Dannie Abse

Dannie Abse
CBE FRSL
Born Daniel Abse
(1923-09-22)22 September 1923
Cardiff, Wales
Died 28 September 2014(2014-09-28) (aged 91)
Nationality British
Alma mater University of Wales College of Medicine,
King's College London.
Genre Poetry
Notable awards Cholmondeley Award,
Wilfred Owen Poetry Award,
Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine
Spouse Joan Abse

Daniel Abse, CBE FRSL (22 September 1923 – 28 September 2014) was a Welsh poet.[1]

Early years

Abse was born in Cardiff, Wales, to a Jewish family. He was the younger brother of politician and reformer Leo Abse and the eminent psychoanalyst, Wilfred Abse. Unusually for a middle-class Jewish boy, Dannie Abse attended St Illtyd’s College, a working-class Catholic school in Splott. Abse studied medicine, first at the University of Wales College of Medicine, and then at Westminster Hospital Medical School and King's College London.[1]

Abse was a passionate supporter of Cardiff City football club. He first went to watch them play in 1934 and many of his writings refer to his experiences watching and lifelong love of The Bluebirds.

Career as poet

Although best known as a poet, Abse worked in the medical field, and was a specialist at a chest clinic for over thirty years. He received numerous literary awards and fellowships for his writing. In 1989, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Wales.

His first poetic volume, After Every Green Thing, was published in 1949.[2] His autobiographic work, Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve, was published in 1954. He won the Welsh Arts Council Award in both 1971 and 1987, and the Cholmondeley Award in 1985. He was a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature from 1983. In a foreword to "Collected Poems 1948-1976" Abse noted that his poems are increasingly 'rooted in actual experience', both domestic and professional, and many display a reconciliation between Jewish and Welsh themes and traditions.[3]

Abse lived for several decades in the northwest area of London, mainly near Hampstead where he has considerable ties. For several years he wrote a column for the "Ham & High" (Hampstead and Highgate Express) local newspaper. The articles were subsequently published in book form.

In 2005, his wife Joan Abse was killed in a car accident, while Abse suffered a broken rib. His poetry collection, Running Late, was published in 2006, and The Presence, a memoir of the year after his wife died, was published in 2007; it won the 2008 Wales Book of the Year award.[2] The book was later dramatised for BBC Radio 4. He was awarded the Roland Mathias prize for Running Late.[4]

In 2009 Abse brought out a volume of collected poetry. In the same year, he received the Wilfred Owen Poetry Award. Abse was a judge for the inaugural 2010 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine. Abse was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to poetry and literature.[5]

Dannie Abse died on 28 September 2014, aged 91.[1]

Books

Fiction

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Dannie Abse - obituary". The Telegraph. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 Dannie Abse Archived June 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 6th Edition. Edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, 2000 p2
  4. ↑ "Dannie Abse". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60009. p. 6. 31 December 2011.

Further reading

External links

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