Page:Poems by Isaac Rosenberg (1922).djvu/38

 "So I've decided on Africa, the climate being very good, and I believe plenty to do.... I won't be quite lost in Africa.... I dislike London for the selfishness it instils into one, which is a reason of the peculiar feeling of isolation I believe most people have in London. I hardly know anybody whom I would regret leaving (except, of course, the natural ties of sentiment with one's own people); but whether it is that my nature distrusts people, or is intolerant, or whether my pride or my backwardness cools people, I have always been alone. Forgive this little excursion into the forbidden lands of egotism."

The next letter was written to Mr. Edward Marsh, in the midst of packing for the voyage to the Cape. Mr. Marsh was interested in Rosenberg both as an artist and as a poet; he printed one of his poems in "Georgian Poetry, 1916-1917," and befriended him in many ways. The letter throws light on Rosenberg's use of language in poetry. As the piece referred to—"Midsummer Frost"—is not in the present selection, it may be given here:

A July ghost, aghast at the strange winter, Wonders, at burning noon, all summer-seeming,