Amazon.com: C Day-Lewis (9780826486035): Peter Stanford: Books

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826486037 | ISBN-13: 978-0826486035 | Publication Date: July 27, 2007

How unfair', wrote one national newspaper in 1951, 'that accomplishments enough to satisfy the pride of six men should be united in Mr Day-Lewis.' Poet, translator of classical texts, novelist, detective writer (under the pen-name Nicholas Blake), performer and, at that time, Professor of Poetry at Oxford, C Day-Lewis had many careers all at once. This first authorised biography tells the private story behind the many headlines that this handsome, charming Anglo-Irish Poet Laureate generated in his lifetime.

With unparalleled access to Day-Lewis's archives and the recollections of first-hand witnesses, Peter Stanford traces the link between life and art to reassess the work of a poet lauded in his lifetime but whose literary reputation has latterly become a matter of controversy with Westminster Abbey refusing him the place in Poets' Corner traditionally allotted to Poets Laureate.

Day-Lewis first made his name as one of the 'poets of the thirties', launching a communist-influenced poetic revolution alongside WH Auden and Stephen Spender that aspired to spark wholesale political change to face down fascism.
In the 1940s, 'Red Cecil', as he had become known, broke with communism and Auden and went on to produce some of his most popular and enduring verse, prompted by his long love affair with the novelist, Rosamond Lehmann. Torn between her and his wife, he reflected on his double life in verse and became for some the supreme poet of the divided heart. Later, with his second wife, the actress Jill Balcon, he promoted poetry with a series of popular recitals and radio and television programmes. Together, they had two children, Tamasin and Daniel, later an Oscar-winning actor.

Day-Lewis was always pulled between a fulfilling domestic life and a restless desire to explore. His travels, his exploration of his Irish roots and his infidelities are all part of the rich and many-faceted life that Peter Stanford describes.

It is, however, as a poet that he is best remembered, and the poetry itself, often autobiographical, forms an integral part of this intriguing and long-overdue biography.

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How unfair', wrote one national newspaper in 1951, 'that accomplishments enough to satisfy the pride of six men should be united in Mr Day-Lewis.' Poet, translator of classical texts, novelist, detective writer (under the pen-name Nicholas Blake), performer and, at that time, Professor of Poetry at Oxford, C Day-Lewis had many careers all at once. This first authorised biography tells the private story behind the many headlines that this handsome, charming Anglo-Irish Poet Laureate generated in his lifetime.

With unparalleled access to Day-Lewis's archives and the recollections of first-hand witnesses, Peter Stanford traces the link between life and art to reassess the work of a poet lauded in his lifetime but whose literary reputation has latterly become a matter of controversy with Westminster Abbey refusing him the place in Poets' Corner traditionally allotted to Poets Laureate.

Day-Lewis first made his name as one of the 'poets of the thirties', launching a communist-influenced poetic revolution alongside WH Auden and Stephen Spender that aspired to spark wholesale political change to face down fascism.
In the 1940s, 'Red Cecil', as he had become known, broke with communism and Auden and went on to produce some of his most popular and enduring verse, prompted by his long love affair with the novelist, Rosamond Lehmann. Torn between her and his wife, he reflected on his double life in verse and became for some the supreme poet of the divided heart. Later, with his second wife, the actress Jill Balcon, he promoted poetry with a series of popular recitals and radio and television programmes. Together, they had two children, Tamasin and Daniel, later an Oscar-winning actor.

Day-Lewis was always pulled between a fulfilling domestic life and a restless desire to explore. His travels, his exploration of his Irish roots and his infidelities are all part of the rich and many-faceted life that Peter Stanford describes.

It is, however, as a poet that he is best remembered, and the poetry itself, often autobiographical, forms an integral part of this intriguing and long-overdue biography.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Mention in The Independent

(The Independent )

Article by author - front page of News Review section

(Sunday Times )

Article mentions book

(Tim Walker Sunday Telegraph )

"Peter Stanford's new biography argues against what the author sees as the current undervaluation of the poet...Behind such stuff is a personal life rich in incident, and Stanford tells its story efficiently, leaving any matters of judgement, good or bad, to the reader."

Literary Review

(Peter McDonald Literary Review )

Article by author - extract from book

(Independent, The )

"Stanford makes a careful assessment of Day-Lewis's development as a poet through this first part of his life, writing well about Auden's influence and about the ambition to use poetry as both 'an instrument of social change' and a means of bringing 'order to self-consciousness'. He does well, too, in mapping the ways that political interests created problems for his writing as well as driving it forward."

Andrew Motion, The Guardian

(Andrew Motion, Guardian Unlimited )

"This is an intelligent, fair, well-written biography."

Becis Hillier, The Daily Telegraph

(Bevis Hillier Daily Telegraph, The )

" Readers of Peter Stanford's shrewd and conscientious biography are given every chance to reasses Day Lewis's works."

The Sunday Times

(Miranda Seymour Sunday Times )

Mention in The Bookseller

(The Bookseller )

"Stanford likes and respects his subject...and thats what really counts in a biography, along with sympathetic understanding - which he also has. It succeeds in relating the work to the life in an exemplary manner."

The Tablet

(Robert Nye Tablet, The )

"Catches [Day-Lewis'] charm. Much more importantly it helps the reader to sympathise with and understand his poetry."

P.J. Kavanagh, The Spectator

(P.J. Kavanagh Spectator, The )

mentioned.

(Private Eye )

Mentioned in Camden New Journal/ Islington Tribune.

(John Horder )

"Peter Stanford has managed a magnificent balance of public and private personae with the added bonus of shrewd critical appraisal of the poems. It is a rare acheivement in a literary biography."

Yorkshire Post

(Margaret Speak Yorkshire Post )

"It is Stanford's huge accomplishment in this excellent biography that he gives due weight to all aspects of this multifarious man...Stanford suceeds in his aim of returning a neglected figure to public attention, and sheds new light on many key literary and political issues of his age."

Michael Arditti, The Independent

(Michael Arditti Independent, The )

listed in The Mail on Sunday

"He tells the story with a lucid command of narrative and an understated wit."
London Review of Books

(Ferdinand Mount )

Mentioned in The Independent on Sunday, 15/07/07

(Independent, The )

Reviewed in The Independent, July 2007

(Independent, The )

"From Standford's sympathetic biography, Day-Lewis emerges as a loveable, charismatic man who wrote some beautiful poems."

Mavis Campion

(Mavis Campion, www.pensioneronline.com )

"[This] amiable and authoritative biography by Peter Stanford [results in] this memorable and often moving portrait."

The Catholic Herald

(John Hinton Catholic Herald )

"Peter Stanford... has done a great job in assembling various strands of autobiography that fed Day-Lewis's poetic imagination...an important and necessary study."

The Irish Times

(Irish Times, The )

Title mention in Esquire Magazine

"Peter Stanford's useful book assembles a vast amount of background detail."

Reviewed by Neil Powell, Times Literary Supplement, 2007.

"This is an excellent biography, which succeeds in getting the balancing act between a consideration ot the writer as a man and as an artist"

Reviewed by Simon Turner on www.toddswift.blogspot.com, May 2008

Mentioned in article by Peggy Poole in Writing Magazine, 2008.

"Peter Stanford, an established biographer and writers on religion (one of his books is The Devil: A Biography) has here produced a well-rounded, beautifully written, and thoroughly researched biography. As Day-Lewis was such an overwhelmingly personal poet, Stanford weaves a significant quantity of the poetry into his biography, even providing the occasional element of critical analysis as well. The result is a sympathetic and gripping portrait of a fascinating man and influential poet who, it is to be hoped, will begin to garner the critical attention he most richly deserves...Stanford has performed a marvelous service in helping to recover the life and poetry of an unfairly neglected poet and in the process celebrates a strand of twentieth-century poetry that stands as an alternative to Modernism."--Kevin J. Gardner, Religion and the Arts, 2008

Mention in The Independent

(, )

Article mentions book

(, Sunday Telegraph )

"Peter Stanford's new biography argues against what the author sees as the current undervaluation of the poet...Behind such stuff is a personal life rich in incident, and Stanford tells its story efficiently, leaving any matters of judgement, good or bad, to the reader."

Literary Review

(, Literary Review )

"Stanford makes a careful assessment of Day-Lewis's development as a poet through this first part of his life, writing well about Auden's influence and about the ambition to use poetry as both 'an instrument of social change' and a means of bringing 'order to self-consciousness'. He does well, too, in mapping the ways that political interests created problems for his writing as well as driving it forward."

Andrew Motion, The Guardian

(, )

"This is an intelligent, fair, well-written biography."

Becis Hillier, The Daily Telegraph

(, Daily Telegraph, The )

" Readers of Peter Stanford's shrewd and conscientious biography are given every chance to reasses Day Lewis's works."

The Sunday Times

(, Sunday Times )

Mention in The Bookseller

(, )

"Stanford likes and respects his subject...and thats what really counts in a biography, along with sympathetic understanding - which he also has. It succeeds in relating the work to the life in an exemplary manner."

The Tablet

(, Tablet, The )

"Catches [Day-Lewis'] charm. Much more importantly it helps the reader to sympathise with and understand his poetry."

P.J. Kavanagh, The Spectator

(, Spectator, The )

mentioned.

(, )

Mentioned in Camden New Journal/ Islington Tribune.

(, )

"Peter Stanford has managed a magnificent balance of public and private personae with the added bonus of shrewd critical appraisal of the poems. It is a rare acheivement in a literary biography."

Yorkshire Post

(, Yorkshire Post )

"It is Stanford's huge accomplishment in this excellent biography that he gives due weight to all aspects of this multifarious man...Stanford suceeds in his aim of returning a neglected figure to public attention, and sheds new light on many key literary and political issues of his age."

Michael Arditti, The Independent

(, Independent, The )

"He tells the story with a lucid command of narrative and an understated wit."
London Review of Books

(, )

"From Standford's sympathetic biography, Day-Lewis emerges as a loveable, charismatic man who wrote some beautiful poems."

Mavis Campion

(, )

"[This] amiable and authoritative biography by Peter Stanford [results in] this memorable and often moving portrait."

The Catholic Herald

(, Catholic Herald )

“Peter Stanford, an established biographer and writers on religion (one of his books is The Devil: A Biography) has here produced a well-rounded, beautifully written, and thoroughly researched biography. As Day-Lewis was such an overwhelmingly personal poet, Stanford weaves a significant quantity of the poetry into his biography, even providing the occasional element of critical analysis as well. The result is a sympathetic and gripping portrait of a fascinating man and influential poet who, it is to be hoped, will begin to garner the critical attention he most richly deserves…Stanford has performed a marvelous service in helping to recover the life and poetry of an unfairly neglected poet and in the process celebrates a strand of twentieth-century poetry that stands as an alternative to Modernism.”–Kevin J. Gardner, Religion and the Arts, 2008

From the Publisher

Peter Stanford's biography of my father, C Day-Lewis: a Life, has achieved something that few such examinations are able to do: a scrupulous, modulated fair-mindedness. I think somehow that it begins with good will and Stanford's appreciation of my father's work provides the bedrock on which he builds. His scholarship, which is impeccable, is worn lightly and he, author, remains resolutely at the service of his subject.

This rare quality of modesty allows the work to speak for itself. He casts light on my father's poetry through the sensitive understanding of his experience - a strikingly unmodern balance between the private life and the creative force that blossomed out of it. I like that best of all: that the work is placed, and remains firmly, at the centre.

Knowing Peter a little bit, none of this surprises me. And yet one is left with a sense of genuine gratitude. Though it is no doubt hard for a son ever to assess the life of his own father, with Peter's help I feel I have been led some considerable way, encountering many delightful surprises en route, down the path that might allow me to do so.

actor, Daniel Day-Lewis

See all Editorial Reviews