Ralph Hodgson (9 September 1871 – 3 November 1962), Order of the Rising Sun (Japanese 旭日章), was an English poet, very popular in his lifetime on the strength of a small number of

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

pieces, such as ''The Bull''. He was one of the more 'pastoral' of the

Georgian poets Georgian Poetry refers to a series of anthologies showcasing the work of a school of English poetry that established itself during the early years of the reign of King George V of the United Kingdom. The Georgian poets were, by the strictest ...

. In 1954, he was awarded the

Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...

. He seems to have covered his tracks in relation to much of his life; he was averse to publicity. This has led to claims that he was reticent. Far from that being the case, his friend

Walter De La Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...

found him an almost exhausting talker; but he made a point of personal privacy. He kept up a copious correspondence with other poets and literary figures, including those he met in his time in Japan such as Takeshi Saito. His poem ''The Bells of Heaven'' was ranked 85th in the list of Classic FM's One Hundred Favourite Poems. Quoting from the biography which accompanied the poem: "He was one of the earliest writers to be concerned with ecology, speaking out against the fur trade and man's destruction of the natural world."

Early life

Oscar Wilde sketch by Ralph Hodgson - Yorick

He was born in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in County Durham to a coal mining father. In his youth he was a champion boxer and billiards player and worked in the theatre in New York before returning to England. From about 1890 he worked for a number of London publications. He was a comic artist, signing himself 'Yorick', and became art editor on ''

C. B. Fry Charles Burgess Fry (25 April 1872 – 7 September 1956) was an English sportsman, teacher, writer, editor and publisher, who is best remembered for his career as a cricketer. John Arlott described him with the words: "Charles Fry could b ...

's Weekly Magazine of Sports and Out-of-Door Life''. His first poetry collection, ''The Last Blackbird and Other Lines'', appeared in 1907. It is said that his father was a coal merchant, and that he ran away from home while at school.

Poet and publisher

In 1912 he founded a

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. Independent press is general ...

, At the Sign of the Flying Fame, with the

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

Claud Lovat Fraser Claud Lovat Fraser (15 May 1890 London – 18 June 1921, Dymchurch) was an English artist, designer and author. Early life Claud Lovat Fraser was christened Lovat Claud; as a young man he reversed those names for euphony's sake but he was alway ...

(1890–1921) and the writer and journalist

Holbrook Jackson George Holbrook Jackson (31 December 1874 – 16 June 1948) was a British journalist, writer and publisher. He was recognised as one of the leading bibliophiles of his time. Biography Holbrook Jackson was born in Liverpool, England. He worked ...

(1874–1948). It published his collection ''The Mystery'' (1913). Hodgson received the

Edmond de Polignac Prince Edmond Melchior Jean Marie de Polignac (19 April 18348 August 1901) was a French aristocrat and composer. Ancestry Edmond was a member of the Polignac family, one of the more illustrious families of France. His grandmother, the duchesse ...

Prize in 1914, for a musical setting of ''The Song of Honour'', and was included in the ''

Georgian Poetry Georgian Poetry refers to a series of anthologies showcasing the work of a school of English poetry that established itself during the early years of the reign of King George V of the United Kingdom. The Georgian poets were, by the strictest ...

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

. The press became inactive in 1914 as

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out and he and Lovat joined the armed forces (it did continue until 1923). Hodgson was in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

and then the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. His reputation was established by ''Poems'' (1917).

In Japan

His first wife Mary Janet (née Chatteris) died in 1920. He then married Muriel Fraser (divorced 1932). Shortly after that he accepted an invitation to teach English at

Tohoku University , or is a Japanese national university located in Sendai, Miyagi in the Tōhoku Region, Japan. It is informally referred to as . Established in 1907, it was the third Imperial University in Japan and among the first three Designated National ...

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In 1933 he married Lydia Aurelia Bolliger, an American missionary and teacher there. While in Japan, Hodgson worked, almost anonymously, as part of the committee that translated the great collection of Japanese classical poetry, the ''

Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...

'', into English. The high quality of the published translations is almost certainly the result of his "final revision" of the texts. This was an undertaking worthy of

Arthur Waley Arthur David Waley (born Arthur David Schloss, 19 August 188927 June 1966) was an English orientalist and sinologist who achieved both popular and scholarly acclaim for his translations of Chinese and Japanese poetry. Among his honours were ...

and could arguably be considered Hodgson's major accomplishment as a poet.

Retirement in the United States

In 1938 Hodgson left Japan, visited friends in the UK including

Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...

(they had met 1919) and then settled permanently with Aurelia in

Minerva, Ohio Minerva is a village primarily in Stark and Carroll counties in the U.S. state of Ohio, with a small district in Columbiana County. The population was 3,684 at the 2020 census. Most of Minerva is part of the Canton-Massillon metropolitan area ...

. He was involved there in publishing, under the ''Flying Scroll'' imprint, and some academic contacts. He died in Minerva.

Later work

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...

set some of his poems to music. His ''Collected Poems'' appeared in 1961, ''The Skylark'' (1959) having been his only new book (other than the collaborative work in the

,) in many decades.

Quotes

"Some things have to be believed to be seen."
"The handwriting on the wall may be a forgery."
"Time, you old gypsy man, will you not stay, put up your caravan just for one day?"
"Did anyone ever have a boring dream?"

References

Ralph Hodgson and Aurelia Bolliger Hodgson Papers in the Bryn Mawr College Library
*John Harding, ''Dreaming of Babylon: The Life and Times of Ralph Hodgson'' (London: Greenwich Exchange, 2008) Mary Janet Chatteris born 1875 died 1920 "Chatteris Family Tree"

External links

* Ralph Hodgson Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Ralph 1871 births 1962 deaths People from Darlington Tohoku University faculty People from Minerva, Ohio English male poets