![]() First edition | |
Author | Denton Welch |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Short story collection |
Publisher | John Lehmann |
Publication date | 1951 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print ( Hardback) |
Preceded by | A Voice Through a Cloud |
Followed by | The Denton Welch Journals |
A Last Sheaf is the title given to the second posthumous publication of works by the writer and painter Denton Welch. Published in 1951 by John Lehmann, it followed A Voice Through a Cloud, issued by Lehmann the previous year.
The collection was assembled by Welch's partner, Eric Oliver, with assistance from Lehmann and Welch's friend, Francis Streeten. [1] It consists of five stories appearing for the first time, four previously-published stories and two stories published in full [2] for the first time. Also included are sixty-seven short poems and nine monochrome reproductions of Welch's paintings, at least one of which ("The Coffin House") had previously accompanied the publication of a short story. Contained in the text are a number of Welch's "decorations", as he called them. The dustjacket states that it is "adapted" from a drawing by Welch, but the overall design is not his; nor are the endpaper illustrations. [3]
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Response to the collection was mainly positive, focusing heavily on the Sickert piece [6] and considering the book to be a memorial to its author. [7] Robert Phillips, writing over 20 years later, characterised the collection as "a mixed bag", although this seems to describe the mix of genres in the book rather than a qualitative assessment. [8] Overall, however, Phillips reflects that A Last Sheaf did not enhance Welch's critical reputation in the way that the preceding publications did, and publication of the journals would subsequently do. [9]
The only detailed analysis of the poems in A Last Sheaf also comes from Phillips. This also remains the only substantial analysis of Welch's poetry, and even here it is restricted to those in this selection. [10] Phillips finds Welch's poems to be generally quite poor, ranking with his art (which he does not rate very highly either [11]). He finds in some of them sub- Housman allusion, [12] an excess of adverbs and adjectives, [13] and sometimes ill-judged use of rhyme. [14] Ironically, for Phillips, Welch's most "poetic" language is in fact to be found in his prose. [15] Nonetheless, despite their inferior status, Phillips does find in them redeeming features: vivid gothick imagery, often shocking juxtapositions (as in "Jane Allen", [16] Welch's most-reprinted poem) and a keener awareness of the war raging around him than in his prose. [17]
Phillips' views on Welch's poems in the book have not been universally shared, however. Not long after they were published, the English composer Howard Ferguson set five of Welch's poems from A Last Sheaf for voice and piano. The work, entitled Discovery, was a favourite concert piece of Kathleen Ferrier, who went on to record it.[ citation needed]
Thirteen of Welch's poems were included in the text of his Journals, published the year after A Last Sheaf. It would be almost twenty-five years before any more of his poetry appeared in print again, in the 1976 anthology, Dumb Instrument.[ citation needed]
![]() First edition | |
Author | Denton Welch |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Short story collection |
Publisher | John Lehmann |
Publication date | 1951 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print ( Hardback) |
Preceded by | A Voice Through a Cloud |
Followed by | The Denton Welch Journals |
A Last Sheaf is the title given to the second posthumous publication of works by the writer and painter Denton Welch. Published in 1951 by John Lehmann, it followed A Voice Through a Cloud, issued by Lehmann the previous year.
The collection was assembled by Welch's partner, Eric Oliver, with assistance from Lehmann and Welch's friend, Francis Streeten. [1] It consists of five stories appearing for the first time, four previously-published stories and two stories published in full [2] for the first time. Also included are sixty-seven short poems and nine monochrome reproductions of Welch's paintings, at least one of which ("The Coffin House") had previously accompanied the publication of a short story. Contained in the text are a number of Welch's "decorations", as he called them. The dustjacket states that it is "adapted" from a drawing by Welch, but the overall design is not his; nor are the endpaper illustrations. [3]
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Response to the collection was mainly positive, focusing heavily on the Sickert piece [6] and considering the book to be a memorial to its author. [7] Robert Phillips, writing over 20 years later, characterised the collection as "a mixed bag", although this seems to describe the mix of genres in the book rather than a qualitative assessment. [8] Overall, however, Phillips reflects that A Last Sheaf did not enhance Welch's critical reputation in the way that the preceding publications did, and publication of the journals would subsequently do. [9]
The only detailed analysis of the poems in A Last Sheaf also comes from Phillips. This also remains the only substantial analysis of Welch's poetry, and even here it is restricted to those in this selection. [10] Phillips finds Welch's poems to be generally quite poor, ranking with his art (which he does not rate very highly either [11]). He finds in some of them sub- Housman allusion, [12] an excess of adverbs and adjectives, [13] and sometimes ill-judged use of rhyme. [14] Ironically, for Phillips, Welch's most "poetic" language is in fact to be found in his prose. [15] Nonetheless, despite their inferior status, Phillips does find in them redeeming features: vivid gothick imagery, often shocking juxtapositions (as in "Jane Allen", [16] Welch's most-reprinted poem) and a keener awareness of the war raging around him than in his prose. [17]
Phillips' views on Welch's poems in the book have not been universally shared, however. Not long after they were published, the English composer Howard Ferguson set five of Welch's poems from A Last Sheaf for voice and piano. The work, entitled Discovery, was a favourite concert piece of Kathleen Ferrier, who went on to record it.[ citation needed]
Thirteen of Welch's poems were included in the text of his Journals, published the year after A Last Sheaf. It would be almost twenty-five years before any more of his poetry appeared in print again, in the 1976 anthology, Dumb Instrument.[ citation needed]