Dear Bryan Wynter

Highlight Actions Enable or disable annotations 1 This is only a note This is only a note / To say Echoes the title of William Carlos Williams’s poem, “ This Is Just To Say ” To say This is only a note / To say Echoes the title of William Carlos Williams’s poem, “ This Is Just To Say ” how sorry I am You died You died Bryan Wynter was a friend of Graham’s, and landscape painter (1915-1975). The poem takes both the form of an elegy and a direct address to the deceased Wynter, in the form of a letter (that is, an epistolary poem). . You will realize What a position it puts Me in. I couldn’t really Have died for you if so I were inclined. The carn carn /Foxglove “The Carn” was the name of Wynter’s cottage in the town of Zennor. Carn is an alternate spelling of cairn, a heap of stones used as a landmark or tombstone. A foxglove is a colorful perennial flower, with cup-shaped buds. Foxglove carn /Foxglove “The Carn” was the name of Wynter’s cottage in the town of Zennor. Carn is an alternate spelling of cairn, a heap of stones used as a landmark or tombstone. A foxglove is a colorful perennial flower, with cup-shaped buds. here on the wall Outside your first house Leans with me standing In the Zennor wind Zennor wind A village in Cornwall, on the southwestern coast England, prone to strong winds . Anyhow how are things? Are you still somewhere With your long legs long legs In Graham’s poem “Wynter and the Grammarsow,” he terms Wynter “Sir Longlegged” (line 3). And twitching smile under twitching smile under / Your blue hat Critic Fiona Green notes that these lines “resurrect the closing frame of “Lycidas”: “At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue” (line 192). Milton’s “ Lycidas ” is one of the most famous elegies in the English language. Your blue hat twitching smile under / Your blue hat Critic Fiona Green notes that these lines “resurrect the closing frame of “Lycidas”: “At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue” (line 192). Milton’s “ Lycidas ” is one of the most famous elegies in the English language. walking Across a place? Or am I greedy to make you up Again out of memory? Are you there at all? I would like to think You were all right And not worried about Monica Monica Bryan Wynter’s second wife (née Harman), whom he married in 1959 and the children And not unhappy or bored. 2 Speaking to you and not Knowing if you are there Is not too difficult. My words are used to that. Do you want anything? Where shall I send something? Rice-wine, meanders meanders A type of artwork. One of Wynter’s works at the Tate Gallery in London is titled “Meander I”. In Graham’s poem “Wynter and the Grammarsow,” he calls Wynter “Scholar King / Of rare meanders” (lines 18-19). , paintings By your contemporaries? Or shall I send a kind Of news of no time Leaning against the wall Outside your old house. The house and the whole moor moor In addition to the definition of uncultivated land, a possible play on the verb, meaning to anchor Is flying in the mist. 3 I am up. I’ve washed The front of my face And here I stand looking Out over the top Half of my bedroom window. There almost as far As I can see I see St Buryan’s church tower. St Buryan’s church tower St. Buryan’s is a village in Cornwall. Noted by Sarah Ann Matson as “a greater height than any other church in Cornwall” (St. George and the Dragon[1893]). An inch to the left, behind That dark rise of woods, Is where you used to lurk. 4 This is only a note To say I am aware You are not here. I find It difficult to go Beside Housman’s star Housman’s star / Lit fences In A.E. Housman’s poem “ A Shropshire Lad 52 ” the last stanza reads: “There, by the starlit fences, / The wanderer halts and hears / My soul that lingers sighing / About the glimmering weirs.” Also, Graham wrote similar lines in an earlier poem, “Wynter and the Grammarsow”: “Walker beside the star / Lit fences of Housman (lines 25-26). Lit fences Housman’s star / Lit fences In A.E. Housman’s poem “ A Shropshire Lad 52 ” the last stanza reads: “There, by the starlit fences, / The wanderer halts and hears / My soul that lingers sighing / About the glimmering weirs.” Also, Graham wrote similar lines in an earlier poem, “Wynter and the Grammarsow”: “Walker beside the star / Lit fences of Housman (lines 25-26). without you. And nobody will laugh At my jokes like you. 5 Bryan, I would be obliged If you would scout things out For me. Although I am not Just ready to start out. I am trying to be better I am trying to be better, Matthew Francis annotates this line in New Collected Poems(2004): “ ‘Try to be better’, or ‘TTTB’, was a motto of Graham’s” , Which will make you smile Under your blue hat. I know I make a symbol Of the foxglove Foxglove A foxglove is a colorful perennial flower, with cup-shaped buds. on the wall. It is because it knows you.