“I suddenly became conscious of myself as a solitary and wayward person.” — Harold Monro | V2Melody

“I suddenly became conscious of myself as a solitary and wayward person.”

Marks the moment he first claimed a poet's isolation · Recollection of beginning to write in France, 1896

About Harold Monro

Harold Monro

14 March 1879–16 March 1932

In the heart of Georgian London, amid the tumult of a literary revolution that would reshape English poetry forever, stood a slight, melancholic figure whose contribution to modern literature far exceeded his own poetic achievements. Harold Edward Monro, born on March 14, 1879, in Brussels to Scottish parents, would…

More by Harold Monro

Poems by Harold Monro

More remarks by Harold Monro

“Verse-writing in the year 1920 is a professional occupation.”

Opens his survey by treating poetry as a career, not a vocation only · Book, Some Contemporary Poets, 1920

“I became morose and developed the surly attitude I have kept ever since towards people who interrupt me at work.”

A dry self-portrait of the writer defending his desk · Autobiographical recollection of early writing habits

“The poet of to-day is unavoidably Man of Letters. His work must have a certain quality of the study; it must savour of bitten nails.”

Admits that modern verse is made by labour, not by unearned rapture · Essay, The Future of Poetry, The Poetry Review, 1912