Theodore Watts-Dunton - Publications

Publications

It was not until 1897, that he published a poetry volume under his own name, albeit with the addition of his mother's maiden name. His erstwhile friend Whistler sent him a letter mocking his perceived aggrandisement: "Theodore," it read, "What's Dunton?" The book was his collection of poems called The Coming of Love, portions of which he had printed previously in periodicals. In the following year his prose romance Aylwin attained immediate success, and ran through many editions in the course of a few months. Both The Coming of Love and Aylwin set forth, the one in poetry, the other in prose, the romantic and passionate associations of Romany life, and maintain the traditions of George Borrow, whom Watts-Dunton had known well in his own youth. Imaginative glamour and mysticism are their prominent characteristics, and the novel in particular was credited with bringing pure romance back into public favour. He edited Borrow's Lavengro (1893) and Romany Rye (1903); in 1903 he published The Renascence of Wonder, a treatise on the romantic movement; and his Studies of Shakespeare appeared in 1910.

But it was not only in his published work that Watts-Dunton's influence on the literary life of his time was potent. His long and intimate association with Rossetti and Swinburne made him a unique figure in the world of letters. His grasp of metrical principle and of the historic perspective of English poetry brought him respect as a literary critic.

He died at The Pines, Putney, on 6 June 1914 and was survived by his wife, Clara (née Reich). He is buried at West Norwood Cemetery, where his monument is a low capped stone. A Blue Plaque marks his home in Putney.