W H Davies, born in Newport in 1871, is famous for his poem Leisure, which opens -"What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare". In A Poet's Pilgrimage, published in 1918, he takes a walking tour from Carmarthen to London. He describes his route and the people he meets — hawkers, tramps, beggars, rag-and-bone men, boxers, sailors. Years earlier Davies fell and crushed his foot while attempting to jump a freight train in Ontario, his lower leg had to be amputated and since then he wore a wooden leg.
