Humbert Wolfe


Humbert Wolfe CB CBE was an Italian-born British poet, man of letters and civil servant.

Biography

Humbert Wolfe was born in Milan, Italy, and came from a Jewish family background, his father, Martin Wolff, being of German descent and his mother, Consuela, née Terraccini, Italian. He was brought up in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire and was a pupil at Bradford Grammar School. Wolfe attended Wadham College at the University of Oxford.
He was one of the most popular British authors of the 1920s. He was also a translator of Heinrich Heine, Edmond Fleg and Eugene Heltai. A Christian convert, he remained very aware of his Jewish heritage.
His career was in the Civil Service, beginning in the Board of Trade and then in the Ministry of Labour. By 1940 he had a position of high responsibility. His work was recognised with a CBE and then a CB.
Wolfe said in an interview with Twentieth Century Authors that he was "of no political creed, except that his general view is that money and its possessors should be abolished."
Wolfe's verses have been set to music by a number of composers, including Gustav Holst in his 12 Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 48.
He had a long-term affair with the novelist Pamela Frankau, while remaining married.
He died on his 55th birthday.
Though his works are little read today, the following epigram from The Uncelestial City continues to be widely known and quoted:
In 2014–2015, five busts of the poet were created and sited by sculptor Anthony Padgett to mark the 75th anniversary of Wolfe's death.
The sculptures have been sited where Wolfe died in London – 75 Eccleston Square, where he studied – Wadham College Oxford, where there is a collection of his manuscripts –
New York Public Library and where he grew up – Bradford Library and Bradford Grammar School.

Works

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  • ' Please note that a wikilink to the author's article on in is not available
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  • The Lilac
  • Lampoons
  • The Unknown Goddess poems
  • Humoresque
  • News of the Devil poems
  • ' poems
  • ' poems
  • ' translator, Ancient Greek poems
  • Kensington Gardens
  • ' criticism
  • This Blind Rose poems
  • Troy Faber & Gwyer, Ariel poems
  • The Moon and Mrs. Misses Smith
  • The Craft of Verse essay
  • The Silver Cat and other poems
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  • ' editor, prose anthology, plus some original poems
  • Homage to Meleager
  • ' criticism of Maud
  • ' poems
  • Early Poems
  • ' biography
  • Snow poems
  • Signpost to Poetry
  • Reverie of Policeman: A ballet in three acts
  • Now a Stranger autobiography
  • Romantic and Unromantic Poetry
  • Truffle Eater. Pretty Stories and funny pictures An anti-Nazi parody of the famous Struwwelpeter, published under the alias "Oistros", with pictures by Archibald Louis Charles Savory
  • ' biographical sketches
  • Sonnets pour Helene translator
  • ' drama
  • The Fourth of August poems
  • Selected Lyrics of Heinrich Heine translator
  • P. L. M.: Peoples Landfalls Mountains
  • The Pilgrim's Way
  • ' editor, biographical sketches by Arthur A. Baumann
  • The Silent Knight: A Romantic Comedy in Three Acts
  • Others Abide: Translated Greek Epigrams
  • The Upward Anguish autobiography
  • Out of Great Tribulation poems
  • Kensington Gardens in War-Time poems
  • by Edmond Rostand translator