Dannie Abse (1923 – 2014, E) was born in Cardiff to a Jewish family. Although best known as a poet, Abse worked as a doctor for over thirty years. He received numerous literary awards and fellowships for his writing. His first volume of poetry, After Every Green Thing, was published in 1949. His autobiographic work, Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve, was published in 1954. He won the Cholmondeley Award in 1985. He was a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature from 1983. In a foreword to Collected Poems 1948–1976, Abse noted that his poems are increasingly “rooted in actual experience,” both domestic and professional, and many display a reconciliation between Jewish and Welsh themes and traditions. In 2009 Abse brought out a volume of collected poetry. In the same year, he received the Wilfred Owen Poetry Award. Abse was a judge for the inaugural 2010 Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine. Abse was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to poetry and literature.
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Books
- After Every Green Thing Hutchinson, 1948
- Walking Under Water Hutchinson, 1952
- Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve Hutchinson, 1954
- Some Corner of an English Field Hutchinson, 1956
- Fire in Heaven Hutchinson, 1956
- Mavericks: An Anthology (editor with Howard Sergeant) Editions Poetry and Poverty, 1957
- Tenants of the House: Poems 1951–1956 Hutchinson, 1957
- Poems, Golders Green Hutchinson, 1962
- Poems! Dannie Abse: A Selection Vista/Dufour, 1963
- Modern European Verse (editor) Vista, 1964
- Medicine on Trial Aldus, 1967
- Three Questor Plays Scorpion, 1967
- A Small Desperation Hutchinson, 1968
- Demo Sceptre, 1969
- O Jones, O Jones Hutchinson, 1970
- Selected Poems Hutchinson, 1970
- Modern Poets in Focus 1 (editor) Corgi, 1971
- Modern Poets in Focus 3 (editor) Corgi, 1971
- Thirteen Poets (editor) Poetry Book Society, 1972
- Funland and Other Poems Hutchinson, 1973
- Modern Poets in Focus 5 (editor) Corgi, 1973
- The Dogs of Pavlov Vallentine, Mitchell, 1973
- A Poet in the Family Hutchinson, 1974
- Penguin Modern Poets 26 (Dannie Abse, D. J. Enright and Michael Longley) Penguin, 1975
- Collected Poems 1948–1976 Hutchinson, 1977
- More Words BBC, 1977
- My Medical School Robson, 1978
- Pythagoras Hutchinson, 1979
- Way Out in the Centre Hutchinson, 1981
- A Strong Dose of Myself Hutchinson, 1983
- One-legged on ice: poems University of Georgia Press, 1983
- Doctors and Patients (editor) Oxford University Press, 1984
- Ask the Bloody Horse Hutchinson, 1986
- Journals From the Ant Heap Hutchinson, 1986
- Voices in the Gallery: Poems and Pictures (editor with Joan Abse) Tate Gallery, 1986
- The Music Lover’s Literary Companion (editor with Joan Abse) Robson, 1988
- The Hutchinson Book of Post-War British Poetry (editor) Hutchinson, 1989
- White Coat, Purple Coat: Collected Poems 1948–1988 Hutchinson, 1989
- People (contributor) National Language Unit of Wales, 1990
- Remembrance of Crimes Past: Poems 1986–1989 Hutchinson, 1990
- The View from Row G: Three Plays Seren, 1990
- There Was A Young Man From Cardiff Hutchinson, 1991
- Intermittent Journals Seren, 1994
- On the Evening Road Hutchinson, 1994
- Selected Poems Penguin, 1994
- The Gregory Anthology 1991–1993 (editor with A. Stevenson) Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994
- Twentieth-Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry (editor) Seren, 1997
- Welsh Retrospective Seren, 1997
- Arcadia, One Mile Hutchinson, 1998
- Be seated, thou: poems 1989–1998 Sheep Meadow Press, 1999
- Encounters Hearing Eye, 2001
- Goodbye, Twentieth Century: An Autobiography Pimlico, 2001
- The Strange Case of Dr Simmonds & Dr Glas Robson, 2002
- New and Collected Poems Hutchinson, 2002
- The Two Roads Taken: A Prose Miscellany Enitharmon Press, 2003
- Yellow Bird Sheep Meadow Press, 2004
- Running Late Hutchinson, 2006
- 100 Great Poems of Love and Lust: Homage to Eros (compiler and editor) Robson, 2007
- The Presence Hutchinson, 2007
- New Selected Poems 1949–2009: Anniversary Collection Hutchinson, 2009 (shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry)
- Speak, Old Parrot Hutchinson, 2013