Clive Wilmer
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Clive Wilmer (born 10 February 1945) is a British poet, who has published eight volumes of poetry. He is also a critic, literary journalist, broadcaster and lecturer.


Biography

Wilmer was born in
Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa w ...
,
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
, and attended Emanuel School and
King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
. He is the brother of writer and photographer Val Wilmer. He has a daughter, a son and two grandsons. He shares his life with the historian of science Patricia Fara. Wilmer's poetry is usually formal but occasionally experimental. He sees religion as fundamental to what he writes, yet he does not associate himself with a parochial view of spiritual matters. His work is also marked by an enthusiasm for architecture and visual culture. He is currently resident in Cambridge, where he is Emeritus Fellow of
Sidney Sussex College Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...
. He is also an Honorary Fellow of
Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...
, an Anniversary Fellow of
Whitelands College Whitelands College is the oldest of the four constituent colleges of the University of Roehampton. History Whitelands College is one of the oldest higher education institutions in England (predating every university except Oxford, Cambridge, Lo ...
,
University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...
, and an Honorary Patron of the
William Morris Gallery The William Morris Gallery is a museum devoted to the life and works of William Morris, an English Arts and Crafts designer and early socialist. It is located in Walthamstow at Water House, a substantial Grade II* listed Georgian home. The ext ...
, Walthamstow. He has had various teaching jobs in Italy – in Florence, Verona, Padua and Venice. In 2015 he was a Visiting Professor at
Ca' Foscari University of Venice Ca' Foscari University of Venice ( it, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, simply Università Ca' Foscari) is a public university in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from ...
. He is interested in the art of verse translation and has translated himself from several languages, In particular, he has translated in collaboration with the Hungarian poet
George Gömöri George Gomori may refer to: * György Gömöri (1904–1957), Hungarian-American physician and histochemist * George Gomori (born 1934), Hungarian-born poet, writer and academic {{hndis, Gomori, George ...
. Together they have translated selections from
Miklós Radnóti Miklós Radnóti (born Miklós Glatter; 5 May 1909 – November 1944) was a Hungarian poet and teacher. He was murdered in the Holocaust. Biography Miklós Glatter was the son of a vendor of the textile business company Brück & Grosz in Bu ...
, György Petri,
János Pilinszky János Pilinszky (27 November 1921 in Budapest – 27 May 1981 in Budapest) was one of the greatest Hungarian poets of the 20th century. Well known within the Hungarian borders for his vast influence on postwar Hungarian poetry, Pilins ...
and Gömöri himself, as well as individual pieces by several others. Wilmer's own poems have been translated into Hungarian, Italian and Spanish. Wilmer was the prime mover of the Ezra Pound centenary exhibition ''Pound's Artists: Ezra Pound and the Visual Arts in London, Paris and Italy'', held at
Kettle's Yard Kettle's Yard is an art gallery and house in Cambridge, England. The director of the art gallery is Andrew Nairne. Both the house and gallery reopened in February 2018 after an expansion of the facilities. Kettle's Yard galleries, shop and caf ...
and the
Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
in 1985. From 1986 to 1990, Wilmer was one of the four founding editors of the magazine ''Numbers''. He is an enthusiastic advocate for the work of the Victorian critic, artist, philanthropist and social reformer
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
.John Ruskin, ''Unto this Last and Other Writings'', edited with introduction, commentary and notes by Clive Wilmer (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985). Since 2004, he has been a Companion and Director of the Guild of St George, the charity founded by Ruskin. He became Master of the Guild in 2009. He has also written extensively on
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
. Among contemporary writers, Wilmer has written on the work of the poets Thom Gunn and Donald Davie and has edited volumes of their essays. His annotated edition of Gunn's ''Selected Poems'' was published by Faber and Faber in 2017.


Works

* ''The Dwelling-Place'' (1977) * (with
George Gömöri George Gomori may refer to: * György Gömöri (1904–1957), Hungarian-American physician and histochemist * George Gomori (born 1934), Hungarian-born poet, writer and academic {{hndis, Gomori, George ...
) Miklós Radnóti, ''Forced March: Selected Poems'' (1979) * ''Devotions'' (1982) * (as editor) Thom Gunn, ''The Occasions of Poetry: Essays in Criticism and Autobiography'' (1982) * (as editor) John Ruskin, ''Unto this Last, and Other Writings'' (1985) * (as editor) Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ''Selected Poems and Translations'' (1991) * (with George Gömöri) György Petri, ''Night Song of the Personal Shadow: Selected Poems'' (1991) * ''Of Earthly Paradise'' (1992) * (as editor) William Morris, ''News from Nowhere and Other Writings'' (1993) * ''Poets Talking: The 'Poet of the Month' Interviews from BBC Radio 3'' (1994) * ''Selected Poems'' (1995) * (as editor with Charles Moseley) ''Cambridge Observed: An Anthology'' (1998) * (as editor) Donald Davie, ''With the Grain: Essays on Thomas Hardy and Modern British Poetry'' (1998) * (with George Gömöri) György Petri, ''Eternal Monday: New and Selected Poems'' (1999) * ''The Falls'' (2000) * (as editor) Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ''Selected Poems and Translations'' (2002) * (with George Gömöri) Miklós Radnóti, ''Forced March: Selected Poems'', revised & extended edition, (2003) * (as editor) Donald Davie, ''Modernist Essays: Yeats, Pound, Eliot'' (2004) * ''Stigmata'' (2005). Poetry pamphlet * ''The Mystery of Things'' (2006) * (with George Gömöri) János Pilinszky, ''Passio: Fourteen Poems'' (2011) * ''New & Collected Poems'' (2012) * ''A New World on which the World should Travel: John Ruskin, "The Nature of Gothic" and William Morris'' (2014). Lecture * ''Urban Pastorals'' (2014). Poetry pamphlet * ''Ruskin’s Language: How a Victorian Prophet Uses Words'' (2016). Lecture * (as editor) Thom Gunn, ''Selected Poems'' (2017)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmer, Clive 1945 births Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English male poets Fellows of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Guild of St George Hungarian–English translators Living people People educated at Emanuel School