Tony Conran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tony Conran (born 1931) is a Welsh poet and translator of Welsh poetry. His own poetry is written in English but is very much influenced by Welsh language literature and Welsh culture and history. To some extent there are parallels in Conran's writing with that of R. S. Thomas, but Conran is a greater experimenter and is allied far more with the Modernist movement.
Although he was born in India, other than a brief spell working in a factory in Essex, Conran has spent most of his life in Bangor, North Wales. Until 1983, he taught at the University of Wales, Bangor, where he was tutor in the English Department. Academically, he took a particular interest in Welsh poetry in both Welsh and English and also traditional folksong and ballads. Since retiring from academic life, Conran has continued to develop his own poetic art, often combining dramatic presentation of his work in conjunction with a number visual and performance artists.
Conran's first collection of original poetry was Formal Poems (1958). His numerous other collections include Stelae and Other Poems (1965), Spirit Level (1974), Life Fund (1979), Blodeuwedd (1988) and Castles ( 1993). He has also written many critiques of Welsh literature, including a collection of essays entitled The Cost of Strangeness (Gomer Press, 1982). In 1967, he produced a celebrated collection of Welsh language poetry in translation, Welsh Verse (Penguin). This collection was re-published in 1982 by Poetry Wales Press with an extensive and influential introductory essay by Conran. He has also edited a collection of poetry by South Wales poet Idris Davies.
