William Sydney Graham (19 November 1918 – 9 January 1986) was a Scottish poet, who was often associated with

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Und ...

and the neo-romantic group of poets. Graham's poetry was mostly overlooked in his lifetime; however, partly thanks to the support of

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

, his work was eventually acknowledged. He was represented in the second edition of the '' Penguin Book of Contemporary Verse'' (Harmondsworth, UK, 1962) and the '' Anthology of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry'' (Oxford University Press, 2001).

Early life and work

Graham was born in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowland ...

. In 1932, he left school to become an apprentice draughtsman and then studied structural engineering at

Stow College Stow College was a college in Glasgow in Scotland. History The college was named after David Stow, whose primary teaching seminary was founded close to the college at Dundasvale. Stow was the first purpose-built Further Education college in G ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. He was awarded a bursary to study literature for a year at

Newbattle Abbey College Newbattle Abbey ( gd, Abaid a' Bhatail Nuaidh) was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution. Monastery It was founded in 1140 by m ...

in 1938. Graham spent the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

years working at a number of jobs in Scotland and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

before moving to

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

in 1944. His first book, ''Cage Without Grievance'' was published in 1942.

Graham and the neo-romantics

The 1940s were prolific years for Graham, and he published four more books during that decade. These were ''The Seven Journeys'' (1944), ''2ND Poems'' (1945), ''The Voyages of

Alfred Wallis Alfred Wallis (18 August 1855 – 29 August 1942) was a British fisherman and artist known for his port landscapes and shipping scenes painted in a naïve style. Having no artistic training, he began painting at the age of 70, using househol ...

'' (1948) and ''The White Threshold'' (1949). The style of these early poems led critics to see Graham as part of the neo-romantic group that included Dylan Thomas and George Barker. The affinities between these three poets derive from a common interest in poets like

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 innova ...

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he start ...

and

Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, '' The Brid ...

, and, in the case of Thomas and Graham, a taste for the Bohemian lifestyle of the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

literary scene. In 1947, Graham received the Atlantic Award for Literature, and lectured at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

whilst spending a year on a reading touring of the United States. He moved to London to be nearer the hub of its Bohemian world. Here he came into contact with T. S. Eliot, then editor of Faber and Faber, who published ''The White Threshold'', which includes varied recollections of his childhood and youth in Scotland. Faber and Faber remained Graham's publishers for the rest of his life.

''The Nightfishing'' and legacy

In 1954, Graham returned to Cornwall to live near the

St Ives, Cornwall St Ives ( kw, Porth Ia, meaning " St Ia's cove") is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially depend ...

artists' colony. Here he became friendly with several of the resident painters, including

Bryan Wynter Bryan Herbert Wynter (8 September 1915 – 2 February 1975)Roger Hilton Roger Hilton CBE (1911–1975) was a pioneer of abstract art in post-Second World War Britain. Often associated with the 'middle generation' of St Ives painters – Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon & Bryan Wynter – he spent muc ...

. The following year, Faber and Faber published his ''The Nightfishing,'' a book whose title poem marked a dramatic change in Graham's poetry. The poem moved on from his earlier style and moved away from the neo-romantic/apocalyptic tag. Unfortunately for the poet, the poem's appearance coincided with the rise of the Movement with their open hostility to the neo-romantics. Despite the support of Eliot and Hugh MacDiarmid, the book was neither a critical nor a popular success. It was to be fifteen years before Graham published another book, ''Malcolm Mooney's Land'' (1970). This, and his last book, ''Implements in Their Places'' are truly original and enduring poetic achievements, for which Graham is slowly coming to be recognised. For many years, he had lived in semi-poverty on his income as a writer, but in 1974 he received a

Civil List pension Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions - state, occupational and personal pensions. The state pension is based on ...

of £500 per year. Perhaps because of this alleviation of his financial circumstances, Graham began to publish with more frequency, with ''Implements in their Places'' (1977), ''Collected Poems 1942–1977'' (1979) and an American-published ''Selected Poems'' (1980). He died in

Madron Madron ( kw, Eglos Madern) is a civil parish and village in west Cornwall, Great Britain. Madron is named after Saint Madern's Church. Its annual Trafalgar Service commemorating the death of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson was started on 27 Oc ...

in 1986. His last collection ''Aimed at Nobody'' was published posthumously in 1993, and a book of ''Uncollected Poems'' appeared in 1990. Faber brought out a new ''Selected Poems'' in 1996. ''The Nightfisherman: Selected Letters'' was published in 1999 and ''New Collected Poems'' in 2005. All of Graham's poems have a location, a plot and setting (or narrative) as Graham insisted "the first act of engagement of reader and poem was in reading it aloud. This tested the syntax, pace and tone of poem and reader." Posthumous publication activity indicates Graham's reputation has grown in recent years. Some might argue this is partly due to Harold Pinter's often-expressed enthusiasm for the poet, or attribute his increasing recognition to the widespread advocacy of 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 ...

. However, Graham's work was represented in the anthology ''

Conductors of Chaos ''Conductors of Chaos: A Poetry Anthology'' is a poetry anthology edited by Iain Sinclair, and published in the United Kingdom in 1996 by Picador. Sinclair in the Introduction wrote that "The secret history of ... 'the British Poetry Revival' . ...

'' (1996) by a selection introduced by the poet and critic Tony Lopez, who also wrote a book-length study, ''The Poetry of W. S. Graham'' (1989).

Marriage, death and recognition

He married another poet, Agnes Kilpatrick Dunsmuir (1909–1999), known as

Nessie Dunsmuir NESSIE (New European Schemes for Signatures, Integrity and Encryption) was a European research project funded from 2000 to 2003 to identify secure cryptographic primitives. The project was comparable to the NIST AES process and the Japanese Gov ...

. Graham died on 9 January 1986, aged 68. In 2006, 20 years after his death, memorial plaques were unveiled in Fore Street,

where he spent his final years, and at his birthplace, 1 Hope Street,

. In an event to mark his centenary year, a memorial stone to Graham was unveiled in the Makars' Court, Edinburgh on 14 June 2018, and Graham's daughter Rosalind Mudaliar donated his writing chair to the Scottish Poetry Library. Copyright in Graham's works is held by his daughter, Rosalind Mudaliar.

Bibliography

Poetry books

* ''Cage without Grievance'', Parton Press, 1942 * ''The Seven Journeys'', William MacLellan, 1944 * ''2ND Poems'', Nicholson and Watson, 1945 * ''The White Threshold'', Faber and Faber, 1949 * ''The Nightfishing'', Faber and Faber, 1955 * ''Malcolm Mooney’s Land'', Faber and Faber, 1970 ** ''Approaches to How They Behave'', Donut Press, 2009 (extracted from ''Malcolm Mooney's Land'') * ''Implements in their Places'', Faber and Faber, 1977 * ''Uncollected Poems'', Greville Press, 1990 * ''Aimed at Nobody: Poems from Notebooks'', ed. Margaret Blackwood and

Robin Skelton Robin Skelton (12 October 1925 – 22 August 1997) was a British-born academic, writer, poet, and anthologist. Biography Born in Easington, Yorkshire, Skelton was educated at the University of Leeds and Cambridge University. From 1944 to 1947 ...

, Faber and Faber, 1993

Poetry collections

* ''Collected Poems'', 1942–1977, Faber and Faber, 1979 * ''Selected Poems'',

Ecco Press Ecco is a New York-based publishing imprint of HarperCollins. It was founded in 1971 by Daniel Halpern as an independent publishing company; Publishers Weekly described it as "one of America's best-known literary houses." In 1999 Ecco was acquire ...

, 1980 * ''Selected Poems'', Faber and Faber, 1996 * ''W.S. Graham Selected by Nessie Dunsmuir'', Greville Press, 1998 * ''New Collected Poems'', ed. Matthew Francis, Faber and Faber, 2004 * ''Les Dialogues obscurs / The Dark Dialogues'', selected poems, bilingual book English-French, introduction Michael Snow, afterword

Paul Stubbs Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

, Black Herald Press, 2013

Anthologies and other writings

* '' Penguin Modern Poets 17, David Gascoyne, W. S. Graham,

Kathleen Raine Kathleen Jessie Raine CBE (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was a British poet, critic, and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W. B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently ...

'', Penguin Books, 1970 * ''The Night Fisherman: Selected Letters of W. S. Graham'', ed. Michael and Margaret Snow, Carcanet, 1999 *''The Caught Habits of Language: An Entertainment for W. S. Graham for Him Having Reached One Hundred'', ed. Rachael Boast, Andy Ching, Nathan Hamilton, Donut Press, 2018

Reviews

* Greig, Andrew (1980), review of ''Collected Poems 1942 - 1977'', in Lindsay, Maurice (ed.), ''The Scottish Review: Arts and Environment'' 19, August 1980, pp. 58 & 59,

References

External links

Short introduction to Graham with links to poems

Pinter on Graham

Review of ''The Nightfisherman: Selected Letters, edited by Michael and Margaret Snow. Manchester: Carcanet.'' by Dennis O'Driscoll in ''Thumbscrew'' No. 16 (2000), "On Pancakes Alone"

Review of ''The Nightfisherman: Selected Letters, edited by Michael and Margaret Snow.'' by James Keery in ''PN Review'', "HIS PERFECT HUNGER'S DAILY CHANGING BREAD"

''W S Graham: speaking towards you'', edited by Ralph Pite and Hester Jones, Liverpool University Press
- some pages available on Googlebooks
W. S. Graham fonds
at University of Victoria, Special Collections
Poems by W.S. Graham in the 2nd and the 3rd issues of ''The Black Herald'', along with their French translations, 2011-2012

W. S. Graham reads from a selection of his poetry and talks about his work (University of Warwick Archives)