Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Boy Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Valerie Eliot tells this tale of Tom when asked when he started writing and if there was anything left of such early efforts. This little bric-a-brac of emotion from Eliot's early early youth showed that the child was indeed the father of the man!

Reading INVENTIONS OF THE MAD HARE...showing Eliot's early work in its raw notebook state was a real delight for an Eliotian like me! Valerie's little reflection on Tom's early efforts always amused me and I could imagine him then being of the same demeanour as the Tom of the Waste Land. The poem is a way of giving the little fella a hug 'cos I felt the same way myself about schools and Monday morning.