Burns Singer (29 August 1928 – 8 September 1964) was born James Hyman Singer in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He was a Scottish poet and translator.

Early life and education

Though he was born in New York, from the age of four, Singer was brought up in Scotland and educated in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. At the age of 15 he already had well-developed and original literary interests. Singer's father was a

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

-born second-generation Jewish immigrant from Poland, his mother was of Irish, Scottish and Norwegian background. Singer would go on to adopt her maiden name, Burns. Singer showed considerable interest in

Polish poetry Polish poetry has a centuries-old history, similar to the Polish literature. Prominent Polish poets include *Marcin Bielski (1495–1575); Polish historian, chronicler, writer and Renaissance satirical poet, first to use Polish, hence his design ...

. His collaborative translations of Polish poets included

Ignacy Krasicki Ignacy Błażej Franciszek Krasicki (3 February 173514 March 1801), from 1766 Prince-Bishop of Warmia (in German, ''Ermland'') and from 1795 Archbishop of Gniezno (thus, Primate of Poland), was Poland's leading Polish Enlightenment, Enlightenment ...

Juliusz Słowacki Juliusz Słowacki (; ; ; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the " Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of modern Polish drama. Hi ...

Cyprian Norwid Cyprian Kamil Norwid (; – 23 May 1883) was a Polish poet, dramatist, painter, sculptor, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the four most important Polish Romanticism, Polish Romantic poets, though scholars still debate whether he is ...

and Jerzy Peterkiewicz. Some of these appeared in the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

''Five Centuries of Polish Poetry, 1450–1950'' (1962), with Peterkiewicz, and a later edition.

Career and marriage

While in Scotland Singer studied English composition for two terms at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and then zoology. In 1945, at age 17, between two periods at Glasgow university, Singer went to

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

where he came into contact with W. S. Graham, a major poetic influence. Singer then had a period of several years when he travelled and worked in Europe. After the 1951 suicide of his mother he returned to Scotland where he worked for four years the marine biology lab in Aberdeen, supporting his father. He had by then spent a year in

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

and done some service in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. In 1955, he married Marie Battle, an African-American psychologist; they moved to London, where he sought freelance work writing. He enjoyed a period of success in literary journalism and as a poet. ''Still and All'' (1957) was the only collection of his poetry published during his lifetime and was the Poetry Book Society Recommendation for that year''.'' In 1960 he published with Jerzy Peterkiewicz ''Five Centuries of Polish Poetry'', a selection of translations. It is considered that his style was a "middle way" or compromise, between the

New Apocalyptics The New Apocalyptics were a poetry grouping in the United Kingdom in the 1940s, taking their name from the anthology ''The New Apocalypse'' ( 1939), which was edited by J. F. Hendry (1912–1986) and Henry Treece. There followed the further antho ...

and

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, or the

Scottish Renaissance The Scottish Renaissance (; ) was a mainly literary movement of the early to mid-20th century that can be seen as the Scottish version of modernism. It is sometimes referred to as the Scottish literary renaissance, although its influence went be ...

and the Sassenach.

Death

He spent some time with Marie in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, before ultimately returning to marine biology. His early death, in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, was from a heart attack. His ashes were scattered at sea. There is a memorial to Singer in the churchyard of St Mary the Less (Little St Mary's) in

Works

*''Living Silver'' (1953) - a study of the British fishing industry *''Still and All'' (1957) (poems) *''Five Centuries of Polish Poetry'' (1962) with Jerzy Peterkiewicz *''Collected Poems'' (1970) - posthumously, edited by W. A. S. Keir *''Selected Poems'' (1977) - posthumously, edited by Anne Clusenaar *''Collected Poems'' (2001) - posthumously, edited by James Keery

References

Sources

poetry magazine article on SingerScotland library article on Singer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Burns 1928 births 1964 deaths American marine biologists American people of Polish descent American people of Irish descent American people of Jewish descent United States Army soldiers 20th-century American zoologists American emigrants to Scotland