Given the oral roots of some of his favourite forms, it’s immensely valuable to be able to listen to Causley’s own interpretation. Perhaps Causley’s ability to retain a child-like openness in part explains the freshness of his writing: unlike the narrator of ‘The Lunatic Boy’, Causley never lost his vision of a world where “Houses put on leaves, water rang.” Indeed Causley wrote some of his finest poems for children and saw no distinction between these two strands of his work. Like Blake, a central concern is the fall from innocence to experience and it’s not surprising children feature constantly in Causley’s poetry, including the much anthologised ‘Timothy Winters’.

This traditionalism has sometimes obscured the daring of his imagery, a visionary quality as strange and intense as one of his acknowledged masters, William Blake. So it’s possible to imagine narratives such as ‘Miller’s End’ being recited round a fireside a hundred or more years ago. In addition to these public honours, the clarity and formality of his poetry has won Causley a popular readership, making him, in the words of Ted Hughes, one of the “best loved and most needed” poets of the last fifty years.Ĭausley’s mastery of traditional forms imparts a timeless quality to his poetry, the voice of which is more often communal than personal. His poetry was recognised by the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1967 and a Cholmondeley Award in 1971. His work fell outside the main poetic trends of the 20th century, drawing instead on native sources of inspiration: folk songs, hymns, and above all, ballads. This early loss and his own experience of service in the Second World War affected Causley deeply. When he was only seven his father died from wounds sustained during the First World War. ICA Video, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH, U.K.Charles Causley (1917-2003) was born and brought up in Launceston, Cornwall and lived there for most of his life. London and New York: Viking Kestrel, 1987. London: Puffin, 1979 New York: Viking Penguin, 1979. (Inquiries to Books for Keeps, 6 Brightfield Road, Lee, London SE12 8QF, U.K.) London: Puffin, 1985 New York: Viking Penguin, 1985. Rosen, Michael, Quick, Let's Get Out of Here. Nichols, Grace, Come on into my Tropical Garden. Nicholls, Judith, Midnight Forest and Other Poems. London: Penguin, 1983 New York: Viking Penguin, 1983. Hughes, Ted, What Is the Truth? London: Faber & Faber, 1984. Heaney, Seamus, and Hughes, Ted (eds.), The Rattle Bag. London: Puffin, 1986 New York: Viking Penguin, 1986.Ĭausley, Charles, Jack the Treacle Eater. London: Puffin, 1990: New York: Viking Penguin, 1990.Ĭausley, Charles, Early in the Morning. London: Puffin, 1984: New York: Viking Penguin, 1984.īerry, James, When I Dance.

Charles causley poems list