Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1617

Carbon of a letter from Heath to Arthur B. Chitty, University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee

May 10, 1957

 

 

Dear Mr. Chitty:

 

     I often think I should send you a special letter of thanks for having prompted me in a note of a year or more ago to read Robert Bridges’ Testament of Beauty, after I had for so many years neglected to do so.

 

     I have thoroughly enjoyed it, and I am now in the course of making a careful digest of it.

 

     This philosophic poem is in the tradition of the Epicurean materialist, Lucretius. It has the same universal scope so far as the workaday world is concerned, but reaches spiritual and artistic elevations of which Lucretius could never dream. Even Plato supplies him with images and fields of thought, yet he transcends them all. I marvel that the Testament of Beauty has not met with more general acclaim. It is marvelously well grounded in natural science, in which he breathes spiritual significance after the manner of Sinnott and McCrady. It is truly a philosophic and spiritual tour de force.

 

     I am sure Sewanee must be coming into beautiful bud ad bloom. I have enjoyed my visits there and look forward to doing so again.

 

     My Citadel, Market and Altar is scheduled for publication June fifth. I am looking forward to sending a gift copy to Mrs. Chitty and you.

 

     With many best wishes,

 

 

 

SH/m

 

 

 

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/From The Writer’s Almanac, date unknown:/

 

It’s the birthday of poet Robert Bridges .. born in Walmer, England (1844). He was born into a wealthy family, and he had his life all planned out: he would work as a doctor until the age of 40 so that he could learn about human nature, and then he would retire and write poetry. It didn’t work out — he got sick and had to retire early. He spent decades working on his poetry, living in seclusion in the countryside with his family. He produced beautiful, limited, and expensive editions of his poetry, printed on handmade paper in obscure, hand-set type. He studied Milton’s prosody and advocated for pure usage of the English language. For decades, he continued in this fashion, known and respected only in certain academic circles.

 

            In 1912, the Oxford University Press chose Bridges as one of only two living poets for the Oxford Standard Poets series. For the first time, his poems were available in an accessible, inexpensive collection. Everyone was shocked — including Bridges — when his Poetical Works sold 27,000 copies in its first year and made him famous. The following year, he was named poet laureate at the age of 69.

 

            In 1921, Bridges wrote the poems that would become New Poems (1925, but then for several years, he did not write at all. On Christmas day of 1924, he was struck by the urge to write, and he composed 14 lines. Shortly after that, his youngest daughter became sick and eventually died. After her death, he returned to the poem and spent the next few years working on it. The Testament of Beauty (1929), considered his greatest work, was published on his 85th birthday, six months before his death.

 

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