Basil Cheesman Bunting (1 March 1900 – 17 April 1985) was a British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of '' Briggflatts'' in 1966, generally regarded as one of the major achievements of the modernist tradition in English. He had a lifelong interest in music that led him to emphasise the sonic qualities of poetry, particularly the importance of reading poetry aloud: he was an accomplished reader of his own work.Schmidt, Michael, ''Lives of the Poets'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998.

Life and career

Born into a Quaker family in Scotswood-on-Tyne, near

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, he studied at two Quaker schools: from 1912 to 1916 at Ackworth School in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

and from 1916 to 1918 at Leighton Park School in Berkshire. His Quaker education strongly influenced his pacifist opposition to the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, and in 1918 he was arrested as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

having been refused recognition by the tribunals and refusing to comply with a notice of call-up. Handed over to the military, he was court-martialled for refusing to obey orders, and served a sentence of more than a year in

Wormwood Scrubs Wormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs (or simply Scrubs), is an open space in Old Oak Common located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the borough ...

and Winchester prisons. Bunting's friend

Louis Zukofsky Louis Zukofsky (January 23, 1904 – May 12, 1978) was an American poet. He was the primary instigator and theorist of the so-called "Objectivist" poets, a short lived collective of poets who after several decades of obscurity would reemerge a ...

described him as a "conservative/anti-fascist/imperialist", though Bunting himself listed the major influences on his artistic and personal outlook somewhat differently as "Jails and the sea, Quaker mysticism and socialist politics, a lasting unlucky passion, the slums of Lambeth and Hoxton ..." These events were to have an important role in his first major poem, "Villon" (1925). "Villon" was one of a rather rare set of complex structured poems that Bunting labelled "sonatas", thus underlining the sonic qualities of his verse and recalling his love of music. Other "sonatas" include "Attis: or, Something Missing", "Aus Dem Zweiten Reich", "The Well of Lycopolis", "The Spoils" and, finally, "Briggflatts". After his release from prison in 1919, traumatised by the time spent there, Bunting went to London, where he enrolled in the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, and had his first contacts with journalists, social activists and Bohemia. Bunting was introduced to the works of

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

Nina Hamnett Nina Hamnett (14 February 1890 – 16 December 1956) was a Welsh artist and writer, and an expert on sailors' Sea shanty, shanties, who became known as the Queen of Bohemia. Early life Hamnett was born in the small coastal town of Tenb ...

who lent him a copy of ''Homage to Sextus Propertius''. The glamour of the cosmopolitan modernist examples of Nina Hamnett and Mina Loy seems to have influenced Bunting in his later move from London to Paris. After travelling in Northern Europe, Bunting left the London School of Economics without a degree and went to France. There, in 1923, he became friendly with

, who years later would dedicate his ''Guide to Kulchur'' (1938) to both Bunting and

, "strugglers in the desert". Between February and October 1927, Bunting wrote articles and reviews for '' The Outlook'', and then became its music critic until the magazine ceased publication in 1928. Bunting's poetry began to show the influence of the friendship with Pound, whom he visited in

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in the Italy, Italian region of Liguria. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and ...

, Italy, and later settled there with his family from 1931 to 1933. He was published in the Objectivist issue of ''

Poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

'' magazine, in the ''Objectivist Anthology'', and in Pound's ''Active Anthology''. In the 1930s, Bunting became interested in medieval Persian literature, studied the language to some degree, and began publishing adaptations of Persian poems by

Ferdowsi Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (also Firdawsi, ; 940 – 1019/1025) was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a single poet, and the gre ...

, Manuchehri, Sa’di, Hafez, and Obayd Zakani; their use of sound patterning seems to have influenced his own. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Bunting served in British Military Intelligence in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. After the war, in 1948, he left government service to become the correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. in Iran. He married a Kurdish woman, Sima Alladadian, who was thirty years his junior. Because of his marriage to the underage girl, Bunting was fired from the British embassy. Back in Newcastle, he worked as a sub-editor (US copy editor) on the ''Evening Chronicle'' until his rediscovery during the 1960s by young poets, notably Tom Pickard and Jonathan Williams, who were interested in working in the

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

tradition. In 1966, he published his major long poem, '' Briggflatts'', named after the village in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

where he is now buried in the Quaker graveyard. In later life, he published ''Advice to Young Poets'', beginning "I SUGGEST / 1. Compose aloud; poetry is a sound." Bunting died in 1985 in

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

, Northumberland. The Basil Bunting Poetry Award and Young Person's Prize, administered by

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

, are open internationally to any poet writing in English.

Briggflatts

Divided into five parts and noted for its intricate use of sound and resonances with medieval literature, ''Briggflatts'' is an autobiographical long poem, looking back on teenage love and on Bunting's involvement in the high modernist period. In addition, ''Briggflatts'' can be read as a meditation on the limits of life and a celebration of Northumbrian culture and dialect, as symbolised by events and figures like the doomed Viking King

Eric Bloodaxe Eric Haraldsson ( , ; c.930−954), nicknamed Bloodaxe ( , ) and Brother-Slayer (), was a Norwegians#Viking Age, Norwegian king. He ruled as List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 932 to 934, and twice as List of monarchs of Northumbr ...

. The critic

Cyril Connolly Cyril Vernon Connolly CBE (10 September 1903 – 26 November 1974) was an English literary critic and writer. He was the editor of the influential literary magazine ''Horizon (British magazine), Horizon'' (1940–49) and wrote ''Enemies of Pro ...

was among the first to recognise the poem's value, describing it as "the finest long poem to have been published in England since T. S. Eliot's ''

Four Quartets ''Four Quartets'' is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published over a six-year period. The first poem, ''Burnt Norton'', was published with a collection of his early works (1936's ''Collected Poems 1909–1935''). After a fe ...

''".

Portrait bust of Basil Bunting

Basil Bunting sat in Northumberland for sculptor Alan Thornhill, with a resulting terracotta (for bronze) in existence. The correspondence file relating to the Bunting portrait bust is held as part of the Thornhill Papers (2006:56) in the archive of the Henry Moore Foundation's Henry Moore Institute in Leeds and the terracotta remains in the collection of the artist. The 1973 portrait is displayed in the Burton (2014) biography of Bunting.

Books

* 1930: '' Redimiculum Matellarum'' (privately printed) * 1950: ''Poems'' (Cleaners' Press, 1950) revised and published as ''Loquitur'' (Fulcrum Press, 1965). * 1951: ''The Spoils'' * 1965: ''First Book of Odes'' * 1965: ''Ode II/2'' * 1966: ''Briggflatts: An Autobiography'' * 1967: ''Two Poems'' * 1967: ''What the chairman Told Tom'' * 1968: ''Collected Poems'' * 1972: ''Version of Horace'' * 1991: ''Uncollected Poems'' (posthumous, edited by Richard Caddel) * 1994: ''The Complete Poems'' (posthumous, edited by Richard Caddel) * 1999: ''Basil Bunting on Poetry'' (posthumous, edited by Peter Makin) * 2000: ''Complete Poems'' (posthumous, edited by Richard Caddel) * 2009: ''Briggflatts'' (with audio CD and video DVD) * 2012: ''Bunting's Persia'' (translations by Basil Bunting, edited by Don Share) * 2016: ''The Poems of Basil Bunting'' (posthumous, edited, with intro and commentary by Don Share) * 2022: ''Letters of Basil Bunting'' (selected and edited by Alex Niven)

References

Notes

External links

*
Basil Bunting Poetry CentreBasil Bunting Home Page at EPC, Buffalo
recording read by the author

Richard Caddel's Introduction to ''Complete Poems''
Review of ''Complete Poems''Basil Bunting Finding Aid, Miami University LibrariesOn Bunting and Apophasis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunting, Basil 1900 births 1985 deaths 20th-century English poets British modernist poets British male poets Alumni of the London School of Economics English Christian pacifists English conscientious objectors Objectivist poets People educated at Ackworth School People educated at Leighton Park School People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne Presidents of the Poetry Society Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne