Francis Berry

Francis Berry (23 March 1915 – 10 October 2006[1]) was a British academic, poet, critic and translator.

He was born in Ipoh, Malaya, and educated at the University of London and the University of Exeter. After serving as a soldier, and then as a schoolteacher in Malta, he held various appointments in English literature. He was professor of English Literature at the University of Sheffield from 1947 to 1970, where he was a friend of William Empson.[2] From 1970 until his retirement in 1980, he was professor at Royal Holloway, University of London. He also wrote radio plays, and an edited translation of the Sauđarkrokur manuscripts entitled I Tell of Greenland (1977).

His first collection of poetry, Gospel of Fire, was published in 1933; his Collected Poems, drawing on 11 books, appeared in 1994. His work has been praised by G. Wilson Knight[3] and Philip Hobsbaum.[4]

His critical writing includes books on John Masefield and Herbert Read. A number of his papers are archived at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, USA and at Leeds University Library. His son is The Telegraph Cricket correspondent Scyld Berry.

Books (incomplete)
  • Gospel of Fire. Francis Berry, London, E. Mathews & Marrot, 1933 (poetry).[5]
  • Snake in the Moon. Poems. Francis Berry, London, Williams & Norgate, 1936 (poetry).
  • The Iron Christ. A poem. Francis Berry, London, Williams & Norgate, 1936 (poetry).
  • I tell of Greenland: an edited translation of the Saudarkrokur manuscripts. Francis Berry, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977.
  • Collected poems / Francis Berry. Francis Berry, Bristol, Redcliffe, 1994 (poetry).


Notes
  1. Daily Telegraph obituary
  2. Haffenden, John, ed., Selected Letters of William Empson, Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 387, 423-4, 455, 686.
  3. Obituary, The Guardian, 31 October 2006
  4. Hobsbaum, Philip, Tradition and Experiment in English Poetry, 1979
  5. "Gospel of Fire. Poems, etc. - British Library". explore.bl.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-09.


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