Thomas Blackburn (poet)

Thomas Eliel Fenwick Blackburn (10 February 1916 – 13 August 1977) was a British poet. His work is noted for its self-examination and spiritual imagery.^[1] His autobiographical novel, A Clip of Steel (1969), portrays a childhood under a repressive clergyman father.^[2]

Early Life

Blackburn was born in Hensingham, Cumberland, England. He was the product of an affair his father had with a Mauritian woman in the West Indies.^[3] As a child his father repeatedly washed his face with a mixture of bleach and lemon because he believed it would avoid the appearance of mixed ancestry.^[4] After briefly studying law at Selwyn College, Cambridge, he completed a course in psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, before going on to study English at Durham University (Hatfield College).^[5] On graduating from Durham in June 1940, he moved down to London and became involved with the Soho literary scene.^[6]

Career

He held a Gregory Fellowship in poetry at the University of Leeds between 1956 and 1958.^[7] He was married three times, with his second wife Rosalie de Meric, a painter, he had a daughter, Julia Blackburn. Blackburn was an alcoholic and suffered several mental breakdowns during his life.^[8] He died from a cerebral haemorrhage at home in Wales as he was getting into bed, immediately after finishing a letter to his brother John.^[9]

Blackburn taught at the College of St. Mark and St. John in Chelsea, London, as well as other educational institutions.^[10]

References

External links

• Archival material at Leeds University Library