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Welsh poet

Vernon Phillips Watkins (27 June 1906 – 8 October 1967) was a Welsh poet and translator. He was a close friend of fellow poet Dylan Thomas, who described him as "the most profound and greatly accomplished Welshman writing poems in English".

Vernon Watkins was born in Maesteg in Glamorgan, and brought up mainly in Swansea. He received his later education at a preparatory school in Sussex, Repton School in Derbyshire, and Magdalene College, Cambridge. In his early years at Repton, Watkins' quiet, gentle character provoked regular bullying from older boys, though in his last years he attained more popularity as he was able to show capacity in tennis and cricket. After he died, in 1968, the school wrote that he was "perhaps the best poet Repton has had". [7] His headmaster at Repton was Geoffrey Fisher, who became Archbishop of Canterbury. Poems for Dylan, a collection of poems written by Watkins to Thomas, appeared from Gomer Press in 2003. It opens with the obituary Watkins wrote for his friend, which was originally published in The Times on 10 November 1953. Poems for Dylan also contains two poems ('At Cwmrhydyceirw Quarry' and 'Cwmrhydyceirw Elegaics') centred upon the quarry in Cwmrhydyceirw where, in August 1963, Watkins and the sculptor Ron Cour picked out the stone that would be inscribed with lines from 'Fern Hill' and placed in Cwmdonkin Park as a permanent memorial to Thomas. 'Cwmrhydyceirw Elegaics' had first seen publication in the January 1968 issue of Poetry magazine.

Watkins met Gwen, who came from Harborne, Birmingham, at Bletchley Park, where he worked during the Second World War as a cryptographer, and she, as a member of the WAAF. They were both engaged in breaking the Luftwaffe AuKa tactical codes in Block F (A). Gwen was at first billeted at Stony Stratford but later moved to RAF Church Green at Bletchley. They were both Flight Sergeants and were stationed at Bletchley from June 1942 until May 1945. They were married at the church of St Bartholomew the Great, in London on 2 October 1944. The couple had five children. One of their grandchildren, Marley Watkins, is a professional footballer who has represented the Welsh national team.

Watkins' ambitions were for his poetry; in critical terms they were not to be fulfilled. On the other hand, he became a major figure for the Anglo Welsh poetry tradition, and his poems were included in major anthologies. During the war he was for a time associated with the New Apocalyptics group. With his first book Ballad of the Mari Llwyd (1941) accepted by Faber and Faber, he had a publisher with a policy of sticking by their authors. In his case this may be considered to have had an adverse long term effect on his reputation, in that it is sometimes thought that he over published. Of the book, the publisher said:
"Mr Vernon Watkins is a Welsh poet whose work hitherto has appeared only in periodicals and in recent anthologies. The only influence apparent upon his poetry is one he has thoroughly assimilated that of W. B. Yeats. Otherwise his style differs radically from that of any of his older contemporaries, except for a racial quality which gives it something in common with that of Dylan Thomas. Mr Watkins is undoubtedly a poet with an uncommon sense of rhythm as well as of imagery." The British Library holds a manuscript draft of the poem with annotations by T. S. Eliot, showing Eliot at work as editor and board member at the publishing house Faber his "day job" since 1925. The Library also holds the Watkins Papers which include autograph and typewritten poems chiefly from his seven published volumes, but also some unpublished poems. In 2016, another collection of Watkins's draft poems was acquired from the widow of Watkins. Watkins wrote poetry for several hours every night and by way of contrast, Caitlin, Dylan Thomas's wife, could not recall her husband staying in even for one night during their whole married life. As well as Yeats Vernon was familiar with T. S. Eliot and Philip Larkin whose affectionate recollection of him can be found in his Required Writing: Miscellaneous Pieces 1955 1982 (2012). He was awarded a University of Wales honorary Doctorate of Literature in 1966 after retiring from his job at the bank. He was being considered for Poet Laureate at the time of his death. In October 2014 Swansea Council unveiled a blue plaque for Watkins outside the building on the corner of St Helen's Road and Beach Street in the city, where he spent 38 years working for Lloyds Bank. On 3 November 2014 the "Poem of the Week" in The Guardian was Watkins' "Three Harps". Most of Watkins's manuscripts are held by the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.