Abstract

A BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY OF THE WORK OF WALTER DE LA MARE

Dr. Priyam Ankit

Volume: 8 Issue: 1 2018

Abstract:

In making an assessment of the work of Walter John de la Mare, we find that the same mind is at work in all the various types of writings. Hence the study of the background of the development of de la Mare’s exquisite mind is essential. Real difficulty arises because the poet has nowhere given any sustained autobiographical account of his life. The difficulty is further aggravated because of the fact that much of the material of autobiography, however tenuous it may be, has been transformed by imagination into poetry or fiction and has become one with what was purely imaginative. References to the natural charm of the poet and his work in the letters and memoires of his friends and acquaintances can be of help to us. A closer study of the life of the poet and the background of the writing reveals facts which run contrary to the general opinion of the critics. One discovers that the various incidents of the life of de la Mare are of value in making a just estimate of his literary work. The life and letters are thus very closely connected. Hence one may begin at the beginning and trace through the life of the author some inspirations and influences which have great bearing of the study of his work.

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