Swaffham Prior 1956–1959

Abstract 1956–1959. Seeking an affordable place to stay, within reach of literary London, the Muirs take Priory Cottage in the village of Swaffham Prior outside Cambridge. Gavin is finding it difficult to settle to a career. Edwin and Willa like to take holidays in Orkney, but settle in England, close to friends like Katherine Raine, who is a Fellow at Girton and John Holloway at Queen’s College. They are well received. Edwin is made a member of Queen’s and can use the library. They meet with David Daiches who is at Jesus. One Foot in Eden (1956) is well reviewed and its poems and its uses of mythology are discussed. Edwin gains a Bollingen Foundation grant for a book on the Scots ballads. He hopes to visit Norman MacCaig in Edinburgh to research it, and plans a new collection of poetry to be called ‘Last Poems’. Steps are taken to grant him a civil list pension, and he is awarded an Honorary D.Litt. by Cambridge in June 1958. Edwin’s health is not strong, however, and suffering breathlessness, with fluid in the lungs, he is confined to the garden of their cottage. In December he is rushed to Addenbrookes Hospital and dies of congestive heart failure on 3 January 1959.