C. H. Sisson
1914—2003
Critic, translator, and poet C.H. Sisson was born in Bristol, England and earned his BA from the University of Bristol. He authored over 25 books of poems including The London Zoo (1961), The Corridor (1975), Night Thoughts and Other Poems (1983), Nine Sonnets (1991), and Collected Poems (1998). Sisson also wrote two novels, An Asiatic Romance (1953) and Christopher Homm (1965), and translated the work of Virgil, Dante, and Horace, among others. Strongly influenced by T.E. Hulme, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Ford Madox Ford, and Wyndham Lewis, Sisson wrote poetry marked by its experimental nature and sparse, direct style. In a review for the Guardian, Nicholas Lezard called Sisson “the last English modernist.”
Sisson’s Anglicanism, support of the Tory party, and nationalism often put him at odds with the popular left-leaning literary establishment. In his essays, Sisson defended traditionalism and the Anglican church and criticized Victorian sentimentalism and modern English poets such as Eliot, William Butler Yeats, and Wilfred Owen. His writing has appeared in The London Review of Books, Poetry, PN Review, which he also edited, and elsewhere. Sisson worked in civil service until retiring in 1993, when he was appointed a Companion of Honour.
Sisson’s Anglicanism, support of the Tory party, and nationalism often put him at odds with the popular left-leaning literary establishment. In his essays, Sisson defended traditionalism and the Anglican church and criticized Victorian sentimentalism and modern English poets such as Eliot, William Butler Yeats, and Wilfred Owen. His writing has appeared in The London Review of Books, Poetry, PN Review, which he also edited, and elsewhere. Sisson worked in civil service until retiring in 1993, when he was appointed a Companion of Honour.