Gavin Ewart

Stephen W. Delchamps

Ed. by Chris Baldick, Goldsmiths College, University of London
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 4 Feb 1916
Died 25 Oct 1995
Activity 1933-1995

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Ewart's Works

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Gavin Ewart’s career in verse had two phases: starting in the 1930s as a teenage prodigy under the influence of W. H. Auden, Ewart almost disappeared during the post-war years and 1950s. He then reemerged in the 1960s as a mature poet who reacted against the obscurity of much contemporary poetry. From the 1960s onward, Ewart was one of England’s most popular and prolific poets, best known for poems that were light in manner though often serious in matter and written in clear everyday language. Many of Ewart’s poems deal with sex, in tones ranging from bawdy fun to anxious or melancholy reflection. Though he has been called a “Laureate of Lust”, this does a disservice to the tonal range of his sexual poetry. Likewise, though he was a master of light verse, to classify Ewart as a…

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1995 words

Citation: Delchamps, Stephen W.. "Gavin Ewart". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 January 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1465, accessed 23 November 2024.]