Walter De la Mare Papers

The collection consists entirely of correspondence and five photographs, it does not contain any manuscript material. The strength of the collection is the correspondence, which spans decades, between De la Mare and other writers, including Morchard Bishop, H.C. Duffin and Fredoon Kabraji; the collection also includes a series of letters from the poet Richard Church to H.C. Duffin. Over the course of the correspondence it is possible to trace De la Mare's views of poetry and writing -- both the origin and expression of his own poetry and fiction, as well as the work of other writers.

The letters also deal with personal matters: De la Mare's own health and the illness and death of his son-in-law, Rupert Thompson. One subject which is not discussed is World War II; though the letters span the war years and were written in England there is no mention of the war, bombing raids, rationing, or other any details of living in England during the war.

The De la Mare Papers include two collections previously cataloged as the Morchard Bishop and H.C. Duffin collections.