Francis Berry (1915-2006). Courtesy Picture Sheffield.
Francis Berry FRS (23 March 1915 - 10 October 2006) was an English poet and academic.[1]
Life[]
Berry was born in Ipoh, Malaya. His mother died in childhood; he and his twin sister were raised in Cheltenham, England.[1]
He was educated at the University of London and the University of Exeter.
After serving as a soldier, and then as a schoolteacher in Malta, he held various appointments in English literature. He was professor of English Literature at the University of Sheffield from 1947 to 1970, where he was a friend of William Empson.[2] From 1970 until his retirement in 1980, he was professor at Royal Holloway, University of London.
His first collection of poetry, Gospel of Fire, was published in 1933; his Collected Poems, drawing on 11 books, appeared in 1994. His work has been praised by G. Wilson Knight,[3] and by Philip Hobsbaum.[4]
His critical writing includes books on John Masefield and Herbert Read. He also wrote radio plays, and a novel, I Tell of Greenland (1977).
Recognition[]
Berry was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1968.[1]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Gospel of Fire: Poems (with introduction by G. Wilson Knight). London: Matthews & Marrot, 1933.
- Snake in the Moon. London: Williams & Norgate, 1936.
- The Iron Christ: A poem. London: Williams & Norgate, 1938.
- Fall of a Tower, and other poems. London: Fortune Press, 1943.
- Murdock, and other poems. London: Andrew Dakers, 1947.
- The Galloping Centaur: Poems, 1933-1951. London: Methuen, 1952.
- Morant Bay, and other poems. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1961.
- Ghosts of Greenland: Poems. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966.
- From the Red Fort: New and selected poems. Bristol, UK: Redcliffe, 1984.
- Collected Poems. Bristol, UK: Redcliffe, 1994.
Non-fiction[]
- Herbert Read. British Council / Longmans Green, 1953.
- Poet's Grammar: Person, time, and mood in poetry. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958.
- Poetry and the Physical Voice. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962; New York: Oxford University Press, 1962.
- John Masefield, the Narrative Poet: inaugural lecture delivered 25 October 1967. London: University of Sheffield, 1968.
- The Shakespeare Inset: Word and picture. London: London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1965.
- Thoughts on Poetic Time: The fourth Jackson Knight memorial lecture, delivered at the University of Exeter, 5th March 1971. Abingdon, UK: Abbey Press, 1972.
Translated[]
- I Tell of Greenland: An edited translation of the Saudarkrokur manuscripts. London & Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[5]
See also[]
References[]
Fonds[]
- Francis Berry Collection at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Professor Francis Berry obituary, Daily Telegraph, October 20, 2006. Web, May 3, 2014.
- ↑ Haffenden, John, ed., Selected Letters of William Empson, Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 387, 423-4, 455, 686.
- ↑ Obituary, The Guardian, 31 October 2006
- ↑ Hobsbaum, Philip, Tradition and Experiment in English Poetry, 1979
- ↑ Search results = au:Francis Berry, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 3, 2014.
External links[]
- Books
- Francis Berry at Amazon.com
- About
- Professor Francis Berry obituary, The Independent.
- Professor Francis Berry obituary, The Telegraph.
- Francis Berry obituary, The Guardian
- "Francis Berry, Poet of Distinction, Dies Aged 91," Times of Malta.
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