30 OCTOBER 1964, Page 15

Sm.-- -I am amused to note that Mr. Edward Lucie-

Smith, replying to my letter about the Group, has quietly avoided any reference to Philip Hobsbaum's

definition of the Group as 'a seminar in creative writing.' Yet it was the implications of this definition, not the mere mention of an association of poets, that disturbed me—and still do.

And if Mr. Lucie-Smith sees maverick poets as cows, what then are poets who must band or huddle together to face 'our complicated, crowded, urban society'? Sheep?

DOUGLAS HILL 25 Rugby Chambers. Rugby Street, WC!