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John Morris Reeves (1 July 1909 – 1 May 1978) was a British writer principally known for his poetry, plays and contributions to
children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...
and the literature of collected traditional songs. His published books include poetry, stories and anthologies for both adults and children. He was also well known as a literary critic and a broadcaster."James Reeves (Estate)"
at Laura Cecil, Literary agent for children's books.


Biography

Born in
Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont and Kenton, and east of Headstone. The area accommodates ...
in the
London Borough of Harrow The London Borough of Harrow () is a London borough in northwest London, England; it forms part of Outer London. It borders four other London boroughs Barnet to the east of ancient Watling Street (now the A5 road), Brent to the southeast, Ea ...
, James Reeves attended
Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...
, where he won a scholarship to
Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...
.Peter Hollingdale, "Reeves, John Morris seud._James_Reeves",_''Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography''._From_1932_to_1952_he_taught_English_language.html" "title="Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography.html" ;"title="seud. James Reeves", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography">seud. James Reeves", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. From 1932 to 1952 he taught English language">English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
in a number of schools and teachers' training colleges, subsequently becoming a freelance author and editor. His first collection of poems, ''The Natural Need'', was published in 1936 by the Seizin Press, run by Robert Graves and Laura Riding, whose work Reeves's early poetry sometimes resembles. Numerous further volumes by Reeves include ''The Imprisoned Sea'' (1949), ''The Talking Skull'' (1958),The Statue, and ''Poems and Paraphrases'' (1972). ''Collected Poems'' of 1974 is the fullest edition of his verses. His best work characteristically combines intensity of mood with an understated manner to distinctive and sometimes haunting lyrical effect. The rural descriptiveness of his less distinguished poetry is elsewhere the vehicle for an ironic pastoralism voicing his disaffection with urban modernity. His popular books of poetry for children were collected as ''The Wandering Moon and Other Poems'' (1973). As an editor, Reeves was prolific, producing many anthologies of prose and poetry, as well as selections from the work of
John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...
,
Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...
,
John Clare John Clare (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and sorrows at its disruption. His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20th ce ...
, and others, including “Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson” (1959). In this latter book reprinted several times, he chose to deliberately add conventional punctuation to the poems, doing away with her characteristic dashes. He thus joined her contemporary literary critic, Higginson, in not completely realising her unique style.


Bibliography

* ''"The Merry-Go-Round": A Collection of Rhymes and Poems for Children'' (Heinemann, 1955) * ''Pigeons and Princesses'' (Heinemann, 1956) * ''Prefabulous Animiles'', illustrated by
Edward Ardizzone Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, (16 October 1900 – 8 November 1979), who sometimes signed his work "DIZ", was an English painter, print-maker and war artist, and the author and illustrator of books, many of them for children. For ''Tim All ...
(Heinemann, 1957) * ''Exploits of Don Quixote'' (Blackie, 1959) * ''The Everlasting Circle: English traditional verse'' (Heinemann, 1960),
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
s collected by
Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English-born collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was the pre-eminent activist in the development of t ...
* ''Georgian Verse'' (1962), editor * ''The Questioning Tiger'' (1964), poems * ''Selected Poems'' (
Allison & Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...
, 1967) * ''The Cold Flame'' (1967), children's novel based on a Grimm fairy tale * ''Understanding Poetry'' (1967) * ''The Christmas Book'', with
Raymond Briggs Raymond Redvers Briggs (18 January 1934 – 9 August 2022) was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his 1978 story ...
(1968) * ''Sayings of Dr. Johnson'' (John Baker, 1968) * ''Commitment to Poetry'' (1969) * ''Inside Poetry'', with
Martin Seymour-Smith Martin Roger Seymour-Smith (24 April 1928 – 1 July 1998) was a British poet, literary critic, and biographer. Biography Seymour-Smith was born in London and educated at Highgate School and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he was editor of ''Isi ...
(1970) * ''Maildun the Voyager'' (1971) * ''Poems and Paraphrases'' (1972) * ''Complete Poems for Children'', illustrated by Edward Ardizzone (Faber, 1973) * ''A Vein of Mockery: Twentieth-century Verse'' (1973) * ''The Forbidden Forest'' (William Heinemann, 1973) * ''Collected Poems 1929–1974'' (1974) * ''More Prefabulous Animiles'' (1975), poems, with illustrations by Edward Ardizzone * ''The Reputation and Writings of Alexander Pope'' (1976) * ''The Closed Door'' (The Gruffyground Press, 1977), poems * ''Arcadian Ballads'' (Whittington Press, 1978), poems * ''The Sea'' * ''Explores'' * ''Underground'' * ''The Wife And The Ghost'' * ''Sky, Sea, Shore''


References


External links


James Reeves
in the ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves, James 1909 births 1978 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge People educated at Stowe School Place of death missing 20th-century English poets English male poets 20th-century English male writers