The Other Bennett

 

Is he remembered in Fenton,

the town he left out of his Five

of the Potteries? Or even by guests

at the Savoy who order omelette

with haddock in it? Do readers

of Virginia Woolf know the cause

of her dispute with him,

or even that they had one?

I think many years hence I'll recall

the plot of Clayhanger and why

I read it after Hilda Lessways

whose story I've forgotten, like I've

forgotten what happened to my

copy of These Twain,

though I remember where I got it

and why I tried to read Bennett

at all, whose life and works

would have passed me by

had it not been for his biographer.

So would those of Angus Wilson,

perhaps confused with A N,

as Arnold often is with Alan.