Dannie Abse was, and still is, one of Britain's most well-respected poets. He was born in 1923, in Cardiff, to Jewish parents. He studied Medicine in Wales and at King's College, London, qualifying as a doctor in 1950.
His first collection of poetry,After Every Green Thing, was published by Penguin in 1948. Other poetry collections include Selected Poems (1970), winner of an Arts Council of Wales Literature Award; Pythagoras (1979); Way Out in the Centre (1981); Ask the Bloody Horse (1986); and Running Late (2006), for which he was awarded the Roland Mathias prize. Judge Glyn Mathias wrote that the volume contained “wonderful evocations of atmosphere, regret, longing for the simple, familiar things—and anticipation of it all passing. Every poem has something—some phrasing, some image that gives the reader that tremor of sudden recognition.”
Abse continued to combine his careers as both a doctor and writer, aspects of his life that, together with his Jewish background and Welsh nationality, are integral themes in his poetry and prose. The title of his collected poems, White Coat, Purple Coat (1989), refers to his lifelong professions of physician and poet. Of these careers, Abse has stated, “I like to think I’m a poet and Medicine my serious hobby.”
He was married to the late Joan Mercer, art historian, with whom he edited two books,Voices in the Gallery: Poems and Pictures(1986) andThe Music Lover's Literary Companion(1988). His final book of memoir,The Presence(2007), is a celebratory portrait of his 50-year marriage. It won the Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year Award in 2008.
In addition to being a poet and memoirist, he was a successful essayist, playwright, and novelist. Abse was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Fellow of the Welsh Academy of Letters, Honorary Fellow at the University of Wales College of Medicine, and recipient of the Cholmondeley Award. He died on 28 September 2014, six days after his 91st birthday.
Forthcoming publication:
A selection of Dannie Abse's key texts have recently been acquired and will be published as a collection, with new introductions by Welsh writers, in 2025.
