Patric Dickinson Papers
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Date: 1931-1970
Extent: 2 boxes = 1 foot
Name of Creator: Patric Dickinson
Custodial History: Source unknown.
Scope and Content:
The Patric Dickinson papers contain poetry manuscripts ranging from his early years as a poet to the manuscripts of poems included in his 1970 book, More Than Time. Much of the poetry is on loose leaf paper, though there are two bound notebooks with handwritten poetry. Also included in the collection are a number of radio play manuscripts, a typescript of his play The Golden Touch, and manuscripts of essays. The radio play manuscripts aired on the BBC Third Programme Radio between 1958 and 1970. According to Dickinson’s note, The Golden Touch was performed in 1962. Much of the poetry contains notation from Dickinson as he sorted through the material in preparation for donation.
Biographical Sketch:
Patric Dickinson was a poet, anthologist, and scholar who worked at the BBC during World War II and wrote full time from 1948. He published numerous collections of his own poetry and translations of classical literature, as well as serving as an editor of anthologies.
Subject Tracings:
Arnold, Matthew, 1822-1888
Clough, Arthur Hugh, 1819-1861
Davies, W. H. (William Henry), 1871-1940
Dickinson, Patric, 1914-1994
Owen, Wilfred, 1893-1918
Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849
Rosenberg, Isaac, 1890-1918
Sorley, Charles Hamilton, 1895-1915
Thomas, Edward, 1878-1917
System of Arrangement: Arranged in 3 series: 1. Essays. 2. Poetry. 3. Radio Broadcasts and Plays. Series 1 is arranged chronologically. Series 2 is arranged chronologically and undated material is arranged alphabetically by title or first line. Series 3 is arranged chronologically.
Conditions of Access and Use: The collection is open for research use.
Physical Access: Physical property rights in the collection were transferred to Northern Illinois University Libraries. All other literary rights and copyrights remain with the creators of the materials or their designated heirs. The materials in this collection are available for research to qualified scholars as determined by the Northern Illinois University Libraries without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Reproduction: Reproduction of materials is available at the discretion of RBSC staff. All materials reproduced from this collection should bear the credit line, "Patric Dickinson Papers, Rare Books and Special Collections, Northern Illinois University.” In general, Rare Books and Special Collections is not the copyright holder for its materials. It is the responsibility of the patron to adhere to all applicable copyright law when seeking permission to publish.
Language and Scripts of the Material: English
Immediate Source of Acquisition: Unknown.
Accruals: No further accruals are expected.
Inventory of Collection
Series I: Essays | Series II: Poetry | Series III: Radio Broadcasts and Plays
Box 1 | Box 2
Box 1
- Box 1
Folder 1
Description: "Shakespeare Considered as a Poet” [MS essay published in Talking on Shakespeare, edited by John Garrett, 1954.]
- Box 1
Folder 2
Description: Encounter [magazine, Jan. 1970 issue containing his essay
"Poetry and the Spoken Word”]
- Box 1
Folder 3
Description: "Poetry and the Spoken Word” [MS essay]
- Box 1
Folder 4
Description: Poems 1931-36
"The Endless Quest” [TS poem]
"The Hidden Joy: Being a Sequel to the Endless Quest” [TS poem]
"Final Episode” [TS poem]
"Night Drive” [MS poem]
"Poem [Standing in heather]” [MS poem]
"Sonnet 1: Despair” [MS poem]
"Sonnet 2: Hope” [MS poem]
"Leave hope behind—James Thomson” [MS poem]
"The last twist of the knife—T.S. Eliot” [MS poem]
"Poem [The unspoken thought]” [TS poem]
"[Since speech frustrates its purpose]” [TS poem]
"Poem [Nothing continues inviolate but self]” [TS poem]
"Creed . . .” [TS poem]
"Failures” [TS poem]
"The Festival Theatre” [TS poem]
"Uncertainty” [TS poem]
"The Return” [TS poem]
"Cambridge 1934-36” [TS poem]
- Box 1
Folder 5
Description: Poems 1947 [MS blue notebook]
"Song” [poem]
"Song (for David)” [TS poem]
"Royal Military Canal” [poem]
"The Desert” [poem]
"Full Circle” [poem]
"The Choice” [poem]
"Another Song for David” [poem]
"How Long Ago?” [poem]
"In Living Sleep” [poem]
"The Navigator” [poem]
"The Legacy: An Autobiographical Note” [poem]
"The Sailing Race (Halloween 1948)” [poem]
"Lac Aignebelette Haute Savoie May 1947” [poem]
"The Eel” [poem]
"A World Before” [poem]
"World Before” [TS poem]
"True Innocence” [poem]
"Lament for the Great Yachts” [poem]
"Spring on the Marsh” [poem]
"Any Day Now” [poem]
"Nothing?” [poem]
"Meditation in Snow” [poem]
"Dialogue in the Park, or, What Next?” [poem]
"Choruses from Living Silence A Morality for Liverpool Cathedral”
[written for a verse speaking chorus]
"The Bell Song” [song]
"The Tide Turn (for E.C.D.)” [poem]
"The Lark” [poem]
"The Swallows (for Jill and Cecil)” [poem]
"A Summer’s Gale” [TS poem]
"Moonshine” [TS poem]
"Common Terns” [TS poem]
"A Night Scene” [TS poem]
- Box 1
Folder 6
Description: Poems 1952 [MS purple notebook]
"Turning Points” [poem]
"The Tree” [poem]
"The Fossil Bird” [poem]
"Snake” [poem]
"War” [poem]
"No Time to Wait” [poem]
"Geologic” [poem]
"Father’s Song” [poem]
"Song” [poem]
"Song: the Star” [poem]
"The Light of Venus” [poem]
"The Song” [poem]
"The Sea to the River” [poem]
"A Nativity” [poem]
"The Lies They Told” [poem]
"The Unicorn’s Mistake: A Political Allegory” [poem]
"A Butterfly” [poem]
"Father and Son” [poem]
"The Hounds” [poem]
"Line for an Eminent Poet and Critic” [poem]
"Under the Apple Tree” [poem]
"The Scale of Things” [poem]
"The Watchers” [poem]
"Under the Bridge” [poem]
"A Training Flight” [poem]
"The Critic” [poem]
"At Least This” [poem]
"Time” [poem]
"The Mariner’s Eye” [poem]
"The Paper Boy” [poem]
"No Time to Wait” [TS poem]
"Prologue for the Mermaid Season on the Royal Exchange” [TS poem]
- Box 1
Folder 7
Description: Poems 1964-67
"Prologue for the Questors” [MS poem]
"Keats’s Mulberries” [MS poem]
- Box 1
Folder 8
Description: Poems published in More Than Time 1970
"A Season Lost” [7 MS drafts, 1 final TS poem]
"Night” [8 MS drafts, 1 final TS poem]
"Sputnik” [MS poem]
"All Other Loved Places” [MS and TS poem]
"Lincoln Cathedral: the Small Hours” [TS poem]
"On Kingston Down” [TS poem]
"Dead Flowers” [MS and TS poem]
"Coming Down the Fell” [TS poem]
"Becket” [MS cantata/song]
- Box 1
Folder 9
Description: Undated poetry
"And so one waits” [MS poem]
"Duddon Gorge” [MS poem]
"Earth is staid” [2 MS poem]
"Forgiveness” [2 MS poem]
"Go out of me” [MS poem]
"Getting older” [3 MS poem]
"I want it back” [2 MS poem]
"If I hurt you” [MS poem]
"More dead than” [MS poem]
"Nearly two hundred years” [MS poem]
"Perhaps it goes . . .” [4 MS poem]
"Plymouth Hoe 1965” [3 MS poem]
"Rejection of an Author” [3 MS poem]
"So springs come” [MS poem]
"We could never leave” [2 MS poem]
- Box 1
Folder 10
Description: Undated verse translation
"The Georgics of Vergil: Newly Translated into Verse” [MS poem]
- Box 2
Folder 11
Description: "Wilfred Owen” [radio play MS, notebook, 1958]
- Box 2
Folder 12
Description: "The Real Voice: A Study of Isaac Rosenberg” [MS radio play, 1958]
- Box 2
Folder 13
Description: "The Orphan: A Study of Edgar Allan Poe” [MS radio play, 1959]
- Box 2
Folder 14
Description: "W. H. Davies” [MS radio play, 1960]
- Box 2
Folder 15
Description: "Edward Thomas” [MS radio play, 1961]
- Box 2
Folder 16
Description: "The Ungirt Runner: Charles Sorley 1895-1915” [MS radio play, 1961]
- Box 2
Folder 17
Description: The Golden Touch [script of play 1962]
- Box 2
Folder 18
Description: "The Republican Friend: An Impression of A. H. Clough” [corrected TS radio play, 1962]
- Box 2
Folder 19
Description: "One Hour” [corrected TS radio play, 1965]
- Box 2
Folder 20
Description: "The Still Centre: A Sequence of Poems” [MS radio play 1966]
- Box 2
Folder 21
Description: "The Greeks” [MS and TS radio play 1970]
- Box 2
Folder 22
Description: "Wilfred Owen” [radio play MS, loose paper 1970]
- Box 2
Folder 23
Description: "The Hollow Ghost: An Impression of Matthew Arnold as a Poet” [corrected TS radio play n.d.]
