Arthur James Seymour (January 12, 1914 – December 25, 1989)PULL QUOTE: ‘Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man’ – Bacon

HIS love for literature provided him with the love of his life, and many of his favourites things in life.

Arthur James Seymour had become interested in Elma Bryce because, as he once declared, “I had realised that she had in her memory more line of Milton’s Lycidas than I had at the time, and this knowledge first prompted my curiosity in her.”
The marriage, on July 31, 1937, of Arthur and Elma lasted more than fifty years, with only death physically separating them; a union that issued six children, brought up an adopted child, and directly produced at least two books, ‘My Lovely Native Land’ and ‘Dictionary of Guyanese Biography’ (the latter a landmark work in Guyanese literature).
Seymour immortalised that love and marriage in some of the most delicate romantic verses ever penned by a Guyanese in a little-known collection entitled, ‘Love Songs’, 1975.
Seymour’s love for literature and reading started much further back. When he was approaching seven, something happened, which he described as his “second vivid recollection…” One day, a box of books was delivered to the gallery of the house and was opened to reveal 20 volumes of a series edited by Arthur Mee, called The Books of Knowledge. This led to his confessing, “…Before I became eleven, I was reading everything I could put my hands upon.”
This avid reading constrained him to express himself, leading to the other level of literacy: Writing. Seymour was a prolific writer, who started keeping a diary at age 22, because “biography and autobiography have not been the strong suits in Anglo-Caribbean bibliography,” and because he had the urge “to write, primarily as a means of self-discovery.”
This desire to write also stemmed from his discovery of “the element of creativity in myself, and was intent on protecting and developing that gift;” and he wanted “a fuller, deeper understanding of the workings” of his mind. Forthwith, he borrowed books from Guy de Weever on short-story writing. But after only winning a few local competitions, he realised, from measuring his efforts against the models of Maupassant and O. Henry, that he wasn’t making the breakthrough that was necessary. So he gave up writing short fiction, and turned to poetry instead.
In August 1936, he wrote his first poem, going on to perfect his craft by reading everything available on poetry in the library, sometimes spending three to four hours reading such books on the seawall. His early efforts at writing were kindly endorsed by Walter McArthur Lawrence.
Then in 1937, when he was only 23 years of age, he published his first book of poems, ‘Verse’.
‘More Poems’ came out in 1940, followed by ‘Over Guiana Clouds’, 1944, and ‘Sun’s in my Blood’, 1945. Since then, his poetry has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Russian, Chinese and Hindi. In Australia, one of his poems is taught in Braille. At least ten were put to music, and placed into the national repertoire.
Seymour’s other books of poetry include ‘Six Songs’; ‘Selected Poems’, which he published in 1965 to mark his 50th birthday; ‘Monologue’, and ‘Images of Majority’ among others.
His poetry, essays, autobiographies and other genres of writing effectively mapped the course of his life, and the history of the development of a Guyanese literature. Such a map includes gems like Introduction to Guyanese Writing, and The Making of Guyanese Literature, and all his autobiographical books: Growing up in Guyana, Pilgrim Memories, Family Impromptu, Thirty Years a Civil Servant and The Years in Puerto Rico and Mackenzie.
His books of literary criticism, like A Survey of West Indian Literature and Studies in West Indian Poetry helped define Caribbean literature. A bibliography of his writing, compiled by the National Library, was 100 pages long! That was in 1974, almost forty years ago! A matter of immense interest, is that almost all his books were published locally.
Poet, literary critic, radio programmer/broadcaster, anthologist, ‘nativist publisher’ and cultural historian, A. J. Seymour was born on January 12, 1914, grew up in Georgetown, but spent many delightful August school holidays in New Amsterdam, in the neighbourhood of N. E. Cameron, Jan Carew, Wilson Harris, the Abbensetts and Edgar Mittelholzer.
He started his education at Blackman’s School on Regent Street, just across the road from home, and then moved to St. Phillip’s School, on Smythe Street, before going across to the Collegiate High School, on Camp and Bent Streets.
At the Guianese Academy, headed by N. E. Cameron, he won a Government Junior Scholarship to enter Queen’s College. Apart from his academic pursuit, he played halfback in the football team, a position that suited his stocky nature, a characteristic inherent from birth where he weighed a whopping 14 pounds.
Seymour entered the world of work at the General Post Office in the Mails Branch, where he was known as a Man of Letters, writing and publishing his poetry. This working experience came at a time when there was rank class discrimination, but social and political changes were at hand, from which he eventually benefitted.
One such change was when the Colonial Office implemented one of the more important recommendations of the West India Royal Commission Report, that governments of the region “…should adopt a much more positive policy of bringing their points of view before the mass of the people, and of explanation in sufficiently plain terms the reasons which lie behind their decisions…”
This led to the formation of the Bureau of Public Information in 1942, of which Seymour was an integral part until 1962, moving from volunteer status to Chief Information Officer.
The 40s was a fertile period of Seymour’s life. This new appointment with the Bureau led him to research the history and folklore of Guyana, and disseminate his findings through a radio programme called, ‘Uncle Jim and his niece, Maggie’. A book, ‘Dictionary of Guyanese Folklore’ was a direct result of that study. The project also provided him with additional material for his poetic development and other literary involvement.
In 1943, when the British Guiana Union of Cultural Clubs was organised, Seymour was named Honorary Secretary. This group was headed by N. E. Cameron, who was the first person to publish a collection of Guyanese poems. The name of that landmark work is ‘Guianese Poetry’ published in 1931.
Seymour was also part of, and main mover of, a number of other literary groupings, including the British Guiana Writers Association, which came into being on December 28, 1944; the Diogenes Club, discussing essays; and The Library Committee, of which the late Cheddi Jagan was a member.
He also played a vital role in a number of organisations dealing with national development, such as, just to name a few: Chairman of the Standing Committee for Preservation and Protection of Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites; Acting Chairman of the Board of Film Censors; Vice-Chairman of the British Guiana Tourism Committee; Acting Chairman, Public Free Library Committee; and Chairman, Guyana Textbook Committee.
In 1946, he started editing Kykoveral, an important journal in the fine literary tradition of its counterparts in the Caribbean, namely, Bim, of Barbados, and Focus, of Jamaica.
Wherever he went or lived, he found himself in the environment of a literary nature. In Puerto Rico, as a cultural promoter with the Caribbean Organisation, he discovered there was much more to Caribbean writing than Anglophone Caribbean literature, as he came into contact with Dutch, French and Spanish writings.
During a 30-day sea trip on the ‘Marine Marlin’, he formed a cultural group and started a magazine! He was never at sea (pardon the pun) when it comes to literature. In the U.K., he met with T.S. Elliot and C.S. Lewis. While living in Mackenzie, he was visited by Andrew Salkey, John LaRose and Beryl McBurnie (this is recorded by Salkey in his Georgetown Journal).
Seymour was an able cultural organiser, as evidenced by the success of expansive and elaborate events like The History and Culture Week, 1954, to Carifesta, 1972.
Despite his active public life, he spent quality time with his family, largely due to the fact that it was a highly religious family, as described by his wife, Elma, in her autobiography, A Goodly Heritage. It could be said that religion was like literature to him, , and vice versa; Seymour’s life was a personification of those two disciplines.
In public and private, he was generous. The many anthologies he produced attested to his concern for the development of other writers, ensuring that their work reached the public. Such collections as Treasury of Guyanese Poetry, The Miniature Poets, and Independence Ten – Guyanese Writing were stepping stones to many emerging writers, who eventually became big names in local and world literature.
In 1970, he was honoured by his country with the Golden Arrow of Achievement. In 1983, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree by the University of the West Indies.
In 1984, Dr Ian McDonald compiled an extensive bibliography on Seymour, titled AJS at 70, in tribute to Seymour on his 70th birthday. In 2000, McDonald teamed up with Dr Jacqueline de Weever to produce an elaborate work, A. J. Seymour, Collected Poems 1937 – 1989.
For Seymour’s birth centenary, the National Library has planned a number of activities to mark the occasion. Guyana and the Caribbean owe him a great debt of gratitude for his pioneering work in the field of literature, well defined by McDonald: “…He began when everything was still to be done…the work done at the beginning is the least seen but the most important part!”
Arthur James Seymour died on December 25, 1989, knowing that ‘tomorrow belongs to the people’. (To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)

WHAT’S HAPPENING:

• ‘An Introduction to Guyanese Literature’ is now available at the National Library, and Austin’s Book Service. This book is an up-to-date guide, featuring significant literary landmarks, from the 16th Century to the new millennium. This 150-page book, including over 100 photographs, is an attempt at bringing to the fore little known facts about lesser known aspects of our literature. The big books, the big authors and the big success stories in Guyanese Literature are also featured.
• Coming soon: Hall of Fame for the Literary Arts.