William Henry Davies

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William Henry Davies, 1913

William Henry Davies (born July 3, 1871 in Newport , Wales , † September 26, 1940 in Nailsworth , Gloucestershire , England ) was a Welsh poet .

Life

The Welshman William Henry Davies was born into a poor family. His father died two years after he was born. His mother married a second time and left Davies and his two siblings who were adopted by their grandparents. Davies joined a Newport thief gang as a teenager, but was soon caught stealing perfume bottles and punished. He then left school prematurely to begin an apprenticeship as a toolmaker , before later working as a picture frame maker.

But Davies was dissatisfied with life in Newport and emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. Here he lived partly as a tramp , sailor and casual worker. After Davies lost a leg while trying to hop on a moving train, he returned to the UK. Unable to do physical labor, Davies began to write.

George Bernard Shaw arranged the publication of his first work, The Soul's Destroyer , which was shortly followed by The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (Eng. Supertramp. Autobiography of a vagabond ). The latter novel, after which the well-known rock band Supertramp was later named, was based on Davies' experiences in the USA and established Davies as an author of international repute. Davies wrote a number of other short stories and volumes of poetry.

His most famous lines come from the poem Leisure :

"What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare".

In 1923 Davies married former prostitute Helen Payne, 30 years his junior. In the novel Young Emma , which was only published in 1980, the author openly described how this unusual relationship came about. Davies and his wife lived in seclusion in Sussex and later in Gloucestershire. In 1938 the author was honored for his life's work in his hometown. Davies, whose health was deteriorating, made his last public appearance at the unveiling of a plaque of honor at the Church House Inn in Newport. W. H. Davies died in 1940 at the age of 69.

Works

  • The Soul's Destroyer (1905)
  • New Poems (1907)
  • The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908)
  • Nature Poems (1908)
  • Farewell to Poesy and Other Pieces (1910)
  • Contributions to the anthologies Georgian Poetry 1911–12 (1912), 1913–15 (1915), 1916–17 (1917), 1918–1919 (1919), 1919–22 (1922)
  • Songs of Joy and Others (1911)
  • Collected Poems (1916)
  • A Poet's Pilgrimage (1918)
  • Forty New Poems (1918)
  • Selected Poems (1923)
  • Secrets (1924)
  • Later Days (1925)
  • A Poet's Alphabet (1925)
  • The Song of Love (1926)
  • The Adventures of Johnny Walker - Tramp (1926)
  • A Poet's Calendar (1927)
  • Forty-Nine Poems (1928)
  • My Garden (1933)
  • The Poems of WH Davies (1940)
  • Common Joys and Other Poems (1941)
  • The Essential WH Davies (1951)
  • Young Emma (1980)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Davies, William Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh lyric poet
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Newport (Gwent)
DATE OF DEATH September 26, 1940
Place of death Nailsworth , Gloucestershire