Collected Poems by Anthony Burgess (best e ink reader for manga txt) 📕

Tracing a seismograph.

This is a poem that comes to Enderby upon waking. The use of ‘something’ and ‘plonk’ is not reflective of Burgess’s general drafting technique, which – generally – involves leaving an obvious space in the line, rather than using a temporary word. Transcribed from MS draft.

130. Whisky. Previously unpublished. This is the longest of two drafts. The other draft includes these slightly varied stanzas:

Double you aitch eye ess kay ee wye spells

Irish an, without an ee, spells Scotch.

Saxon stupidity ha made a botch

Out of the autocratic pose,

Celtic uisgebaugh, which tells

The paternal strictness he distrusted, still

Clung to his utterance and features,

It was a protective imitation

For one who lived among enemies so long;

If only he was wrong and at times absurd,

To us he is no more a person

Now – but a whole climate of opinion.

IABF, AB/ARCH/A/POE/26.

131. A Ballade for Christmas. Previously unpublished. Photocopy typescript, signed Liana, Anthony, Andrew, and Bettie [i.e. Bettina Culham, Liana’s secretary]. Pencilled on the top of this MS is a note, indicating that it was ‘Sent to Gabriele and Leslie for Christmas 1984’. Gabriele Pantucci was Burgess’s agent, who married the agent Leslie Gardner.

132. January 1. Previously unpublished.

133. A l’Hôtel Le Clos Voltaire. Previously unpublished. Hand-written MS on paper headed Hôtel Le Clos Voltaire. In a typewritten essay draft, dated 15 May 1978, and written for Saturday Review, Burgess provides some comtext for this poem: ‘In May I was able to get as far as Geneva, where they were getting ready to celebrate the feast of the Ascension […] The only writing I did in this week and more was an acrostical sonnet on the name Le Clos Voltaire, the cheap hotel in Geneva where we stayed. For this, of course, I received no payment.’ Clos Voltaire is now a community centre, located at 49 Rue de Lyon, Geneva. Thomas Stearns are the first two names of T. S. Eliot. The theologian Michael Servetus also features in Byrne (1995). Typescript at IABF.

134. ‘The verses of E. Lucie-Smith.’ Previously unpublished. Typescript at IABF.

135. You were there, and nothing said.’ Previously unpublished variant text. Appears, with variants, in Enderby (p. 44). Dated 1937 on the MS, although this is probably a much later recalling of the poem. On the back of the MS is an extract from the ‘Pet Beast’.

136. Catullus 1. Previously unpublished. Burgess’s translation is found in his copy of Tibullus Catullus, Pervigilium Veneris (trans. F. W. Cornish et al.) (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1913:1976). Typescript at IABF.

137. Catullus 2. Previously unpublished. Burgess’s translation is in his copy of Pervigilium Veneris at IABF.

138. ‘Heroes are dead to us.’ Previously unpublished variant text. Also in the novelised version of The Eve of St Venus but with collective, rather than personal, pronouns used. Banbury diary, c.1954[?]. MS in notebook at IABF.

139. From typescript.

140. That The Earth Rose Out Of A Vast Basin Of Electric Sea. Written as J. B. Wilson, Burgess’s real name. Manchester Xaverian, Easter Term, 1936. Copy at IABF.

141. Sonnet In Alexandrines. John Burgess Wilson (JBW). The Manchester Xaverian (Easter Term, 1936). Copy at IABF.

142. A Rondel For Spring. Described as ‘After Charles D’Orléans’. Appears on same MS as ‘My father, his wife’, with minor variants (title, and no comma after ‘rain’). The manuscript version appears to be typed quite late in Burgess’s life. John Burgess Wilson (JBW), ‘A Rondel for Spring’ in Manchester Xaverian. Easter Term, 1936.

143. When It Is All Over. The Serpent, vol. 24 (1939–1940), p. 15.

144. Wir Danken Unsrem Führer. The Serpent, vol. 24 (1939–1940), p. 4.

145. Girl. This poem has been attributed to two fictional poets in Burgess’s career: to Lavinia Grantham, and to Enderby. Kevin Jackson notes that the pronouns are changed in the re-attribution from J.B. Wilson to F.X. Enderby. Jackson does not mention the re-attribution that occurred in A Vision of Battlements, which pre-dates Enderby, even if it was published later. Jackson notes that this poem was originally published in The Serpent. Later on in A Vision of Battlements, the content of the poem bleeds into Burgess’s description of Ennis’s thoughts on Lavinia: ‘Her yellow hair, sheaves shed by summer, was irradiated by the last of the sun…’ (p. 155). The last part of this sentence, although not appearing in the poem, maintains the rhythm of the line. A Vision of Battlements (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1965), p. 153; The Serpent, vol. 24, p. 26 (see Biswell, p. 73).

146. To Amaryllis After The Dance. The Serpent, vol. 24, p. 89 (see Biswell, p. 73).

147. Orpheus And Eurydice. The Serpent, vol. 24, p. 96 (see Biswell, p. 73).

148. ‘All the ore.’ The Serpent, vol. 24, p. 63.

149. A History. The Serpent, vol. 24, p. 56.

150. The Lowdown On Art Or Æsthetics For The Science Student. The Serpent, vol. 244, p. 9.

151. Dead Leaves. The Serpent, vol. 24, p. 33.

152. Sonnet on Examinations. The Serpent, vol. 24.

153. Sixth-form Triolets. Line three of part II originally read ‘It ages children to adults, –’. The em dash has been removed to regulate the punctuation. The Serpent, vol. 24.

154. Jack’s Story. A fragment of an unfinished autobiographical poem.

155. ‘Prudence! Prudence!’ the pigeons call.’ Inside Mr. Enderby, pp. 32–35.

156. Fish And Heroes. Inside Mr. Enderby, p. 73.

157. ‘Nymphs and satyrs, come away.’ Inside Mr. Enderby, p. 105.

158. ‘And in that last delirium of lust.’ Written by Enderby, as part of the Arry and Thelma cycle that he composes for a kitchen chef. Inside Mr. Enderby, p. 110.

159. Epithalamion. Prior to writing this, Enderby invokes Shelley. For Shelley’s own Epithalamion, see P.B. Shelley, The Works of P.B. Shelley (Ware: Wordsworth Poetry Library, 1994), p. 412. Inside Mr. Enderby, p. 138.

160. To Tirzah. Described as a ‘gnomic telegraphic message’. In Little Wilson and Big God (p. 185), Burgess says this was printed in the University of Manchester student magazine, The Serpent. He also says ‘I never quite understood this poem’. On the same page, he provides the title of the poem. See: Damon, S. Foster (2013) A Blake Dictionary: The Ideas and Symbols of William