Alfred Charles Tomlinson

Background

Alfred Charles Tomlinson was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, United Kingdom on January 8, 1927.

Education

He received his B. A. from Queens' College, Cambridge (1948) and his M. A. from London University (1954).

Career

He became lecturer in English poetry at the University of Bristol in 1956, reader in 1968, and since 1982 has held the position of professor of English. He has also taught at several universities in the United States, including those of New Mexico and Princeton. In 1974,

Though he began as a painter, using the technique known as decalcomania and introducing random elements into his paintings and graphics, Tomlinson is known primarily as a poet. His visual orientation helps shape his poetry, as does his interest in the process of perception. Tomlinson writes about the natural world - sea, air, earth, stones, seasons, light and shadow - but he is not simply a nature poet.

Tomlinson also writes about music, language, art, philosophy, history, and politics, attempting to "reconcile public and private concerns" in language best suited to the needs of each. His first book, Relations and Contraries, was published in 1951. Since then, he has published more than 15 books of poetry, including his Collected Poems (1985). His graphics are reproduced in Words and Images (1972), In Black and White (1976), and Eden (1985).

Achievements

• Tomlinson is considered the first poet of his generation to bring an international perspective to British poetry. He also was an authoritative translator of poetry from the Russian, Spanish and Italian, including work by Antonio Machado, Fyodor Tyutchev, César Vallejo and Attilio Bertolucci.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Door in the Wall (The Oxford Poets)

    (This is Charles Tomlinson's first new collection since 19...)

  • Skywriting: And Other Poems (New Criterion Series)

    (The winner in the third annual contest for the New Criter...)

Views

He was concerned with what we see and how we see, using vivid sensory descriptions - primarily visual - to detail the vitality of our relationship with the world, emphasizing that "relation is mutual":

Membership

Tomlinson was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Honorary Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge.

Interests

• Writers

  He was influenced by the stylistic innovations of Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, the French symbolists, and the Black Mountain poets.