WATKINS, VERNON PHILLIPS

born June 27, 1906, Maesteg, Glamorgan,Wales died Oct. 8, 1967, near Swansea, Glamorgan English-language Welsh poet who drew from Welsh material and legend. Watkins steeped himself in the study of French and German and developed a deep understanding of the poetry of both those countries while he was a student at Cambridge University. After graduation he became a bank clerk and wrote poetry. Watkins' work includes Ballad of Mari Lwyd (1941), The Lamp and the Veil (1945), The Lady with the Unicorn (1948), The Death Bell (1954), Cypress and Acacia (1959), and Affinities (1962). Selected Poems was published in 1967. Also of considerable interest is his edition of Letters to Vernon Watkins by Dylan Thomas (1957).