Barker, George, 1913-1991

George Granville Barker (1913-1991), the English poet, was born in Essex. 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).

Contemporary English poet. Barker was author of THIRTY PRELIMINARY POEMS (1933), JANUS (1935), EROS IN DOGMA (1944), THE DEAD SEAGULL (1950), NEWS OF THE WORLD (1950), VISION OF BEASTS AND GODS (1954).

George Barker (1913-1991), a contemporary English writer and poet, was born in Loughton, England. He began writing early and by his early twenties he had already been published by T.S. Eliot at Faber and Faber, who also helped him to gain appointment as Professor of English Literature in 1939 at Tohoku University (Sendai, Miyagi, Japan). Early volumes of note by Barker include Thirty Preliminary Poems (1933), Poems (1935) and Calamiterror (1937), which was inspired by the Spanish Civil War. He eventually traveled to the United States where he began his longtime liaison with writer Elizabeth Smart, by whom he had four of his fifteen children, and about whom he wrote his 1945 novel By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept and his 1950 novel, The Dead Seagull. His Collected poems were edited by Robert Fraser and published in 1987 by Faber and Faber.

English poet and author George Barker was born in Loughton and raised in Chelsea. He dropped out of school at fourteen, and drifted about, writing; his first novel and first book of poems were published when he was twenty. He became a highly-regarded enfant terrible, traveling and writing prolifically and occasionally holding an academic post. His poetry was deeemed wildly uneven in quality, but his best work was highly praised; he approached themes such as death, sexuality, and despair with an emotional intensity at once empathic and uncomfortable. He also wrote novels and plays.

George Barker, poet, novelist and artist, was born in Loughton, Essex, England, of Irish and English parentage. Barker was educated at the Regent Street Polytechnic. In 1933, he published Alanna Autumnal, a novel, and Thirty Preliminary Poems. He was visiting professor of English Literature at the Imperial Tohoku University in Japan in 1939. From 1940 to 1943, he lived in the United States, and from 1960 to 1965, in Rome. He taught at State University of New York College at Buffalo, 1965-1966; the University of Wisconsin 1971 1972, and at Florida International University in 1974. He was also Arts Fellow at York University in 1966. His later works included Calamiterror, Sacred and Secular Elegies, News of the World, The True Confession of George Barker, Dreams of a Summer Night, and Poems of Places and People. One of Barker's liaisons was with the Canadian writer Elizabeth Smart (1913-1986) who drew from their relationship in her novel, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. Smart bore 4 of Barker's 15 children.

Author.

British Catholic author and poet.

Barker grew up in relative poverty and left school at age 14 to pursue writing. In 1932, he submitted a typescript to editor John Middleton Murray, who hired him as a reviewer. Working for Murray introduced Barker to an influential circle of writers and promoted his career as a poet. Barker published his first book, Poems (1935), with the support of T.S. Eliot. Barker continued to publish with varying success; his best work is considered to be Anno Domini (1983). Barker's personal life was tumultuous, but settled somewhat in 1967 when he and his wife Elizabeth (Elspeth) Langlands moved to Norfolk. Barker died from emphysema in 1991.