venice, produced by the veteran Shakespearean producer,
Nugent Monck, founder and director of the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich,
England. Mr. Monck was brought to Jamaica for the specific purpose of
producing this play.

It is the first time she has left Jamaica. Is 26
years old. I cannot say now whether I shall be able to join her: I am
28, but there are two kids to take care of.

If she is to return to pursue dramatics here, she

July 9, 1952

Mr. Wycliffe S. Bennett
H. M. Customs
Kingston, Jamaica

Dear Wycliffe,

Just a hasty note to ask you to send
me your wife's address here in New York. I
met her some time ago at a party, and she gave
me an address, in order that I might send one
of my books to her.

However, my book was returned, and I have
not been able to ascertain her correct address
in the monthime.

All my good wishes to you,

c/o H.M.Customs,
Kingston
Jamaica B.W.I.

30th January, 1953.

Langston Hughes, Esq.
20, East 127 th Street,
New York 35, N.Y., U.S.A.

My dear Langston,

Many thanks for your nice card at Christmas. I hope you got mine.

You'll be glad to know that W. Adolphe Roberts and I have now finalized our anthology of the Poetry of the Caribbean. For reasons of economy and thoroughness, we have decided to limit our first compilation to the Greater Antilles, viz. Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. We propose to call this volume *THE POETRY OF THE CARIBBEAN*, subtitle *The Greater Antilles*. We are now preparing the biographical sketches and shall be sending the completed manuscript to you by the end of February, in the hope that you can use your kind offices to have it placed either,
(1) with a good publisher, with whom you have influence, or
(2) a reliable literary agency.

I have been giving much thought to paying my first visit to the U.S.A. this year, but lack of the necessary funds forces me to wonder if any of the agencies would be willing to sponsor me on a lecture tour. I would speak on any or all of the following topics:

(1) The growth of nationalism in Jamaica.

(2) Life in Present Day Jamaica.

(3) Race Relationships in Jamaica To-day.

(4) The Poetry of the Caribbean.

(5) The Poetry of the British West Indies.

(6) The Poetry of the Jamaica.

I should also be glad to give recitals of Caribbean Poetry. Your last words before you left Jamaica, were that as soon as the book was finished, I should let you know and that you would help us to get a publisher.

You'll be interested to hear that in October last year
the Poetry League of Jamaica elected the Honourable J.E.Clare
McFarlane as Poet Laureate of Jamaica. The formal ceremony is sche-
duled to take place in the Ward Theatre on Saturday April 4, of this
year.

Last December an article of mine, NEW LANGUAGE IN THE
CARIBBEAN, appeared in AMERICAS, the monthly published by the Pan
American Union. Could you name me some American literary publications
which might be interested in publishing articles about Caribbean
literature.

What are you doing now?

Yours as ever,

Wycliffe S. Bennett.

February 7, 1953

Mr. Wycliffe S. Bennett,
c/o H. M. Customs,
Kingston, Jamaica.

Dear Wycliffe,

I have your letter and am delighted that the anthology is about ready. I immediately called a couple of good literary agents (since that is about the only way to place a book here, it being too complicated a process for me to try myself) and the agent who handled Claude McKay's work agreed to look at the manuscript and to try to place it with a publisher if he feels he can. So you send THE POETRY OF THE CARIBBEAN directly to him:

Mr. Carl Cowl,
Authors' Representative,
516 Fifth Avenue,
New York 36, New York.

Poetry is not too easy to get published in America so don't be worried if it takes several months to find the proper publisher for it. But I surely think (and hope) that it should find publication here. You might let Mr. Cowl know if you wish him to handle the English rights as well, since he probably has a representative in London.

Meanwhile he is interested to know if there is any possibility of publishing Claude McKay's complet poems (just coming out here) in Jamaica, since it is so difficult to export American books there.

Now, regarding lecturing here, Jan Carew was recently here and gave some talks on West Indian poetry at Howard and Fisk. But to book a whole tour that would pay enough for a trip here (which should mean at least a dozen engagements) is something that should be started now if you think of doing it next winter. And, unless again an agency were handling it for you (which is hard to find for Negroes) my only suggestion would be that you write all the Negro colleges, suggesting a time, and the fee---about $150.00 to $200.00 is mostly likely the most they'd pay, unless they got you to stay a few weeks for seminars, etc. THE NEGRO YEARBOOK or THE NEGRO HANDBOOK has a complete list of colleges. The big ones like Fisk, Howard, Tuskegee, Atlanta University are the most likely to be interested, so I would write their Presidents first, on Poetry League statio nary so it looks imposing! (Mention the *Americas* article.)

THE SATURDAY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, 25 West 45th Street, New York 19, N.Y.; PHYLON, Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia; THE CRISIS, 20 West 40th Street, New York, might be interested in articles. First one, only one that pays.

Is your wife still in New York? The books I sent to her address came back to me. I hope to see you here next year. Meanwhile, all my best wishes,

Sincerely yours,

October 7, 1953

Dear Wycliffe:

Whatever became of your anthology, POETRY OF THE CARIBBEAN? Did you ever send it to Mr. Carl Cawl, as I suggested last February? Or did you secure someone else to act as agent for it?

At any rate, the University of Indiana Press, Bloomington, Indiana, is bringing out a series of volumes of poetry, and I think they might possibly be interested in seeing the Caribbean anthology. The editor is Mr. Bernard P. Perry, whom one should address there.

I have met Louise Bennett who is here. But still have not met Una Marston, but I hope to do so soon. I have not heard from Vivien Virtue for a long time. Where and how is he?

All my good wishes to you, as ever.

Mr. Wycliffe S. Bennett
c/o H. M. Customs
Kingston, Jamaica

LH
HS

SAN GLORIA

Oh, Captain of wide western seas,
Where now thy great soul lives, dost thou
Recall San Gloria's spice-censed breeze?

White-sanded curves where serried trees
Filed backward as thy sharpened prow
Sheared into foam the racing seas ?

San Gloria's wood-carved mountain freize
In the blue bay is mirrored now,
As when thy white sail wooed the breeze.

The thunder of insurgent seas
Beats yet the rough reef's ragged brow,
Roaring by green, far-stretching leas;

Yet through the wood the peony fles,
And frets with gold the night-dark bough
Down the long avenue of trees.

Still flowering synops tempt the bees,
The yellow guava ripens now,
Rich-hearted ipomes please.

Dost thou remember things like these,
Hear yet the dark-robed woodlends sough,
Oh, Captain of wide western seas,
Dost thou remember things like these
Where thy great soul inhabits now ?

Tom Redcam.

Deceased Jamaican poet.