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Lot 177
HEANEY (SEAMUS) Autograph letter signed, with an inscribed photocopied typescript of Alphabets, June 1985 and other papers
29 March 2023, 13:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £2,167.50 inc. premium
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HEANEY (SEAMUS)
Autograph letter signed ("Seamus Heaney") to Brian Stone of the Open University ("Dear Brian Stone"), approving the citation prepared for a graduation ceremony at the University of Newcastle the following Saturday and describing his recent trip to Harvard to read the Phi Beta Kappa poem ("...for those who graduate summa cum laude... each year they ask a poet to compose a poem... Auden did "Under Which Lyre" in 1946, and Frost, Stevens, Emerson, Lowell et al. have been on the roster, so I was honoured to take part..."), expressing his pleasure that Sweeney "...woke some answering chord in you...", 2 pages, creased at folds, rust stain from old paperclip, 4to (280 x 217mm.), 191 Strand Road, Dublin 4, 15 June 1984; with an accompanying photocopied typescript of his poem 'Alhpabets' [sic], signed and inscribed in blue ink ("...for Brian Stone – Phi Beta Kappa poem, Harvard 1984./ Seamus Heaney, 15th June 1984..."), 4 pages, 4to (280 x 217mm.), 15 June 1984; with small group of letters and papers regarding the graduation ceremony including a draft of Stone's letter to Heaney (quantity)
Footnotes
'FROST, STEVENS, EMERSON, LOWELL ET AL. HAVE BEEN ON THE ROSTER, SO I WAS HONOURED TO TAKE PART': THE FIRST READING OF SEAMUS HEANEY'S PHI BETA KAPPA POEM ALPHABETS.
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) was presented an honorary doctorate from the Open University by Brian Stone, who made an appreciative speech at the ceremony held at the University of Newcastle on 23 June 1984. As a gesture of thanks, Heaney presented him with a photocopied typescript of his poem Alphabets, which he had just delivered at Harvard, and was to be published as the opening poem in Heaney's 1987 collection, The Haw Lantern: '...Traditionally the Phi Beta Kappa poem is about learning...' he said '...So mine was [about] making the first letters at primary school...' (Corydon Ireland, The Harvard Gazette online, 24 May 2012). This version, as delivered by Heaney in May that year, differs substantially from the final published poem and is therefore an important source for the original text. The original typescript, here in photocopy form, includes the addition of the third verse beginning 'Two rafters...', but more importantly includes different and longer versions of Cantos II and III, some of which material was dropped from the published work, with other parts substantially amended. Our Canto IV, for example, becomes Canto III in the final poem.
Brian Stone, author of Prisoner from Alamein, lost a leg in 1942 whilst serving in North Africa and was decorated with the Military Cross. After the war he became an inspirational teacher of English, theatre producer and mediaevalist. His translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for Penguin Classics remains in print. In 1969 Stone became a founder member of the Open University and Reader in English Literature.
Provenance: Brian Stone (1919-1995); thence by descent to his son, the present owner.