I lived from 1913-1991. I was from England, and am in the English category.
Eliot wrote of his "genius". Yeats thought him the most interesting poet of his generation. Dylan Thomas envied his power over women. War trapped him in Japan. In America he conducted one of the most celebrated love affairs of the century. He fathered fifteen children in several countries, three during one battle-torn summer. By the 1950s he was the toast of Soho. Barker was Catholic and bohemian, frank and elusive, tender and boisterous. In Eliot's phrase, he was "a very peculiar fellow."
Born in Essex, England, in 1913. He taught in Japan and the United States as well as in England. His highly dramatic poems, often concerned with themes of remorse and pain, led critics to place him—perhaps misleadingly—among the “New Apocalypse” movement. Barker’s published works include 30 Preliminary Poems (1933), Eros in Dogma (1944), News of the World (1950), The True Confession of George Barker (1950), The View From a Blind I (1962), Thurgarton Church (1969), The Alphabetical Zoo (1972), and Collected Poems (1987).
The poet George Barker was convinced that his biography could never be written. "I've stirred the facts around too much," he is to have said, "It simply can't be done."
Born in Essex, England, in 1913. He taught in Japan and the United States as well as in England. His highly dramatic poems, often concerned with themes of remorse and pain, led critics to place him—perhaps misleadingly—among the “New Apocalypse” movement. Barker’s published works include 30 Preliminary Poems (1933), Eros in Dogma (1944), News of the World (1950), The True Confession of George Barker (1950), The View From a Blind I (1962), Thurgarton Church (1969), The Alphabetical Zoo (1972), and Collected Poems (1987).
The poet George Barker was convinced that his biography could never be written. "I've stirred the facts around too much," he is to have said, "It simply can't be done."
Popular poetry
- Most near, most dear, most loved, and most far,
Under the huge window where I often found her14 lines, 2 comments - O Child beside the Waterfall
what songs without a word19 lines, 13 comments - What is it you remember? - the summer mornings
Down by the river at Richmond with a girl,15 lines, 3 comments - Turn on your side and bear the day to me
Beloved, sceptre-struck, immured16 lines - Most near, most dear, most loved and most far,
Under the window where I often found her14 lines - Not less light shall the gold and the green lie
On the cyclonic curl and diamonded eye, than52 lines
