Add MS 88998/2/66

35 communications from Anne Stevenson.

• (1). South Island, New Zealand, 29 February 1996. Autograph postcard.
• (2). Grantchester, 31 March 1996. Autograph postcard.
• (3). Grantchester, 14 May [1996]. Autograph letter (1 sheet), with envelope. 'My hearing has taken a turn for the worse [....]'
• (4). Grantchester, 28 July 1996. Autograph postcard. Refers to Harwood, 'Talking Bab-Ilu', dedicated to Stevenson (Collected Poems, p. 455).
• (5). [Llanbedr], 27 September 1996. Autograph letter (1 sheet). 'Just got your letter with its good news of your new flat.'
• (6). Grantchester, 3 February 1997. Autograph postcard (Braque). 'Planning to see the [Howard] Hodgkin exhibition tomorrow. Saw the Braque at R.A. on Sat. Marvellous! Colours not right on this postcard. So solid & full of peace. Familar objects at rest and in movement at the same time.'
• (7). [Llanbedr], 5 March 1997. Typed letter (1 sheet). Refers to performances of Rhian Samuel, Daughter's Letters. 'I went to the Grand Premiere in London and then to the performance in Cambridge, which I could hear much better with a new hearing device called a Sennheisser (made in Switzerland). I thought, like you, that Sinfonia 21 gave it a "truly marvellous" performance [....] I'm hoping Rhian will be commissioned, on the strength of these, to write a song-cycle or even an opera. I'm thinking of Frankenstein as a suitable fable for our times. Exciting days ahead.'
• (8). Grantchester, 22 March 1997. Autograph letter (1 sheet) written on the verso of a typed draft poem by Harwood, 'The History of Science' (Collected Poems, pp. 470-1) annotated lightly by Stevenson.
• (9). Llanbedr, 8 April 1997. Autograph postcard.
• (10). Llanbedr, 13 July 1997 (postmark). Undated typed letter (2 sheets), with envelope. Refers to Harwood, 'Salt Water' (Collected Poems, pp. 480-1).
• (11). Grantchester, 9 August [?1997]. Autograph postcard (postmark faint). 'No, I've not read Schuyler's poems or the Diary. Bring them with you. Have written 2 poems since finishing Bishop - several more in the cooking pot.'
• (12). Llanbedr, 8 October 1997. Typed letter (1 sheet). Stevenson has visited Orkney, has begun to read Harwood, Dream Quilt, and her book on Bishop (Five Looks at Elizabeth Bishop) should be out by Christmas. 'I've written a few poems I like but I want to think about them before I send them around.'
• (13). [Grantchester], 31 October 1997. Autograph postcard.
• (14). [Grantchester], 30 January 1998. Autograph postcard. Decided to sell cottage in Grantchester, 'settling for our old age in Durham City'.
• (15). Grantchester, 12 March 1998. Autograph letter (1 sheet). 'Flashlight Sonata [Robert Sheppard] is very interesting, "Utopia" in particular. I hope he reads it for the course' [Arvon]. The Grantchester cottage is sold. 'Yes, Bitter Fame [A Life of Sylvia Plath] is on the way to new editions in the U.S. & England [....] There will always be a core of feminists who won't accept it, but I hope the public will be convinced.'
• (16). Grantchester, 28 April [1998]. Autograph postcard, with envelope.
• (17). [Llanbedr], 23 July 1998 (postmark). Autograph postcard.
• (18). [Durham], 30 August [1998]. Autograph postcard, with envelope. 'We hope you will find time to to spend a week or more at Pwllymarch while we are in Nova Scotia & Vermont at the end of Sept.'
• (19). Durham, 14 October 1998 (postmark). Autograph postcard with envelope. 'Arrived back from NYC via Boston and Iceland(!) last Saturday.'
• (20). [Llanbedr], 26 October 1998. Autograph postcard. 'Mice seem to thrive on the soap in the bathroom.'
• (21). Durham, 3 December 1998. Christmas card news, with annotated envelope. 'My hearing is much worse, which is discouraging, though I still hear the piano.'
• (22). [Llanbedr], 16 January 1999. Autograph postcard.
• (23). Durham, 19 March 1999. Autograph folding card. 'What a perfectly delightful poet James Schuyler is.'
• (24). Durham, 4 May 1999. Typed letter (1 sheet) enclosing three typed poems (3 sheets): 'False Flowers', 'A Present / For Lee Harwood', and 'To Mozart (April, 1999) / For Bernard Roberts'. Letter refers to a joint reading in Huddersfield, and to having received poems from Harwood 'this morning'.
• (25). Durham, 21 May 1999. Typed letter (1 sheet). 'I'm afraid I don't know Jack Spicer's work at all.'
• (26). Durham, 24 July 1999. Typed letter (1 sheet). 'I much prefer the low-keyed, gentle James Schuyler to [Jack] Spicer's way of letting his shadow get in the way of his words.'
• (27). Durham, 4 August 1999. Typed letter (1 sheet). Further comments on Jack Spicer.
• (28). [Durham], '11 August (Eclipse Day)' [1999]. Typed letter (1 sheet) enclosing two typed poems (3 sheets): 'To Mozart' (revised - see letter 24 above) and 'An Angel'. 'Don't know what JS [Jack Spicer] would think of the enclosed but I'd like to know what you think.'
• (29). [Durham], 2 September 1999. Autograph postcard (Nerys Johnson).
• (30). [Llanbedr], 6 September 1999. Folding card.
• (31). Durham, 12 October 1999. Autograph postcard and typed poem 'Leaving Pwllymarch' (1 sheet), with envelope. Written at the foot of the poem: 'This is so different in mood & tone from your poems, I hesitate to inflict it on you. But I have to say I like it.'
• (32). Durham, 21 October 1999. Autograph postcard (Nerys Johnson). 'Yes, I do think our poems share an outlook, a love of particulars, as you say, and a distrust of pretension. Our landscapes are very similar, inscape and outscape.'
• (33). Durham, 10 November 1999. Autograph postcard (Nerys Johnson). 'Back writing at a few poems, giving yet another talk about Elizabeth Bishop at a poet's meeting in Newcastle end of the month.'
• (34). [Durham], 8 December 1999 (postmark). Bespoke Christmas card, with envelope. On the inside of the card, Stevenson's poem 'Leaving Pwllymarch' - 'The poem overleaf must have taken 6 months to get right, but I think it's right now'.
• (35). Durham, 16 December 1999. Typed letter (1 sheet) enclosing typed poem 'Granny Scarecrow' (1 sheet). Comments on 'The wind rises: Istvan Martha meets Sandy Berrigan' (Collected Poems, pp. 486-8).