Watkins, Vernon (1906–1967)

Welsh poet. He used musical rhythms and intonations in his poetry, of which he published eight volumes, including Ballad of the Mari Lwyd 1941, The Lamp and the Veil 1945, The Death Bell 1954, and Affinities 1962, and translated poems by Heinrich Heine in The North Sea 1951.

Watkins was born in Maesteg, Glamorgan, and studied at Cambridge, but left after one year for a post in a bank in Swansea. He suffered a nervous breakdown but returned to the bank and remained there until retirement. He was a friend of Dylan Thomas and published Dylan Thomas: Letters to Vernon Watkins 1957. He was also influenced by William Blake and W B Yeats, and sought to reconcile himself with a Christian faith. Fidelities 1968 and Uncollected Poems 1969 were published posthumously.