Thom Gunn: lives and poetries

Abstract

Thom Gunn is probably the forgotten poet of the 20th century. His variation in style and subject matter is broad and one of the reasons he is hard to grasp and thus less discussed than his contemporaries. Although he gained certain fame with The Man With Night Sweats, his oeuvre lacks to be as well-known it deserves. There is not much written on Thom Gunn, and as such Thom Gunn: Lives and Poetries is supposed to be a door opener. The book is primarily a biography of the poet who moved from London to San Francisco, both personally as well as a writer. Describing himself as an Anglo-American poet, he discovers a wide array of possibilities to express his poetry. From metered and structured to free verse and back he uses his full potential at all times. Having studied under F. R. Leavis and Yvor Winter and having adapted from both of his mentors already gives a glimpse of how open Gunn was to influences in poetry, and his choice of what he wanted to say did the rest. The book covers Gunn’s early influences, his development as a writer and a gay man trying to find and refine his own voice in poetry. It provides an easy access to a possible understanding of the man behind the writer.