Sir, - Ulick O'Connor (November 28th) quotes Yeats as having remarked that Gogarty was "one of the great lyric poets of our age". Furthermore, he included 17 of Gogarty's poems in the Oxford Book of Modern Verse. I believe all that to be true.
My father, Myles Dillon, knew Gogarty very well and he also knew Yeats. He used to always remark, when this subject arose, that of course one had to remember that Gogarty had helped out Yeats on a couple of occasions when he was strapped for cash. More importantly, he had just given Yeats a motor car.
It was widely believed at the time that the gift of the motor car greatly increased Mr Yeats's appreciation of Mr Gogarty's poetic skills. - Yours, etc.,
Andrew Dillon, Coolmoreen, Innishannon, Co Cork.