Roberts, Lynette

(1909-1995)

   Born Evelyn Beatrice in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of Welsh heritage parents, Spanish speaking Roberts came to Britain after the World War I. She was educated at the Central School of Art and then Constant Spry's School of Craft and Floristry. She married the journalist Keidrych Rhys in 1939, with Dylan Thomas as the best man. They settled in Llanybri, the small Carmarthenshire hamlet on the Laugharne side of the Llansteffan peninsular. The 1940s was a period of great creativity in painting and poetry, often during periods of ill heath. Rhys was called up during the war and the couple divorced in 1949, and there was an acrimonious battle for custody of the two children. Her final years were spent at a nursing home, where she died and was buried at Llanybri, Dyfed, Wales. Her three poetry publications: Gods with stainless ears: an heroic poem, 1951. Poems, 1944. Collected Poems, 2005. Some of her poems: "Low Tide," "Poem from Llanybri," "The Circle of C," "The Shadow Remains," "These Words I Write on Crinkled Tin," "To a Welsh Woman."

   Sources: Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1980. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, eds. Poetry Wales Press, 1984. Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1990. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, eds. Poetry Wales Press, 1993. The British Library (http://www.bl.uk/collections/britirish/modbriroberts.html). The Chatto Book of Modern Poetry 19151955. Cecil Day Lewis and John Lehmann, eds. Chatto and Windus, 1966. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New British Poets: An Anthology. Kenneth Rexroth, ed. New Directions, 1949.