Seán Rafferty (born John Dickson Kerr Rafferty; 6 February 1909, in

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

, Scotland – 4 December 1993, in

Iddesleigh Iddesleigh ( ) is a village and civil parish in the county of Devon, England. The settlement has ancient origins and is listed in the ''Domesday Book''. The village lies on the B3217 road, roughly central in its parish of around , about north ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

poet, based in England from 1932 until his death.

Career

Rafferty studied Classics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

before moving to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1948. Rafferty's poetic work is squarely within the Anglo-American

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, reflecting variously the influence of traditional English lyric, Celtic bardic poetry, balladry, and popular song. Rafferty's poetry has been praised by

Sorley MacLean Sorley MacLean (; 26 October 1911 – 24 November 1996) was a Scottish Gaelic poet, described by the Scottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era" because of his "mastery of his chosen medium and his engagement ...

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 ...

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as '' War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytelli ...

and

Hugh MacDiarmid Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid ( , ), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish ...

and was posthumously published in collections by the poetry presses Carcanet and Etruscan.

Personal life

The death of Rafferty's first wife, Betty Bryant, in 1945, by whom he had a daughter, figures prominently in his poetry. He married Peggy Laing in 1947 and the next year moved with her to

, where he was landlord of the Duke Of York Inn. He lived in Iddesleigh until his death in 1993, at the age of 84.

Works

Books

* ''Collected Poems'', edited by Nicholas Johnson, Manchester: Carcanet, 1995. * ''Poems'', edited by Nicholas Johnson, Buckfastleigh, South Devonshire : Etruscan Books ; Berkeley, CA : Distributed in America by SPD, 1999. evised and enlarged version of the 1995 Carcanet edition.* ''Poems, Revue Sketches, and Fragments'', edited by Nicholas Johnson, Buckfastleigh, South Devonshire : Etruscan Books; Berkeley, CA : Distributed in America by SPD, 2004.

Recordings

* Various Artists - ''In Tune with the World: The Poetry of Seán Rafferty'' (2010 Brown Label Poetry), featuring readings by

Jim Causley Jim Causley (born 1980) is a British folk singer, songwriter, and musician from Devon who specializes in the traditional songs and music of the West Country. Journalist Colin Irwin has called him "the finest singer of his generation". Biograph ...

, Michael and Clare Morpurgo, Carol Hughes, Nicholas Johnson, Jane Fever and Vic Baines.

Career

Personal life

Works

Books

Recordings

References

External links