W. H. Davies

James Bridges (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 3 Jul 1871
Died 26 Sep 1940
Activity 1905-1939

Places

Born in Wales
Active in England; Wales

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer
Poet

Resources

Davies' Works

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W.H. Davies was born in south Wales, in the small town of Newport, Gwent, in 1871. He left school in his mid teens, and was apprenticed to a picture frame business. A wide and enthusiastic reader, he nurtured ambitions of travel, which the death of an aunt helped realise, for he was left with a small legacy. Having travelled to the USA, he lived as a tramp for some years. Then, while moving north to Canada, he lost a leg through jumping a train.

He returned to England, and continued a vagrant life, frequenting the doss houses of London. His first collection, The Soul's Destroyer (1905), established many of the key features of Davies's verse: pastoralism, sympathy for the underdog, and an often childlike simplicity of form and diction. Subsequent volumes included New Poems (1907), Nature

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523 words

Citation: Bridges, James. "W. H. Davies". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5213, accessed 25 November 2024.]