''The English Intelligencer'' was a mid-1960s

little magazine In the United States, a little magazine is a magazine genre consisting of "artistic work which for reasons of commercial expediency is not acceptable to the money-minded periodicals or presses", according to a 1942 study by Frederick J. Hoffman, ...

devoted to poetry and letters founded and edited by poets Andrew Crozier and

Peter Riley Peter Riley (born 1940) is a contemporary English poet, essayist, and editor. Riley is known as a Cambridge poet, part of the group loosely associated with J. H. Prynne which today is acknowledged as an important center of innovative poetry i ...

. It played a key role in the emergence of many of the poets associated with the

British Poetry Revival "The British Poetry Revival" is the general name given to a loose poetry movement in Britain that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The revival was a modernist-inspired reaction to the Movement's more conservative approach to British poetry. T ...

, and was conceived as providing a forum for exchange and building a sense of community among scattered British avant-garde poets who were in contact with and responding to the New American Poets, especially

Charles Olson Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modern American poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York ...

History

The ''English Intelligencer''s name is likely to have been influenced by the ''

Cambridge Intelligencer The ''Cambridge Intelligencer'' was an English weekly newspaper, appearing from 1793 to 1803, and edited by Benjamin Flower. The historian J. E. Cookson called it "the most vigorous and outspoken liberal periodical of its day". Flower suffered ...

'', a political newspaper published from 1793 to 1803, which included works by radical poets. In 2009,

Elaine Feinstein Elaine Feinstein FRSL (born Elaine Cooklin; 24 October 1930 – 23 September 2019) was an English poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright, biographer and translator. She joined the Council of the Royal Society of Literature in 2007. Earl ...

recalled that

's work had been a major shared influence among contributors to the ''Intelligencer''. The ''Intelligencer'' was circulated to a mailing list of

British poets British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

; the number of correspondents varied between 25 and 65, with a constant core of about a dozen. It was mimeographed and appeared roughly every three weeks, with the total run amounting to 36 issues between January 1966 and April 1968.English Intelligencer Archive
/ref> It was delivered for free to its contributors. The first and second issues were edited by Cozier and Riley repectively. The magazine was produced at litle cost using

J. H. Prynne Jeremy Halvard Prynne (born 24 June 1936) is a British poet closely associated with the British Poetry Revival. Prynne grew up in Kent and was educated at St Dunstan's College, Catford, and Jesus College, Cambridge. He is a Life Fellow of Gonvil ...

's access to a Xerox machine at

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, Cambridge. Aside from the editors, the poets and writers who contributed and/or corresponded with the ''Intelligencer'' included

Jim Burns Jim Burns (born 10 April 1948) is a Welsh artist born in Cardiff, Wales. He has been called one of the Grand Masters of the science fiction art world. In 1966 he joined the Royal Air Force, but soon thereafter he left and signed up at the N ...

, David Chaloner, Feinstein,

John Hall John Hall may refer to: Academics * John Hall (NYU President) (fl. c. 1890), American academic * John A. Hall (born 1949), sociology professor at McGill University, Montreal * John F. Hall (born 1951), professor of classics at Brigham Young Unive ...

Lee Harwood Lee Harwood (6 June 1939 – 26 July 2015) was a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival. Life Travers Rafe Lee Harwood was born in Leicester to maths teacher Wilfred Travers Lee-Harwood and Grace Ladkin Harwood, who were then living ...

, John James,

Barry MacSweeney Barry MacSweeney (17 July 1948 – 9 May 2000) was an English poet and journalist. His organizing work contributed to the British Poetry Revival. Life and work 1960s Barry MacSweeney was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. He left school aged 16, and b ...

Jeff Nuttall Jeffrey Addison Nuttall (8 July 1933 – 4 January 2004) was an English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, anarchist and social commentator who was a key part of the British 1960s counter-culture. He was the brother of l ...

Douglas Oliver Douglas Dunlop Oliver (14 September 1937 – 21 April 2000) was a poet, novelist, editor, and educator. The author of more than a dozen works, Oliver came into poetry not as an academic but through a career in journalism, notably in Cambridge, Par ...

Tom Pickard Tom Pickard (born 1946, Newcastle upon Tyne, England) is a poet, and documentary film maker who was an important initiator of the movement known as the British Poetry Revival. Biography Pickard grew up in the working-class suburbs of Cowgate, Ne ...

, Prynne,

Tom Raworth Thomas Moore Raworth (19 July 1938 – 8 February 2017) was an English-Irish poet, publisher, editor, and teacher who published over 40 books of poetry and prose during his life. His work has been translated and published in many countries. Rawor ...

, John Riley, C. H. Sisson,

Chris Torrance Chris Torrance (1941 – 21 August 2021) was a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival of the 1960s, mainly known for long poetry cycle ''The Magic Door'' published as a series of volumes over 30 years. Biography Born in Edinburgh in 1 ...

and

Gael Turnbull Gael Turnbull (7 April 1928 – 2 July 2004) was a Scottish poet who was an important figure in the British Poetry Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. Biography Turnbull was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Northern England and in Canada, where he ...

. Many of the poets who corresponded in the ''Intelligencer'' met face-to-face for the first time at the Sparty Lea Festival at MacSweeney's home in 1967. Throughout the publication's history, participants disagreed over its orientation toward questions of land and nation. In December 1966, amid disputes over the value of the ''Intelligencer'' and its future, Prynne wrote that he had lost trust in the project's "shared language". The following month, Riley wrote to reaffirm the necessity of communication and communality. In May 1967, MacSweeney submitted a letter criticising what he perceived as the journal's hermeticism and undue emphasis on Olson's influence. The journal dissolved in acrimonious circumstances in 1968.

Influence

Daniel Eltringham argues that the ''Intelligencer'' influenced later

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

landscape poetry in the United Kingdom by drawing attention to histories of

commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons c ...

and

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

. Eltringham also suggests, however, that the publication's small circulation limited its political efficacy, and notes that its mailing list included only four women.

References

External links

Guide to the English Intelligencer Archive
1966–1968, Fales Library & Special Collections, New York University.

History

Influence

References

External links

Further reading