John Bryant Press (11 January 1920 – 26 February 2007) was a poet, anthologist and critic who worked for the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

for much of his life.

Life

The only child of Edward Press, who worked at

Colman's Colman's is an English manufacturer of mustard and other sauces, formerly based and produced for 160 years at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. Owned by Unilever since 1995, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited ra ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, John Press was born there and attended

Norwich School Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a private selective day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as an episcop ...

; he then went on to

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

, where he read history from 1938 to 1940. After war service in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, he returned to Cambridge to complete his degree and then joined the British Council, in whose service he remained for 33 years. During that time he was posted in Greece (1946–50), India and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(1950–52),

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

(1952–54),

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 ...

(1954–62),

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

(1962–5),

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(1966–71) and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

(1971–8). In 1959 Press was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

and served on its council from 1961 to 1988. While working for the British Council, Press was responsible for writing short surveys of the work of the poets

Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell (; 31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend ...

(1958), Robert Herrick (1961),

Louis MacNeice Frederick Louis MacNeice (12 September 1907 – 3 September 1963) was an Irish poet, playwright and producer for the BBC. Known for its exploration of introspection, empiricism, and belonging, his poetic work is now ranked among the twentieth ...

(1965),

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

(1974) and the ''Poets of World War 1'' (1983). These were supplemented by some of his more substantial critical works, such as ''Rule and Energy: trends in British Poetry since the Second World War'' (OUP, 1963), and ''A Map of Modern English Verse'' (OUP 1969), the latter containing 14 sections devoted to a poet or group of poets, concentrating on what they said of their work rather than academic analysis. The former work was based on the George Ellison Poetry Foundation lectures that Press gave at the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

in 1962. Included in its survey was one of the earliest appraisals of Movement poetry, identifying its "neutral tone" and setting it in its historical context. All of Press' critical works appeared from

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, including several dealing with more general subjects. ''The Fire and the Fountain: an essay on poetry'' (1955) traced the way that a poem grows and is shaped in the mind. According to Lawrence Sail in his obituary, the book established Press' ability to marshal opposing forces on either side of an argument in a way characteristic of his work to come. It was followed by ''The Chequer'd Shade: reflections on obscurity in poetry'' (1958), a "thorough and conscientious survey" of the causes of its perception over the centuries, for which he won the 1958 Heinemann Award. But his final study, ''The Lengthening Shadows: observations on poetry and its enemies'' (1971), was found trite and over-pessimistic by ''

The Review of English Studies ''The Review of English Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering English literature and language from the earliest period to the present and published by Oxford University Press. ''RES'' is a "leading scholarly journal of English lit ...

''. He died in

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest tow ...

in 2007.

Poetry

In the eyes of some of his colleagues, Press' updating of the venerable

Palgrave's Golden Treasury The ''Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics'' is a popular anthology of English poetry, originally selected for publication by Francis Turner Palgrave in 1861. It was considerably revised, with input from Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennys ...

has been considered significant. He edited a Book V in 1964, supplementing it with a Book VI in 1994 and adding such writers as

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

George Mackay Brown George Mackay Brown (17 October 1921 – 13 April 1996) was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist with a distinctly Orkney, Orcadian character. He is widely regarded as one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century. Biography Early life a ...

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (194 ...

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, and her term expired in 2019. She wa ...

and

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

, "well-nigh submerging Palgrave's originally chosen seventy-five poets among 231". However, a reviewer for ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' found the choice "so inbred and uninspiring that you almost wish the original had been left to stand alone as a mid-Victorian period piece". Two books of Press' own poetry also appeared from the Oxford University Press: ''Uncertainties'' (1957) and ''Guy Fawkes Night and other poems'' (1959). Thereafter his poems appeared mostly in small press collections, which included the small 2004 selection of his work from the Greville Press. A long-standing friendship with

Edward Lowbury Edward Joseph Lister Lowbury (12 December 1913 – 10 July 2007) was a pioneering and innovative English medical bacteriologist and pathologist, and also a published poet. Life Edward Lowbury was born in Hampstead to the recently naturalised Benj ...

(who published some of Press' early poems in the wartime magazine ''Equator'' when they both met on war service in Kenya) eventually resulted in ''Troika'', a volume that Press shared with Lowbury and Michael Riviere (Daedalus Press, 1977). Later he published a handful of poems in ''Physic Meet and Metaphysic'', the 1993 celebration for Lowbury's 80th birthday.''Physic Meet and Metaphysic'', University of Salzburg 1993, pp.6, 10, 58–62 The poem "A Prospect of Heaven" from this conveys an idea of his undemanding style and impish humour: ::Though I love music, I have no desire ::To hear the chanting of the heavenly choir, ::For even Handel's ''Hallelujah Chorus'', ::Prolonged throughout eternity, would bore us. ::Nor do I yearn to savour the delight ::Of casting down my crown while robed in white. ::Since Hell, they say, is infinitely seedier, ::I'll choose, like Anglicans, the ''via media'': ::Reserve for me a shady spot in Limbo, ::Furnished with good books, champagne and a bimbo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Press, John People from Norwich Military personnel from Norwich English male poets English literary critics 20th-century English poets Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 1920 births 2007 deaths 20th-century English male writers British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery personnel