8 K—A key theme of my review of D. H. Lawrence's
Complete Poems was a vilification of the old-style cant criticism of Lawrence, especially the judgment that his later poems were negative and Worthless. This judgment, I said, should be reversed. Last week you published a letter from Mr. Colin Murry in which •he said that I had 'airily dis- missed' Lawrence's poems as being 'all negative.' What can one do about that? He also accuses me of falsely stating that Lawrence reacted against the dominance of Middleton 'Murry. Why does he wish to deny or alter a fact which was universally known to their friends? I will not quote the index to Lawrence's Complete Letters where the 'Murry' entry is analysed. The references are too painful and should not be recalled. Frieda Lawrence, in conversation, Poke of the break much more gently.
None of this is in the slightest degree detrimental to Middleton Murry. Lawrence furiously reacted against most of his friends at one time or another. But I believe that Mr. Colin Murry is unjust to me from honourable motives. That he has been angered by that group of critics who for some inexplicable reason cannot say anything in praise of D.H.L. Without saying something unpleasant about J.M.M., Mr. Murry's father. If so I am entirely on his aide. I had the privilege of knowing Middleton Murry, and of reading his work as it was first published. I believed then and I am even more sure now that he was the most perceptive and profound English critic of this century: and I am just as certain that, for a man of his stature, he is the most unjustly neglected. His son is the last person to whom, by MY references, I would wish to cause annoyance.
STEPHEN POTTER
Savile Club, WI
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