10 OCTOBER 1952, Page 16

Mr. Kirkup's Poems

SIR,—May I be allowed to correct Mr. Abercrombie on a purely fac- tual point ? In his amiable notice of my book, A Correct Compas- sion and Other Poems, he gives the impression that the sixty poems contained in it were all written since the publication of my last book, The Submerged Village, in July, 1951. In fact, only about half of them have been written since that date. The others consist of poems selected from my work of the last six years.—Yours faithfully,

Merlin Haven, Wootton-under-Edge, Glos.

JAMES KIRKUP.