22 OCTOBER 1948, Page 18

YEATS AND OTHERS SIR,—In Mr. St. John Ervine's otherwise admirable

letter in The Spectator of October 1st, when talking of English poets, he says.: "And " Surely Kipling has been deprecated and patronised enough? We all know how often he banged_ the tin can, but at least he banged it with gusto; and when he sounded the trumpet, it had a tune. Better, I dare believe, than discosds on the harmonium, or strange noises with a circular saw or automatic drill, -which, alas, masquerade so often as poetry today.—Yours faithfully,