An Introduction to Walter Wingate's Poetry
- By His Grand-daughter, Nan Engen
Special notes and thanks . . .
While I have always loved my grandfather's poems and admired his sense of humor and appreciation of nature, I was totally unaware that any interest in his work existed today outside of the family. It was not until joining the rest of the world on the Internet that I discovered a web site had published one of his poems and immediately sent off a message only to discover that there was some interest in publishing more of his work on this web site.The interest and incredible support of Alan Scott, otherwise known as "Scottie" to anyone who has ever visited the Rampant Scotland website made my poem project blossom and grow into something far beyond just a Wingate poetry collection. I sent Scottie more of Walter Wingate's poems and a few copies of paintings which he kept adding to the Poetry Section, eventually adding a biography and including him in the "Famous Scots" section for his contributions to Scottish Culture. My mother and I had the great pleasure of meeting Scottie on a visit to Glasgow in 2001. She passed away in 2002, which makes me even more glad she was able to make the trip.
Special thanks are also due to Dr. Guy Wingate of North Yorkshire, who has spent an enormous amount of time and energy putting together the entire Wingate family history going back to the 1700's. He has spent a lot of time researching the poetry of David Wingate, The Collier Poet, and his son, Walter Wingate. Guy is a constant source of information which he gladly shares with all the Wingate "cousins."
Walter Wingate had one volume of verse published in 1919, which was not a complete collection of his work and there may never be a complete collection put together due to the passage of time and lost sources. This collection includes all poems in the 1919 volume and any other works found so far using his own spelling and puctuation. I have made an attempt to add some of his artwork where possible and, with the help of a graphics program, attempted to clean up the discolored artwork and faded pages.
My father, David Thom Wingate, had a box of photographs and clippings which had been saved for him and in that box I found these pieces of artwork done by Duncan Wingate, his brother, who would have been about fifteen at the time. I thought I'd add them here - I think they are indicative of the creative and artistic talent passed down. Duncan Wingate also created many beautiful black and white drawings of his adopted homeland, South Africa.
Nan Engen February 14, 2004
