| Description | 'Underneath the water' was first published by Macmillan in 1968. The title comes from the children's skipping song:
"Underneath the water
Six feet deep
There lies Hitler
Fast asleep..."
An alternative working title was 'Shore lives'. Some of the poems in this collection was included in 'New poems' in 'Collected poems' (1975). The collection was selected as the Poetry Book Society Choice for spring 1968 and was also awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1967.
1. Fine typescript in black file, Apr 1970
2. Fine typescript, n.d. [previously contained in a pink wallet file]
3. Fine typescript with amended contents' page, n.d. Also letter from ? editor discussing selection, Apr 1967
4. Dummy proof copy ["uncorrected proof copy"] with no annotations by Causley, c 1968
5. Colour dust-jacket proof, c 1958
6. Envelope containing: specimen pages, Aug 1967; letter from editor at Macmillan, Sep 1967; 4 b/w photographs of pencil sketches by Juliet Pannett of Causley used on rear of 1st edition dust-jacket, Aug 1967
7. Correspondence from editor at Macmillan and agent Bruce Hunter relating to special paperback edition for Poetry Book Society members, Dec 1967, with loose adverts for collection from 'The bookseller', Jan 1968
8. Letter from the Poetry Book Society, requesting short piece on collection for the next Bulletin, Dec 1967. Enclosed: sample copies of Bulletin, Jun 1965, Nov 1965, May 1966, Dec 1966
9. One large red notebook (1966 diary, labelled 'Causley 1' in pencil inside front cover: see EUL MS 50a/LIT/2 for others in this sequence) (mainly blank). Contains the following poem drafts (first lines also given where title of poem unclear): 'At four o'clock' (also called 'School at four o'clock'), 'Down by St Thomas River' (also called 'Down by St Thomas Water') and possibly other untitled unidentified poems, n.d. [1966]
10. One small black notebook, labelled 'Causley 2' in pencil inside front cover [see also MS 50a/LIT/2 for others in this sequence]. Contains the following poem drafts, which mostly appear in 'Underneath the water' (first lines also given where title of poem unclear): 'Ballad of Jack Cornwell', 'Riverside', 'The Botathen ghost', 'In hospital' (also called 'Hospital' and 'Pelorus Jack', n.d.
See also MS 50a/LIT/2 for papers relating to 'Underneath the water' which are contained in a separate manuscript sequence. See also EUL MS 50a/LIT/4/8, 9, 12 and 19 for notebooks containing drafts. |