Excerpted from University of Pennsylvania’s“Guide to the Vivian Virtue Papers, 1932-2000.”
Mr & Mrs Vivian Virtue
Vivian Lancaster Virtue was a poet, translator, and broadcaster. He was born in
Kingston, Jamaica, on November 13, 1911, the son of Daniel and Mary Barnes Virtue.
Vivian Virtue was educated at Half Way Tree Primary School and then, for just three years, at Kingston College, a selective high school, to which he always remained loyal.
His education consisted mainly of learning Latin and other languages, Greek poetry and
mythology, religion, and literature, all taught by the headmaster, Dr. P.W. Gibson.
The influence of Kingston College was long lasting, which is reflected in his traditional style of poetry, described as "Parnassian," since he was so fond of writing in the sonnet, villanelle, or rondeau form. Kingston College always instilled in Virtue a fondness of languages, since his translations are often preferred to his original poems.
The original poems are mostly classical in content as well as style, addressing themes
such as European and London scenes, and reflections on nature and on specific
cultural events, like concerts or art exhibits. He also wrote various poems on current
political topics such as South Africa, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King's assassination, as
well as past events, like the Toussaint L'Ouverture's revolt, Marcus Garvey's
achievements, and Jamaica's Morant Bay rebellion.
Upon completing his education, he then became employed as a clerk in the Department
of Public Works. He was the assistant secretary and librarian of the Poetry League of
Jamaica and, he was later elected vice-president. Virtue was also a founder member
and later vice-president of the Jamaican Center of the International PEN Club and a
member of the Royal Society of Literature (Great Britain). He later represented Jamaica
at the PEN congresses in Lausanne (1951), London (1956), Brussels (1962), and in
Oslo (1964).
Virtue was a co-founder of the New Dawn Press in Jamaica, created to encourage
young black writers. He began his own career as a writer in November 1938 with the
publication of his first volume of poetry in an edition of 500 copies. Wings of the Morning
includes 47 poems, featuring one of his most famous villanelles, "King Solomon and
Queen Balkis." After the publication of Wings of the Morning, Virtue found himself hailed
in the 1930s and 1940s as the successor to Claude McKay, the Jamaican national poet,
and his father-in-law. In 1942, Virtue married McKay's only daughter, Rhue Hope
McKay.
In addition to original poetry, Virtue also translated a large number of works by
Caribbean and European poets. He preferred the sonnet form and some have argued
that his translations have more life to them than his original poems. Among his
translations include the Cuban-born French Parnassian, Jose-Maria de Heredia's Les Trophees.
In 1950, Virtue's poetic work won the Constance Hollar Memorial Prize for Poetry by the
Poetry League of Jamaica. In 1960, Virtue was awarded the Silver Musgrave Medal for
Poetry by the Institute of Jamaica, and in 1965 he participated in the Commonwealth
Arts Festival in London. Virtue's poem "Salute to a National Hero" ( Marcus Garvey)
was commissioned and read at the Royal Court Theatre recital, "Voices of the
Caribbean."
Virtue's works have been included in numerous poetry anthologies and periodicals
published in the West Indies, United Kingdom, and the United States, including Poetry of the Negro (1949), A Treasury of Jamaican Poetry (1949), Caribbean Quarterly
(1958), Independence Anthology of Jamaican Literature (1962), Verse and Voice
(1965), New Poems (1966), Caribbean Voices (1966, 1970), New Voices of the Commonwealth (1968), and West Indian Poetry (1971).
His poems have also appeared in countless newspapers and magazines, such as Crisis, Focus, Life and Letters, London Mercury, New African, Poetry Review, and The Treasury of Jamaican Poetry.
By the time he retired from the Jamaican Civil Service in 1961, Virtue had become a
highly recognized and acknowledged member of the literary establishment in Kingston,
and his name had long been associated with the poetry of Jamaica.
After his retirement, Virtue moved to London where he became a frequent broadcaster in the Caribbean Voices radio program of the BBC. Virtue settled in England so that he could consult
books in the British Library that were unavailable elsewhere. Virtue died on December
17, 1998.
Editor’s note: Vivian Virtue wrote the original Kingston College School Song, “He who would truly brave must be, men not afraid to fight and fall” listed on the KCDTF Annual Report.
