- Bernard Spencer
Charles Bernard Spencer (1909 – 1963) was an English poet.
He was born in
Madras ,India and educated atMarlborough College andCorpus Christi College, Oxford . At Marlborough he knewJohn Betjeman andLouis MacNeice ; atOxford Stephen Spender , and he also came acrossW. H. Auden . He edited "Oxford Poetry" in 1930-1931. He was not, however, drawn far into what was soon known as theAuden Group ; he is identified much more with the type of poetry later exemplified byLawrence Durrell , and is for some critics the stand-out in theCairo poets . His potential was never quite fulfilled, partly because of poor health.After graduation he made a living from teaching and writing, marrying the actress Norah Gibbs in 1936. At that time he was collaborating on
Geoffrey Grigson 's "New Verse". InWorld War II he worked for theBritish Council , inGreece and thenEgypt . There he edited the "Personal Landscape" magazine.After the war he continued to work for the
British Council , being posted toItaly . Norah died in 1947, oftuberculosis . He himself was ill for a time. Through other postings he wrote little.He was married again in 1961, to Anne Marjoribanks. He died in
Vienna , apparently in an accident, while once more in bad health.Works
*"Aegean Islands and Other Poems" (1946)
*"The Twist in the Plotting "(1960)
*"With Luck Lasting" (1963)
*"Collected Poems" (1965) edited byAlan Ross
*"Collected Poems" (1981) edited byRoger Bowen
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