HEANEY, Seamus
‘The Otter’ [in] ‘Hand and Eye’. Proofs in the first state, with ink corrections
Edinburgh: Privately Printed at the Tragara Press, 1977
A handmade folded brown card folder; upper cover titled ‘Hand and Eye’ and ‘Proofs in the first state’ in black pen; containing a single-sided typescript (carbon copy) of ‘The Otter’ (20.5 x 29.5cm); folded horizontally and vertically, with corrections in Heaney’s hand, omitting the final verse (which is crossed through), signed and dated by him in September 1977, together with a set of proofs for the privately printed edition of ‘Hand and Eye’: An Anthology for Sacheverell Sitwell, containing the title page, Preface by Ronald Stevenson (hand numbered, with page 3 crossed through and the correct version printed on the recto), acknowledgements, limitation page and a print of Kirby Hall by John Piper (which served as the frontispiece), along with the poems themselves, which include contributions from Samuel Beckett, George Mackay Brown, John Betjeman, Ted Hughes and the editor Geoffrey Elborn, as well as a print by Moore; ‘The Otter’ also appears twice more, both on double pages, with corrections in blue and black ink; a note on Tragara Press headed paper noting additional corrections by Barker, Betjeman, Hill and Silkin; and a signed postcard from Heaney to Elborn thanking him for the book, which he notes is ‘very handsome’; occasional spots, creasing and marginal toning; else excellent.
Heaney’s working copy of his poem ‘The Otter’, and the pre-publication proofs showing a verse omitted by him and never published.
Hand and Eye was a volume of poems published by The Tragara Press to celebrate Sitwell’s eightieth birthday. Published in a run of just 175 copies, the Preface was provided by Ronald Stevenson, who notes that “Sitwell’s way with words makes stones speak; makes us contemporaries of ancient cultures, compatriots of alien peoples”. Heaney’s contribution was ‘The Otter’, and here we are able to witness his initial iteration of the poem, in which the final verse read:
Riverbank marigolds,
Seepage through alder roots!
Back there on the pattering mud slick
I would pounce, otter, and revel
Heaney also makes two grammatical/spelling changes, as well as changing ‘behind’ to ‘beyond’ in the third published verse. The above verse was later changed to:
And suddenly you’re out
Back again, intent as ever,
Heavy and frisky in your freshened pelt,
Printing the stones
Written during a time in which Heaney was living apart from his wife, the poem is nostalgic in tone, and recalls a time in which the poet observed his wife swimming in Tuscany, here comparing the elegant movements to that of the riverbank creature.
A rare opportunity to see the author’s initial iterations for this much-loved poem.
HEANEY, Seamus
‘The Otter’ [in] ‘Hand and Eye’. Proofs in the first state, with ink corrections
Edinburgh: Privately Printed at the Tragara Press, 1977
A handmade folded brown card folder; upper cover titled ‘Hand and Eye’ and ‘Proofs in the first state’ in black pen; containing a single-sided typescript (carbon copy) of ‘The Otter’ (20.5 x 29.5cm); folded horizontally and vertically, with corrections in Heaney’s hand, omitting the final verse (which is crossed through), signed and dated by him in September 1977, together with a set of proofs for the privately printed edition of ‘Hand and Eye’: An Anthology for Sacheverell Sitwell, containing the title page, Preface by Ronald Stevenson (hand numbered, with page 3 crossed through and the correct version printed on the recto), acknowledgements, limitation page and a print of Kirby Hall by John Piper (which served as the frontispiece), along with the poems themselves, which include contributions from Samuel Beckett, George Mackay Brown, John Betjeman, Ted Hughes and the editor Geoffrey Elborn, as well as a print by Moore; ‘The Otter’ also appears twice more, both on double pages, with corrections in blue and black ink; a note on Tragara Press headed paper noting additional corrections by Barker, Betjeman, Hill and Silkin; and a signed postcard from Heaney to Elborn thanking him for the book, which he notes is ‘very handsome’; occasional spots, creasing and marginal toning; else excellent.
Heaney’s working copy of his poem ‘The Otter’, and the pre-publication proofs showing a verse omitted by him and never published.
Hand and Eye was a volume of poems published by The Tragara Press to celebrate Sitwell’s eightieth birthday. Published in a run of just 175 copies, the Preface was provided by Ronald Stevenson, who notes that “Sitwell’s way with words makes stones speak; makes us contemporaries of ancient cultures, compatriots of alien peoples”. Heaney’s contribution was ‘The Otter’, and here we are able to witness his initial iteration of the poem, in which the final verse read:
Riverbank marigolds,
Seepage through alder roots!
Back there on the pattering mud slick
I would pounce, otter, and revel
Heaney also makes two grammatical/spelling changes, as well as changing ‘behind’ to ‘beyond’ in the third published verse. The above verse was later changed to:
And suddenly you’re out
Back again, intent as ever,
Heavy and frisky in your freshened pelt,
Printing the stones
Written during a time in which Heaney was living apart from his wife, the poem is nostalgic in tone, and recalls a time in which the poet observed his wife swimming in Tuscany, here comparing the elegant movements to that of the riverbank creature.
A rare opportunity to see the author’s initial iterations for this much-loved poem.
