Cecil Day Lewis reflects on his time at Oxford and the meeting of poetry and politics.
Poet, writer, academic and broadcaster Cecil Day Lewis was born in Ballintubbert County Laois in 1904. His father was a clergyman, and the family moved to England when he was eighteen months old.
He released his first volume of poetry 'Beechen Vigil’ in 1925, followed by ‘Country Courts in 1928, and to date has published thirteen books of poetry.
Cecil Day Lewis has written an autobiography, ‘The Buried Day’ (1960), collections of essays, translated works by Virgil, and written novels (including two for children), the most successful of which are a detective series under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake. In addition to working in broadcasting, he has also lectured at universities in England and the United States.
The recipient of many awards, both national and international, he was appointed poet laureate of England in 1967. One of his ancestors is eighteenth-century Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright and poet Oliver Goldsmith.
At times during his life, Cecil Day Lewis has been confused with the English writer and academic CS (Clive Staples) Lewis and maintains this as the reason why he came to be elected as professor of poetry at Oxford in 1951.
Educated at Sherborne School and Wadham College, Oxford, he was a contemporary of WH (Wystan Hugh) Auden.
In the 1930s their work was associated with that of Stephen Spender and Louis MacNeice, and this grouping of poets influenced the formation of the intellectual climate of England in the period between the wars. They had never consciously created a movement, but instead were,
Just people who wrote poetry and were friends.
From 1936 to 1939 Cecil Day Lewis was a member of the Communist Party. He explains that his attraction to communism was a combination of romanticised ideals and a natural tendency to champion the side of the underdog. The suffering endured by working class people in England also affected him.
I’m not in the least ashamed of it.
This episode of ‘Writer In Profile’ was broadcast on 5 January 1971. The presenter is Niall Sheridan.
‘Writer in Profile’ was a weekly television interview with a well-known Irish writer. First broadcast on 29 October 1968, it ran until 1976.
