29 JANUARY 1954, Page 12

faithfully, JOHN WAIN Les Lilas, Les Diablerets, Vaud, Switzerland

SIR,—As last week's new great poet, I was very glad to see that letter from a Doctor Sitwell telling Mr. Anthony Hartley that it's okay for great poets to copy bits out of dead writers. The lady is wrong, though, if she thinks I never copy bits out of dead writers like she does. Here is a bit out of one of my poems, which I haven't managed to get pub- lished yet: