- John Riley (poet)
John Riley (1937-1978) was a poet who was associated with the
British Poetry Revival .Riley was born and grew up in
Leeds . He served in theRoyal Air Force from 1956 to 1958 and then attendedPembroke College, Cambridge , graduating in 1961. He then worked as a teacher in various schools around the Cambridge area. During this period, he became acquainted with many of the poets who made up the Cambridge group, one of the key elements of the Revival.He left to take up a teaching post near
Oxford in 1966. That same year, he set up the Grosseteste Press with his friendTim Longville . The pair started a magazine, "Grosseteste Review", two years later. Riley retired from teaching in 1970 and returned to Leeds to write full time. In 1977, he was received into theOrthodox Church . He was murdered near his home on the night of October 27-28, 1978.Riley's poetry was influenced by
Charles Olson andOsip Mandelshtam , whose poetry he translated into English. His first book, "Ancient and Modern" was published in 1967 and the posthumous "The Collected Works" in 1980. The latter includes the first full printing of his important long poem, "Czargrad". A "Selected Poems" was published byCarcanet Press in 1995.
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