Eric Mottram (1924 – January 16, 1995) was a teacher, critic, editor and poet who was one of the central figures in the British Poetry Revival. Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 27 BC - The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate. Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 The British Poetry Revival is the general name given to a loose poetic movement in Britain that took place in the 1960s and 1970s
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Early life and education
Mottram was born in London and educated at Purley Grammar School, Croydon, and Blackpool Grammar School, Lancashire. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Purley High School for Boys existed from 1914 to 1988 It was located in Placehouse Lane Old Coulsdon rather than Purley, London Borough of Croydon The London Borough of Croydon ( is a London borough in South London, England and is part of Outer London. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea In 1943, he was awarded a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge but opted to serve in the Royal Navy instead, only taking up the scholarship in 1947. Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Pembroke College is a college of the University of Cambridge, home to over six hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest of the colleges Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He graduated with honours in 1950. Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Over the following decade, Mottram travelled extensively and worked as a teacher in Switzerland, Singapore and the Netherlands. Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Singapore The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands
King's College London
In 1960, Mottram returned to London and took a post as Lecturer in English and American Literature at King's College. King's College London is a British Higher education institution and co-founding constituent college of the federal University of London. Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. At the time, King's was one of very few British universities to offer American studies, and Mottram was to prove a pioneer in the field. He co-founded the Institute of United States Studies in 1963, the same year in which his tenure as a lecturer at King's was confirmed. Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In 1973, became Reader in English and American Literature and was appointed professor in 1982. Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) In September 1990 he retired with the title Emeritus Professor of English and American Literature. Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar)
Mottram and the Beat Generation
In the early sixties, Mottram travelled to the United States and met a number of writers, including William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg and others. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the William Carlos Williams ( 17 September 1883 &ndash 4 March 1963) was an American poet closely associated with modernism Irwin Allen Ginsberg (ˈgɪnzbɝg (June 3 1926 &ndash April 5 1997 was an American Poet. He became friendly with William Burroughs during his time in London. William Seward Burroughs II ( – ˈbʌroʊz was an American Novelist, Essayist, Social critic, painter and Spoken word These contacts resulted in three of Mottram's best-known critical books; William Burroughs: the algebra of need (1971, British edition 1977), Allen Ginsberg in the Sixties (1972) and Paul Bowles: staticity & terror (1976). Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. These studies did much to help introduce the Beat writers to a wider British audience.
Mottram as poet
Mottram's first book of poetry, Inside the whale was published by Bob Cobbing's Writers Forum in 1970. Bob Cobbing ( 30 July 1920 - 29 September 2002) was a British sound, visual, concrete and Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. He went on to publish at least another 34 collections, including A Book of Herne: 1975-1981, Elegies (both (1981)) and Selected poems (1989). Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar)
His work clearly shows the influence of the American avant-garde poets he admired, particularly in his use of techniques such as found poetry, cut-up technique and collage, but it also has a distinctly British quality in the tradition of Basil Bunting. The poetry of the United States arose first during its beginnings as the constitutionally unified Thirteen colonies (although before this a strong Found poetry is created by taking Words Phrases and sometimes whole Passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing The cut-up technique, also known as fishbowling, is an Aleatory Literary technique or genre in which a text is cut up at Random A collage (From the coller to glue is a work of formal art primarily in the Visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms thus creating a new whole Basil Cheesman Bunting ( 3 March 1900 – 17 April 1985) was a British modernist poet
An interview with Mottram appeared in the London based magazine Angel Exhaust, along with his poetry. Angel Exhaust is a British poetry magazine founded by Steve Pereira and Adrian Clarke in the late 1970s
Mottram as editor
In 1971, Mottram was made editor of the Poetry Society's magazine Poetry Review. Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. Established in 1909 the London -based Poetry Society is a membership organisation open to all Over the next six years, he edited twenty issues that featured most, if not all, of the key poets associated with the British Poetry Revival and carried reviews of books and magazines from the wide range of small presses that had sprung up to publish them. Mottram also included work by a number of American poets, a fact that ultimately led to his removal from the post.
During this period, Mottram was twice a guest lecturer at Kent State University, where, along with Black Mountain poet Ed Dorn, he was an early supporter of the musical group Devo, and its founders Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis, whose poetry Mottram published when he was editor of the Poetry Review. Kent State University (also known as Kent, Kent State, or KSU) is one of America’s largest university systems the third largest university The Black Mountain poets, sometimes called projectivist poets, were a group of mid 20th century American avant-garde or Postmodern poets centered Edward Merton Dorn ( April 2, 1929 — December 10, 1999) was an American poet and teacher often Devo (pronounced DEE-vo (IPA /'diːvoʊ/) or dee-VO (IPA /diː'voʊ/) often spelled "DEVO" or "DEV-O" is an American Gerald V Casale (born Gerald Vincent Pizzute, July 28 1948) is the Bass guitar / Synthesizer player a vocalist and one of the founding Robert Curtis Lewis (b March 4 1947, Akron Ohio) was a founding member (along with Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh) of He also edited The Rexroth Reader (1972) and the section of the 1988 anthology New British Poetry that was given over to the poets associated with the Revival. Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar)
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