THE EX POSI TORY ART OF H. M. TOM LINSON A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PA RT IA L FULFILLME NT OF THE RE QUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGL I SH IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOM AN' S UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY JEANNETTE CORDRAY BOREN, A. B. DENTON, TEXAS AUGUST, 1959 Texas Woman's U niversity University Hill Denton, Texas _____________________ Aug_ us t _[________ __ __ _ 195_9._ __ ___ We hereby recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by __J~ e_a_n_n_e~t~t ~e_ C~o~r~d=r~a_y_B_o~r~e_n__ ____ entitled The Exp ository Art of H. M. Tomli ns on be accepted as fulfilling this part of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts . Committee (l;:;r;:;.ti ltJ.e . W-J2a-.. Chairm \ ~~/2214~ c <2'YI -s-"1: CLV\-w ~ . ~ u C) 1~1750 PREFACE The preparati on of a thesis can be e njoyabl e even while it is difficult. The di scovery of th e e ss ay s of H. M. Tomlinson has been a r ewarding experience. I o ffe r my sincere appreciati on to Dr . Au trey Nell Wiley, wh o suggest ed the es s ay s as a subject f or examination and wh o a ssumed t ha t this thesis could and woul d be written . I could not fail when behind me were kindness , und erstanding, inspirati on, en couragement, a nd be l ief. Dr. Wiley ha s been all of these to me . Others have c ontributed t o the c onsumm ati on of this experience. My husband be l ieved in me and e ncouraged me with his love a nd un der standing. My chi l dren--Barbara, Al ice , and Michael--were patient and l oving; th ey helped more th an they will ever kn ow. Dr . Constance Beach, with good humor and much patience , a ssisted in the fi nal preparati on of the manuscript. Dr . Gl adys Ma ddo cks s erved on my comm ittee. An ne Guyn es Wear as sisted with proofread ing. To them I offer my sincere " Thank you. " iii ______ .;.__ __ •••••••u--------------------- ,,,.hony and his daughter escape the holding the gilt pocket ampliJler out be­ The Last of Tomlinson · _ but after a visit to the war front Sir fore him. Yet he is like a sprig of green: y dies, and the girl's mind is all His blue eyes, his puffing pipe, aod his THE TRUMPET - SHALL SOUND. By unhinged by the complex events. chuckles bring spring into the room. H.M. Tomlinson. 239 pages. Ran­ 1'us 11eheme of things allows Tomlinson "We11 be down to Dorset soon: he said. dom House. $3.50. to M)()k squarely at the terror of total war, "The Thomas Hardy country. We look to ask the fundamental questions about from the top of a cliff across Lime Bay. This, the author says himself, will be it. Hb answers are anything but facile or To the southwest the first port of call is the last novel of Henry Major Tomlinson, everi definite, but he suggests a great the Bermudas." 84, the gnarled weathered Londoner working out of the pattern which the He spoke of his latest journalistic as­ who grew up among the city's docks Greeks knew as hubris ( "wanton arro­ signment (in his younger days he was and in 1912 wrote "The Sea and the gance .. insolent disregard of moral a fine World War I correspondent). At Jungle," an account of an Atlantic and laws") which, so the Greeks thought, was 80 he had covered Queen Elizabeth's Amazon voyage which is recogn ;zed as bound to meet with retribution. "We do coronation for a Canadian newspaper a modern English masterpiece. \ ·.' hether know that Hitler was seen to caper, group. "I got up at 5:30 that morning," "The Trumpet Shall Sound" proves to be when the message was handed to him he said. "At 7 that evening I came back his last novel or not, it has the tone that France would surrender. Victory! and started writing. By 1 a.m. I was of a last testament, and a finished and the messenger moving testament it is. came and collected 3,000 Tomlinson has often been words. All right, I think, for compared with Conrad, and (' I Was Rich ... I Had the Bible' an old man." it is true that both are great Author'11 .Job: "But re­ writers of the sea. But each , porting is direct observa­ in his own wav, is also an tion," he went on. "It's a illuminated stt;clent of the rapid impressionist painting. human spiri t. Conrad ex­ In a novel, on the ,lther celled in powerful stories hand, you're looking for which exhibit the spirit in exact symbols tu portrav the stress, struggles o~ con­ idea. 'The Trumpet Shall science, and lonely Forti ­ Sound' [st'c rc\·iew I took tude. Tomlinso11 is 11ot a11 t\\'O years of hard writ­ 011t sta 11 ding storvte ll er ( l1i s ing, and th:tt dn<>m't in­ lwsl works .ll'l' his travel clude, of course, t I ,e thought writi 11 gs, long or short). But bC'forchancl. It was re­ hf' has :111 C)-. lraordinary ca­ written six times during t.he p:1ci t y to t·voke thf' sensuous notebook stage. I was al­ IH' a11 t) ' of the world and its ways trying to stay as short cm;111atirn 1s of· lllyslery, t<i as possible. I don't believe raisl' th e qnes tio 11 . as lw puts in these huge hooks, in it, of "first :111d last thi11gs, leaving the choice of epi­ appearanc<' ,\lid reality. '" sodes to the reader- that's llis new 11ovcl is about a11 the author's job.". English fam il~- i11 their He exhibited a red note­ lovch- Surrey home durill g book which had a penciled tlw portentous last rnonth, note on its iusi<le cover : of the last war. There is Sir "First manuscript of 'The An tholly Cale. an important Trumpet Shall Sound' is government figure, his se­ somewhere in cottage cup­ renely strong w ife, his board under the stairs." He poetic son who wants to Cll­ explained the note: "Oh, list but has been injured ill ('11mera PrOS!t the trumpet will sound for bombing rescue work and is T omlinson: Style mixed with old wisd oms me someday soon, so I stuck nwdically rejected. T here is that there in case someone also a daughter anguished waHts the manuscript and by the wartime world , and a sage, dis­ He dallcecl. Nobody noticed that the I'm not around to tell them where it is." illusioned uncle with a medical past and immediate happy activity of his legs was H e tapped li ghtly on the edge of his a scholarly present. very like the spasmodic fl exions of limbs chair. "What is reality? How can we sort Fears: In a dcceptiv<'ly blithe man­ dangling from a gallows." mere appearances from truth? I don't ner, Tomlinsoll introduces the:;e people ~Summing Up: Somber statement of a know." His blue eves watered a bit. in their pastoral setting, rich with li ght literary elder st.ttr-sman. He went on: "Reality is beyond us; it's and leafage alld lake water. Then he re­ an ephemeral something th,t t's there veals their fears and q 11cstioning under VISIT WITH THE AUTHOR when we're gone. At best, fo1 1hc living, the droning skies of tlw 1\'azi blitz. In it's thl' undPrstanding that the1 .· 1s no the course of Cale famih c\·ents, a pass­ Henry Major Tomli11so11. the niyager fi1 1,tl understanding." ing sailor delivers hirn ,,·11 of two signifi­ who wrott' such masterly sea literature lli«•h Ho~·: He talk<:'d of the ~( · , n,d cant yarns. Eventually Tnmlinson bring, as "Tidcmarks" and "The Foreshore of of sea bnnks. "There's 11<1 book like ' \\,, !)\· the hlitz, in the form of .1 b111.L bomb, to England,'" 11011· lives \\'ith his \\'ife in a Dick.' It's-as Conrad said- nut of .1il the Cales' beloved borne. J'h,-· place is ti11y thircl-Aoor London Aat. There he sat soundings. I \\ as p11t olI by the title of ruined, Lach Cale ,rnd \ · 1,c- 1, · :\' ick arc last week and looked out on the budding 'The Cruel Sea.' The se,1 isn 't cruel. It's killed outright. and the , ,,., " ,,·\·ereh ,hruhbery of St. l'der's Sq11ar<'. Tlw 8-l­ just tlw sea. ·You might as 11·<:' II sav tl1 e ;i ir shocked and lie, a long ti,11, · :,, ,. coma . ,, ., r-old \\'riter uses a hc,1ri 11g aicl, often is cnwl if it lets \ ou fall dcJ\nl ,Yhcn ~·ou 116 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREF ACE iii CH APTER PAG E I. THE FORM AT IVE YE ARS Sourc e s f or a Bi ography of Tom linso n. 1 Hi s Favorite Th eme s 1 Tomlinson on the Writer 3 Influences Affe ct ing Tomlins on. 3 The s hip s at Po p l ar 4 Ma t erna l gra nd parents and th e s ea 5 Pa t erna l grandparent s and th e land 6 Formal educati on 6 In f ormal educati on 7 Music and boo k s in the home 7 The pre s sure of life.