Brian William Bransom Griffiths (20 August 1948 – 13 September 2007), known as Bill Griffiths, was a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

scholar associated with the British Poetry Revival.

Overview

Griffiths was born in

Kingsbury Kingsbury may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Kingsbury, London, a district of northwest London in the borough of Brent ** Kingsbury tube station, London Underground station * Kingsbury, Warwickshire, a village and civil parish in Warwickshi ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, England. As a teenager, he became a

Hells Angel The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...

; his experiences with bikers provided material for many early poems. From 1971, these poems were published in ''Poetry Review'', under the editorship of

Eric Mottram Eric Mottram (29 December 1924 – 16 January 1995) was a British teacher, critic, editor and poet who was one of the central figures in the British Poetry Revival. Early life and education Mottram was born in London and educated at Purley Gramm ...

, and by Bob Cobbing's

Writers Forum Writers Forum is a small publisher, workshop and writers' network established by Bob Cobbing. The roots of Writers Forum were in the 1954 arts organisation Group H, and the ''And'' magazine that Cobbing edited. The writers' branch of Group H was ca ...

. He also collaborated on a number of

performance poetry Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe p ...

pieces with Cobbing and others. Griffiths soon started his own imprint, Pirate Press, which published work by himself and other like-minded poets. In addition to Cobbing and other Writers Forum poets, Griffiths listed his early influences as

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, and

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

poetry. In 1987, he obtained a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He published a number of editions and translations of Old English texts and authored '' Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic''. Griffiths was a prolific poet who published widely in Britain and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In later years he lived in

Seaham, County Durham Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and ...

, and ran Amra Press, which published his poetry and books of local studies. Griffiths' books of poetry from other publishers include ''A Tract Against The Giants'' (Coach House Press, Toronto, 1984), ''Rousseau and the Wicked'' (Invisible Books, London, 1996), ''Etruscan Reader 5'' (with Tom Raworth and Tom Leonard) (Etruscan Books, Buckfastleigh, 1997), ''Nomad Sense'' (Talus Editions, London, 1998), ''A Book of Spilt Cities'' (Etruscan Books, 1999), ''Ushabtis'' (Talus, 2001) and ''Durham and other sequences'' (West House Books, 2002). A substantial collection of his work was also published in ''Future Exiles'' (Paladin 1992). In 2010, Reality Street released ''Collected Earlier Poems (1966 – 80)''.

Life, work, and scholarship

Beginning in 1996 and up until his death, Griffiths worked with Bill Lancaster at the Centre for Northern Studies at

Northumbria University , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

, Newcastle. He became a highly active assistant editor to Lancaster's ''Northern Review, a Journal of Regional and Cultural Affairs'', which lasted ten years. This was a remarkably productive period for Griffiths which saw the publishing of a series of books on north east dialect, beginning with ''North East Dialect, Survey and Word list'' and "North East Dialect, the Texts" in 1998. Published by the Centre for Northern Studies, these ran to several editions before culminating in ''A Dictionary of North East Dialect'' by

Northumbria University Press , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

in 2004. The Dictionary attracted national attention and was hailed as a landmark in the history of English dialects. Griffiths was able to draw upon his vast scholarship of Saxon literature and

, providing sophisticated

etymologies Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words and ...

that drew upon sources as far back as the eighth century. The centre was awarded a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2005 to continue dialect research which facilitated the publication by Northumbria University Press of three more volumes of dialect studies: ''Stotties and Spicecake, the Story of North East Cooking'', ''Pitmatic: the talk of the North East Coalfield'' (a volume that was featured heavily in the media and is credited with capturing for posterity the rapidly disappearing yet distinctive dialect of the northern coalfields), and 'Fishing and Folk: Life and Dialect on the North Sea Coast', this last published posthumously in 2008. Griffiths was working with Bill Lancaster at the time of his death to secure funding for another dialect project on children's games and pastimes. In 2003, the centre was commissioned by Sage/Music North to catalogue the archive of

Northern Sinfonia Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall. Since 2004, the o ...

and produce a history of the orchestra for the opening of the Sage music centre. A highly skilled archivist and talented classical musician, Griffiths was considered the ideal person to do this work which was completed ahead of schedule. Subsequently, ''Northern Sinfonia, a Magic of its Own'', was published in 2004. His last work at the centre was the cataloguing of the

T. Dan Smith Thomas Daniel Smith (11 May 1915 – 27 July 1993), also known by his nickname “Mr Newcastle”,"Southern Discomfort" (leading article), ''The Times'', 3 August 1993. was a high-profile British Labour Party politician who served as chairman of ...

archive of taped recordings. Of tangential interest to these projects, it could be noted that Griffiths organised an exhibition in his adopted home of Seaham which was seen by the Queen on her Golden Jubilee Tour and he published numerous small books and pamphlets dealing with his adopted community.

Selected bibliography

* ''Collected Earlier Poems (1966 – 80)'', Reality Street, Sussex 2010 * William Rowe (Ed.), ''The Salt Companion to Bill Griffiths'' ( Salt Publishing, 2007) * ''The Mud Fort'', Salt Publishing, 2004 * ''Durham and other sequences'', West House Books, 2002 * ''Ushabtis'', Talus, 2001 * ''A Book of Spilt Cities'', Etruscan Books, Burkfastleigh 1999 * ''Nomad Sense'', Talus Editions, London, 1998 * ''Etruscan Reader 5'', Etruscan Books, Buckfastleigh, 1997 * ''Rousseau and the Wicked'', Invisible Books, London, 1996 * ''TALISMAN No. 16 Fall 1996 Special Boston/U.K. Issue: a journal of contemporary poetry and poetics''Besides Griffiths, this issue includes work by Alice Notley, Gerrit Lansing, William Corbett,

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, Paul Hoover, Will Alexander, Charles Bernstein, Richard Kostelanetz, George Kalamaras,

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, Zoe English, Theodore Kharpertian, David Landrey, Joel Lewis, Edward Foster * ''Future Exiles'', Paladin, 1992

References

External links

Nomadics: Bill Griffiths (1948-2007)
A tribute by poet

Pierre Joris Pierre Joris (born July 14, 1946) is a Luxembourg-American poet, essayist, translator, and anthologist. He has moved between Europe, North Africa & the US for 55 years, publishing over 80 books of poetry, essays, translations & anthologies — mo ...

: this piece includes the opening section of Griffith's ''Cycles on Dover Borstal'' (1974), which Joris published in a magazine he edited in the early 1970s called "SIXPACK".
Death of poet and a scholar: Bill Griffiths
an article from a British (Newcastle) paper "The Journal" (reprinted on Pierre Joris's blog).

this "Cyber- tombeau" at Silliman's Blog by poet Ron Silliman includes comments, tributes, and links
Tribute by poet Bill Sherman
a piece by William Rowe

extensive links, photos, and tributes to Griffith at British poet Tom Raworth's web page
Another tribute
an obituary/memoir by friend

John Muckle John Muckle (born 9 December 1954) is a British writer who has published fiction, poetry and literary criticism. Born in Kingston-upon-Thames, he grew up in the village of Cobham, Surrey. After qualifying as a teacher and working in London FE coll ...

PN Review Launched as ''Poetry Nation'', a twice-yearly hardback, in 1973, ''PN Review'' - now an A4 paperback - began quarterly publication in 1976 and has appeared six times a year since 1981 (PN Review 21). Two hundred and twenty-five issues of the magaz ...

A History of the Solar System: Fragments of A History of the Solar System
a mimeo of a work by Griffiths published by Writers Forum and Pirate Press (1978) {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Bill 1948 births 2007 deaths Alumni of King's College London English publishers (people) People from Seaham People from Kingsbury, London Place of death missing English male poets 20th-century English poets 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English businesspeople