Robert Malise Bowyer Nichols (6 September 1893 – 17 December 1944) was an English writer, known as a

war poet War poetry is poetry on the topic of war. While the term is applied especially to works of the First World War, the term can be applied to poetry about any war, including Homer's ''Iliad'', from around the 8th century BC as well as poetry of th ...

of 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 a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Life and career

The son of the poet John Bowyer Buchanan Nichols, Robert Nichols was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

and

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

. Commissioned into the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It was created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the ...

in 1914, Nichols served on the Western Front, including the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used Chemical weapons in World War I, ...

and the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

, until invalided home with

shell shock Shell shock is a term that originated during World War I to describe symptoms similar to those of combat stress reaction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which many soldiers suffered during the war. Before PTSD was officially recogni ...

in August 1916. He began to give poetry readings, in 1917. In 1918 he was a member of an official British propaganda mission to the USA, where he also gave readings. One of his best known poems of the conflict is ''The Assault'', which "evokes the destructive havoc and the emotional turbulence of an attack in verse of unusual freedom and energy" After the war he moved in social circles in London. He was a protege of

Edith Sitwell Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess ...

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

became a long-term friend and correspondent, and Nichols wooed

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

with

sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

s, but married Norah Denny in 1922 at

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...

. He was Professor of English Literature at the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

from 1921 to 1924, and later worked in the theatre and cinema. The play ''Wings over Europe'' (1928), with

Maurice Browne Maurice Browne (12 February 1881 – 21 January 1955) was a man of the theatre in the United States and the United Kingdom. A poet, actor and theatre director, he has been credited, along with his then-wife Ellen Van Volkenburg, as the founde ...

, was a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

hit. Nichols wrote several prose fictions, including ''The Smile of the Sphinx'', a fantasy set in the Middle East and ''Golgotha & co.'', a satirical fantasy featuring the

Wandering Jew The Wandering Jew (occasionally referred to as the Eternal Jew, a calque from German ) is a mythical immortal man whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century. In the original legend, a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Cruc ...

, the return of

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

and a future war.

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part ...

, "Fantastica", in Frank N. Magill, ed. ''Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature'', Vol 2. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, Inc., 1983. (pp. 524-525). These fictions were collected in Nichols' book ''Fantastica''. He lived in Germany and Austria in 1933–34. He then settled in the south of France, leaving in June 1940. He died at the age of 51, and is buried at St Mary's Church, Lawford, Essex, next to the family home, Lawford Hall. On 11 November 1985, Nichols was among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

's Poet's Corner. The inscription on the stone was taken from

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen Military Cross, MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of Trench warfare, trenches and Chemi ...

's "Preface" to his poems and reads: "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."

Works

* ''Invocation'' (1915) * ''Ardours and Endurances'' (1917) * ''A Faun's Holiday & Poems & Phantasies'' (1917) * ''Sonnets to Aurelia'' (1920), poems * ''The Smile of the Sphinx'' (1920) * ''Guilty Souls'' (1922), play *
Fantastica : being the smile of the Sphinx and other tales of imagination
' (1923) * ''Twenty Below'' (1926) with

Jim Tully Jim Tully (June 3, 1886 – June 22, 1947) was an American vagabond, pugilist, and writer. He enjoyed critical and commercial success as a writer in the 1920s and 1930s. Biography Born near St. Marys, Ohio, to James Dennis and Bridget Mari ...

* ''Under the Yew; or, The Gambler Transformed'' (1928) novel * ''Wings Over Europe'' (1928), play * ''Fisbo, or the Looking Glass Loaned'' (1934) verse satire aimed at

Osbert Lancaster Sir Osbert Lancaster (4 August 1908 – 27 July 1986) was an English cartoonist, architectural historian, stage designer and author. He was known for his cartoons in the British press, and for his lifelong work to inform the general publi ...

* ''A Spanish Triptych'' (1936) poems * ''Such was My Singing'' (1942) selected verse (includes fragments of the unfinished play ''Don Juan Tenorio the Great'').

Musical settings of plays and poetry

In 1919, the English composer

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (born Leon Dudley Sorabji; 14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) was an English composer, music critic, pianist and writer whose music, written over a period of seventy years, ranges from sets of miniatures to wor ...

wrote ''Music to "The Rider by Night"'' (not extant in full).

Peter Warlock Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published ...

(a close friend) composed a choral setting of ''The Full Heart'' in 1916, and a song setting of ''The Water Lily'' in 1922, along with others, now lost. ''The Naiads' Music'' and ''The Pigeon Song'' were set by

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qui ...

(also a friend) in his ''Pastoral: (Lie Strewn White Flocks)'' of 1928, and Bliss also used ''Dawn on the Somme'' in his choral symphony '' Morning Heroes'' of 1930. E. J. Moeran set ''Blue-eyed Spring'' for voice and piano in 1932 and used poetry from the unfinished play ''Don Juan Tenorio the Great'' for his ''Nocturne'' for baritone solo, chorus and orchestra of 1935.

Christian Darnton Philip Christian Darnton (born Philip Christian von Schunck; 30 October 1905 – 14 April 1981), also known as Baron von Schunck, was a British composer and writer. Amongst his admirers was Vaughn Williams. Early life and family He was born in ...

set five poems by Nichols in his 1938 work ''Swansong'', for soprano and orchestra.The LiederNet Archive
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References

Sources

''Author and Book Info.com''
*''Putting Poetry First: A Life of Robert Nichols, 1893-1944'' (2003) William and Anne Charlton

External links

*
Robert Malise Bowyer Nichols Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center, known as the Humanities Research Center until 1983, is an archive, library, and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe ...

* *Archival Material a
Leeds University Library
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Robert 20th-century English poets British Army personnel of World War I Royal Field Artillery officers 1893 births 1944 deaths English World War I poets 20th-century English male writers English fantasy writers People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Academic staff of the University of Tokyo English male poets English male dramatists and playwrights English male short story writers English short story writers English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English short story writers