Poems by Isaac Rosenberg

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POEMS BY ISAAC ROSENBERG
To Miss Seaton.
" So I've decided on Africa, the climate being
very good, and I believe plenty to do. ... I won't
be quite lost in Africa. ... I dislike London for
the selfishness it instils into one, which is a reason
of the peculiar feeling of isolation I believe most
people have in London. I hardly know anybody
whom I would regret leaving (except, of course, the
natural ties of sentiment with one's own people);
but whether it is that my nature distrusts people,
or is
intolerant, or whether my pride or my backwardness
cools people, I have always been alone.
Forgive this little excursion into the forbidden
lands of egotism."
The next letter was written to Mr. Edward
Marsh, in the midst of packing for the voyage to
the Cape.
Mr. Marsh was interested in Rosenberg
both as an artist and as a poet ; he printed one of
his poems in "Georgian Poetry, 1916-1917," and
befriended him in many ways. The letter throws
light on Rosenberg's use of language in poetry. As
the piece referred to— "Midsummer Frost"1— is not
in the present selection, it may be given here
A July ghost, aghast at the strange winter,
Wonders, at burning noon, all summer-seeming,
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