VERNON WATKINS was born on June 27th, 1906, in Maesteg, South Wales. During his lifetime 8 volumes of his poetry were published by Faber & Faber - with a 9th appearing posthumously. At his death he had won several major poetry prizes, was a visiting Professor of Poetry in America, and was being considered for poet laureate. He was friends with poets as diverse as: W. B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, David Jones, Dylan Thomas, Philip Larkin, R.S. Thomas and Kathleen Raine. The latter called Watkins: 'The greatest lyric poet of my generation.' Dylan Thomas called him: 'the most profound and greatly accomplished Welshman writing poems in English.' He lived most of his life on the Gower Peninsula, with his wife and five children, and earned his living working as a clerk for Lloyds Bank. He died in America on October 8th, 1967.