Sir, - The response from Dr Andrew Rynne (May 29th) to Kevin Myers' article on the poet Francis Ledwidge has prompted me to write. I would totally agree with Dr Rynne that we all owe a great deal to his mother Alice Curtayne for helping to keep alive the spirit of Ireland's most underrated, poet, Francis Ledwidge, who deserves to be placed side by side with Yeats and Kavanagh.
In my reading of the article, however, it was clear to me that Mr Myers was not referring to silly verses" written while the poet was still at school, but to important poems written between 1914 and 1917, when Ledwidge was in the army and was by then an accomplished poet. Mr Myers was obviously referring to Jim West and Billy the Bulldog, two poems mentioned by Ms Curtayne in her biography but not included in Complete Poems.
Let us not become embroiled in the business of apportioning blame to Alice Curtayne, who was herself unhappy with her publishers concerning certain mistakes and omissions from the books; or to Kevin Myers, for doing what he does best: providing, through his excellent column, food for thought often leading to lively and much needed debate. Let us instead, accept that, just as Ms Curtayne felt the original 1919 edition needed to be revised, it is time that the 1974 (Curtayne) edition was updated.
At the end of July next, to mark the 80th anniversary of the death of the poet, a new edition of Complete Poems will be available through Goldsmith Press. This, the result of many years of research, will include 66 previously uncollected poems, 20 of which have never before been published. The poems feared "lost for ever" by Mr Myers will be seen for the first time. These are not juvenilia, but from various periods of the poet's life and include a poem which he wrote on a wooden cross the soldiers had erected over the grave of a German officer, who had, according to Ledwidge, "died like a gentleman. The poem is dated Ypres July 1917, only days before his own death at the same spot. This poem was rejected by the publishers in 1917 because of its content, as was another beautiful poem to an illegitimate child.
As well as editing this new edition, I have included notes and dates on all poems and the entire collection will appear for the first time in chronological order. There will also be a "when and where" Ledwidge map. The preface will begin with my assertion that anyone who writes on the subject of Francis Ledwidge does so in the shadow of Alice Curtayne.
On July 27th The Inchicore Ledwidge Society will hold a special remembrance day at the War Memorial Park, Islandbridge, Dublin, at 11 am. On July 31st, coinciding with the actual day of the poet's death, a further tribute will be paid at the De Mazenod Centre, 52a Bulfin Road, Inchicore, at 8 pm. - Yours, etc.,
Chairman,
The Inchicore Ledwidge Society,
Emmet Road,
Dublin 8.