- Francis Webb (poet)
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name = Francis Webb
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birth_name = Francis Charles Webb-Wagg
birth_date = (8 February 1925
birth_place = Rose Park,Adelaide, South Australia
death_date = death date|1973|11|23|df=y
death_place =Rydalmere ,Sydney, New South Wales
death_cause =
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occupation = Poet
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footnotes =Francis Charles Webb-Wagg (
8 February 1925 —23 November 1973 ) was anAustralia npoet who published under the name Francis Webb. "Diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia in the 1950s, he spent most of his adult life in and out of psychiatric hospitals, writing poetry against terrible odds." ["Poetic Australians." Carol Treloar.The Advertiser . September 7, 1991.]Early life
Francis Webb was born in
Adelaide, South Australia . His father was a musician, Director of the North Sydney Academy of Music before moving to Adelaide where he became the owner of a piano importing business in Grenfell Street. His mother was a socialite with a keen interest in ~horse racing. She died when he was two years old, and his father was hospitalised a year later. In 1928, Webb and his three sisters (Mavis, Claudia, and Leonie) were sent to live with their paternal grandparents, Charles and Amy Webb-Wagg, inSydney .Webb wrote his first poems as a birthday present for his paternal grandmother when he was 7 years old, under the tutelage of an aunt who died before she could see them in print. When Webb was 14 years old his much loved grandfather died. Webb’s first major individual publication came with the appearance of ‘Palace of Dreams’ in "
The Bulletin " (10 June 1942 ).At the completion of high school, Webb considered entry into
Sydney University on a scholarship, but this plan was disrupted by theSecond World War . He enlisted in theRoyal Australian Air Force between 1943 and 1945 and spent time during the war based inCanada . His father died at Callan Park Hospital a few weeks after his demobilisation.Career
Webb enrolled at Sydney University in early 1946 but discontinued studies by mid-1946. His desire to write and travel saw his return to Canada in 1947, where he worked for the publisher Macmillan. In 1948,
Angus & Robertson published his first collection of poems, "A Drum for Ben Boyd", with illustrations byNorman Lindsay .In 1949, after a period of employment, and the termination of his engagement to a Jewish girl named Ethel (whom he had met in Canada during the war), he set off for Britain. During this time, Webb’s correspondence with Norman Lindsay faltered and he rejected illustrations proposed by Lindsay for his second collection, "Leichhardt in Theatre", which was eventually published by Angus & Robertson in 1952 (minus illustrations). Webb’s break from Lindsay marked his rejection of Lindsay’s renowned
anti-Semitism . Angus & Robertson did not publish his work again until he had regained the full support ofDouglas Stewart (editor of "The Bulletin" and Lindsay’s friend) a few years later.Soon after Webb’s 1949 arrival in
England , he was confined to a mental asylum following a suicide attempt. His younger sister Leonie flew to England and retrieved her brother in 1950, stopping off atRome on the trip home. Once back in Australia, he endured a period of itinerancy combined with ecstatic episodes of writing inGalston, New South Wales ,Melbourne, Victoria ,Semaphore, South Australia , andJamestown, South Australia until 1953. The creative product of these years, including his famous poems ‘Birthday’ (aboutAdolf Hitler ’s last hours) and ‘The Canticle’ (a poem about the life ofFrancis of Assisi ), was self-published in his third collection simply entitled "Birthday" (1953).In late 1953 he returned to England. On his trip to England he made a stopover in
India , the inspiration for such poems as ‘Song of Hunger’ and ‘Back Street in Calcutta’. But once in England he was confined at a number of asylums over a period of seven years. During this time he wrote many of the poems, including ‘Eyre All Alone’, which would comprise his fourth collection "Socrates and other poems", eventually published in 1961.Following a Commonwealth Literary Fund Fellowship, in 1958, and with the support of Douglas Stewart and other concerned Australian poets such as
Rosemary Dobson ,David Campbell andVincent Buckley ), his supervised release from David Rice Hospital (Norwich , UK) was organised. His passport was returned to him and he came home to Australia in late 1960. His paternal grandmother died shortly after his return.Webb spent the rest of his brief life in and out of New South Wales and Victorian psychiatric facilities. In 1964, Angus & Robertson published his fifth collection "The Ghost of the Cock", then in 1969 released his well-known "Collected Poems", with an unforgettable foreword by
Sir Herbert Read (the eminent leading British critic in his day) that compared Webb’s work on equal footing with that of major European and American poets Pasternak, Lowell,Rilke and Eliot. ["Poetic Australians." Carol Treloar.The Advertiser . September 7, 1991.] After the publication of "The Ghost of the Cock" in 1964, Webb wrote eight substantial poems (two of which appear in "Collected Poems" while the rest can be found in the recent selection of his work in the online Australian literary journal "Thylazine"). In 1967, Webb was praised by the eminent criticSir Herbert Read as "one of the greatest poets of our time . . . one of the most unjustly neglected poets of the century," and has since attracted substantial critical acclaim for his profound vision, his unique spiritual quest to discover the heart of things. ["Poetic Australians." Carol Treloar.The Advertiser . September 7, 1991.]Francis Webb died on 27 November 1973 in Sydney's Rydalmere Psychiatric Hospital of a coronary occlusion. ["Poetic Australians." Carol Treloar.
The Advertiser . September 7, 1991.]Awards
* 1973 - Australian Literature Society Gold Medal
*Christopher Brennan Award , awarded postumouslyWorks By Francis Webb
* "A Drum for Ben Boyd". (1948)
* "Leichardt in Theatre". (1952)
* "Birthday". (1953)
* "Socrates and other Poems". (1961)
* "Ghost of the Cock". (1964)
* "Collected Poems". (1969; 1977)
* "Poets on Record (Australian Poets Read from their Own Work)". (1975)
* "The Poetry of Francis Webb". (1991)External links
* [http://www.thylazine.org/archives/thyla9/thyla9c.html The Poetry of Francis Webb] at Thylazine
* [http://www.sageold.com.au/sagepub.shtml Francis Webb: Poet and Brother. Some of His Letters and Poetry] . Peter and Leonie Meere.
* [http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aejt_5/Rowe.htm Rowe, Noel (2005) "Poetry, Theology and Emptiness: The angel did not draw attention to himself" in "Australian EJournal of Theology" August 2005, Issue 5 ISSN 1448-632] Accessed:2007-07-25 Notes
References
*
Other Resources
* Patricia Excel “‘Before Two Girls’: A Lost Poem by Francis Webb” in "Southerly" Vol. 53, No. 3, 1993.
* Michael Griffith "God’s Fool: The Life and Poetry of Francis Webb" Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1991.
* Richard Hillman "Cultural Metamorphosis: Lacan, Zizek and the Poetry of Francis Webb" doctoral thesis, Flinders University of South Australia, 2004
* Graeme Kinross-Smith “The Gull in a Green Storm – A Profile of Francis Webb (1925-1973)” in "Westerly" Vol. 26, No. 2, 1981.
* Andrew Lynch “Remaking the Middle Ages in Australia: Francis Webb’s ‘The Canticle’ (1953)” in "Australian Literary Studies" Vol. 19, No. 1, 1999.
* Peter Meere & Leonie Meere "Francis Webb: Poet and Brother" Pomona, Queensland: Sage Old Books, 2001.
* Francis Webb ‘Palace of Dreams’ in "The Bulletin" 1942.Persondata
NAME=Webb, Francis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Twentieth centuryAustralia npoet
DATE OF BIRTH=8 February 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH=Adelaide, South Australia ,Australia
DATE OF DEATH=23 November 1973
PLACE OF DEATH=Australia
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