Humbert Wolfe CB

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(5 January 1885 – 5 January 1940) was an Italian-born British poet,

man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

and civil servant.

Biography

Humbert Wolfe was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy, and came from a Jewish family background,"Wolfe, Humbert" in

Stanley J. Kunitz Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

and Howard Haycraft, ''Twentieth Century Authors, A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature'', (Third Edition). New York, The H.W. Wilson Company, 1950, (pp. 1540-1) his father, Martin Wolff, being of German descent and his mother, Consuela, ''née'' Terraccini, Italian. He was brought up in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

and was a pupil at

Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational independent day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination, except for the sixth form, where admission is based on GCSE results. The school g ...

. Wolfe attended Wadham College at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. He was one of the most popular British authors of the 1920s. He was also a translator of

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

Edmond Fleg Edmond Flegenheimer better known as Edmond Fleg, (26 November 1874 – 15 October 1963) was a Jewish French writer, thinker, novelist, essayist and playwright of the 20th century. Fleg's oeuvre was crucial in constructing a modern French Jewish ...

(1874–1963) and Eugene Heltai (Heltai Jenő). A Christian convert, he remained very aware of his Jewish heritage. His career was in the Civil Service, beginning in the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

and then in the

Ministry of Labour The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...

. By 1940 he had a position of high responsibility. His work was recognised with a

and then a CB. Wolfe said in an interview with ''Twentieth Century Authors'' that he was "of no political creed, except that his general view is that money and its possessors should be abolished." Wolfe's verses have been set to music by a number of composers, including Gustav Holst in his ''12 Humbert Wolfe Songs'', Op. 48 (1929). He had a long-term affair with the novelist

Pamela Frankau Pamela Sydney Frankau (3 January 1908 – 8 June 1967) was a popular English novelist from a prominent artistic and literary family. She was abandoned by her novelist father Gilbert Frankau at an early age, and she became a prolific writer. S ...

, while remaining married. He died on his 55th birthday. Though his works are little read today, the following

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

from ''The Uncelestial City'' continues to be widely known and quoted: : :You cannot hope ::to bribe or twist, :thank God! the ::British journalist. :But, seeing what ::the man will do :unbribed, there's ::no occasion to. 5 Heads Humbert Wolfe + Padgett

In 2014–2015, five busts of the poet were created and sited by sculptor Anthony Padgett to mark the 75th anniversary of Wolfe's death. The sculptures have been sited where Wolfe died in London – 75

Eccleston Square Eccleston Square is a square in Pimlico, London. History The square dates to the 1830s, an integral part of Thomas Cubitt's planned design of "South Belgravia", which is now called Pimlico. Cubitt designed many of the houses on the square and bu ...

, where he studied – Wadham College Oxford, where there is a collection of his manuscripts –

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

and where he grew up – Bradford Library and

Works

*
London Sonnets
' (1920) *
Shylock Reasons with Mr. Chesterton and other poems
' (1920) * ''Please note that a wikilink to the author's article on abour Supply and Regulationin

B1922 B19 or B-19 may refer to: * B19 (New York City bus), serving Brooklyn * Douglas XB-19, an experimental bomber aircraft * Parvovirus B19, the virus that causes fifth disease * Caro–Kann Defence ECO code in chess * Patient B-19 * Boron-19 (B-19 or ...

is not available'' *
Circular Saws
' (1923) *
Labour Supply and Regulation
' (1923) *''The Lilac'' (1924) *''Lampoons'' (1925) *''The Unknown Goddess'' (1925) poems *''Humoresque'' (1926) *''News of the Devil'' (1926) poems *
Requiem
' (1927) poems *
Cursory Rhymes
' (1927) poems *
Others Abide
' (1927) translator, Ancient Greek poems *''Kensington Gardens'' (1924) *
Dialogues and Monologues
' (1928) criticism *''This Blind Rose'' (1928) poems *''Troy'' (1928)

Faber & Gwyer Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel Be ...

Ariel poems The Ariel Poems were two series of pamphlets that contained illustrated poems published by Faber and Gwyer and later by Faber and Faber. The first series had 38 titles published between 1927 and 1931. The second series, published in 1954, had 8 ...

*''The Moon and Mrs. Misses Smith'' (1928) *''The Craft of Verse'' (1928) essay *''The Silver Cat and other poems'' (1928) *
Notes on English Verse Satire
' (1929) *
A Winter Miscellany
' (1930) editor, prose anthology, plus some original poems *''Homage to Meleager'' (1930 Limited Edition) *
Tennyson
' (1930) criticism of ''Maud'' *
The Uncelestial City
' (1930) poems *''Early Poems'' (1930) *
George Moore
' (1931) biography *''Snow'' (1931) poems *''Signpost to Poetry'' (1931) *''Reverie of Policeman: A ballet in three acts'' (1933) *''Now a Stranger'' (1933) autobiography *''Romantic and Unromantic Poetry'' (1933) *''Truffle Eater. Pretty Stories and funny pictures'' An anti-Nazi parody of the famous Struwwelpeter, published under the alias "Oistros", with pictures by Archibald Louis Charles Savory (1933) *
Portraits by Inference
' (1934) biographical sketches *''Sonnets pour Helene'' (by Ronsard) (1934) translator *
X at Oberammergau : A poem
' (1935) drama *''The Fourth of August'' (1935) poems *''Selected Lyrics of Heinrich Heine'' (1935) translator *''P. L. M.: Peoples Landfalls Mountains'' (1936) *''The Pilgrim's Way'' (1936) *
Personalities; a selection from the writings of A. A. Baumann
' (1936) editor, biographical sketches by Arthur A. Baumann *''The Silent Knight: A Romantic Comedy in Three Acts'' (by Eugene Heltai)(1937) *''Others Abide: Translated Greek Epigrams'' (1937) *''The Upward Anguish'' (1938) autobiography *''Out of Great Tribulation'' (1939) poems *''Kensington Gardens in War-Time'' (1940) poems *
Cyrano de Bergerac
' (1941) by

Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with t ...

translator

References

Other sources

*Bagguley, Philip (1997). ''Harlequin in Whitehall: a Life of Humbert Wolfe, Poet and Civil Servant 1885-1940''. London: Nyala Publications, *Helen Ferris, ''Favorite Poems Old and New'' (1957).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Humbert 1885 births 1940 deaths Writers from Bradford Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom Converts to Christianity from Judaism Civil servants in the Board of Trade Civil servants in the Ministry of Labour Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath People educated at Bradford Grammar School English male poets 20th-century English poets 20th-century English male writers