Charles Bernard Spencer (1909 – 1963) was an English poet, translator, and editor. He was born in Madras,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and educated at Marlborough College and

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...

. At Marlborough he knew John Betjeman and Louis MacNeice; at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by th ...

, and he also came across

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

. He edited ''Oxford Poetry'' in 1930-1931. He was not, however, drawn far into what was soon known as the

Auden Group The Auden Group or the Auden Generation is a group of British and Irish writers active in the 1930s that included W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, Cecil Day-Lewis, Stephen Spender, Christopher Isherwood, and sometimes Edward Upward and Rex Warner. ...

; he is identified much more with the type of poetry later exemplified by

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial p ...

, and is for some critics the stand-out in the

Cairo poets The British Army presence in Egypt in World War II had, as a side effect, the concentration of a group of Cairo poets. There had been a noticeable literary group in Cairo before the war in North Africa broke out, including university academics. Poss ...

. His potential was never quite fulfilled, partly because of poor health. After graduation, he made a living from teaching and writing, marrying the actress Norah Gibbs in 1936. At that time he was collaborating on

Geoffrey Grigson Geoffrey Edward Harvey Grigson (2 March 1905 – 25 November 1985) was a British poet, writer, editor, critic, exhibition curator, anthologist and naturalist. In the 1930s he was editor of the influential magazine ''New Verse'', and went on to p ...

's ''New Verse''. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he worked for the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

, in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and then

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. There he edited the ''Personal Landscape'' magazine. After the war he continued to work for the

, being posted to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Norah died in 1947, of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. He himself was ill for a time. Through other postings he wrote little. He was married again in 1961, to Anne Marjoribanks. He died in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, apparently in an accident, while once more in bad health. A conference on Spencer's life and work was held at the University of Reading in October 2009, with an exhibition of manuscripts and other personal effects. His ''Complete Poetry, Translations and Selected Prose'' edited by Peter Robinson was published by Bloodaxe Books in February 2011.

Works

*''Aegean Islands and Other Poems'' (1946) *''The Twist in the Plotting ''(1960) *''With Luck Lasting'' (1963) *''Collected Poems'' (1965) edited by Alan Ross *''Collected Poems'' (1981) edited by

Roger Bowen Roger Wendell Bowen (May 25, 1932 – February 16, 1996) was an American comedic actor and novelist, best known for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Henry Blake in the 1970 film ''M*A*S*H''. Bowen considered himself a writer who only moonlighted as an ...

*''Complete Poetry, Translations and Selected Prose'' (2011) edited by Peter Robinson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Bernard 1909 births 1963 deaths People educated at Marlborough College 20th-century English poets British people in colonial India