Humbert Wolfe

Humbert Wolfe CB CBE (5 January 1885 – 5 January 1940) was an Italian-born British poet, man of letters and civil servant.

Humbert Wolfe

CB CBE
Drawing by William Rothenstein, 1931
Drawing by William Rothenstein, 1931
Born5 January 1885
Milan, Kingdom of Italy
Died5 January 1940
Alma materWadham College, Oxford
Notable worksThe Uncelestial City
PartnerPamela Frankau

Biography

Humbert Wolfe was born in Milan, Italy, and came from a Jewish family background,[1] his father, Martin Wolff, being of German descent and his mother, Consuela, née Terraccini, Italian. He was brought up in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire and was a pupil at Bradford Grammar School.[2] Wolfe attended Wadham College at the University of Oxford.

He was one of the most popular British authors of the 1920s.[1] He was also a translator of Heinrich Heine, Edmond Fleg (1874–1963) and Eugene Heltai (Heltai Jenő). A Christian convert, he remained very aware of his Jewish heritage.

His career was in the Civil Service, beginning in the Board of Trade and then in the Ministry of Labour. By 1940 he had a position of high responsibility. His work was recognised with a CBE and then a CB.

Wolfe said in an interview with Twentieth Century Authors that he was "of no political creed, except that his general view is that money and its possessors should be abolished."[1]

Wolfe's verses have been set to music by a number of composers, including Gustav Holst in his 12 Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 48 (1929).[3]

He had a long-term affair with the novelist Pamela Frankau, while remaining married.

He died on his 55th birthday.

Though his works are little read today, the following epigram from The Uncelestial City continues to be widely known and quoted:

You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
thank God! the
British journalist.
But, seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there's
no occasion to.[4]

The 5 Heads of Humbert Wolfe by Anthony Padgett

In 2014–2015, five busts of the poet were created and sited by sculptor Anthony Padgett to mark the 75th anniversary of Wolfe's death. The sculptures have been sited where Wolfe died in London – 75 Eccleston Square,[5] where he studied – Wadham College Oxford,[6] where there is a collection of his manuscripts – New York Public Library and where he grew up – Bradford Library and Bradford Grammar School.[7]

Works
  • London Sonnets (1920)
  • Shylock Reasons with Mr. Chesterton and other poems (1920)
  • Wolfe, Humbert (1922). "Labour Ministry and Department of Labour" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 31 (12th ed.). Please note that a wikilink to the author's article on [Labour Supply and Regulation] in [EB1922] is not available
  • Circular Saws (1923)
  • Labour Supply and Regulation (1923)
  • The Lilac (1924)
  • Lampoons (1925)
  • The Unknown Goddess (1925) poems
  • Humoresque (1926)
  • News of the Devil (1926) poems
  • Requiem (1927) poems
  • Cursory Rhymes (1927) poems
  • Others Abide (1927) translator, Ancient Greek poems
  • Kensington Gardens (1924)
  • Dialogues and Monologues (1928) criticism
  • This Blind Rose (1928) poems
  • Troy (1928) Faber & Gwyer, Ariel poems
  • The Moon and Mrs. Misses Smith (1928)
  • The Craft of Verse (1928) essay
  • The Silver Cat and other poems (1928)
  • Notes on English Verse Satire (1929)
  • A Winter Miscellany (1930) editor, prose anthology, plus some original poems
  • Homage to Meleager (1930 Limited Edition)
  • Tennyson (1930) criticism of Maud
  • The Uncelestial City (1930) poems
  • Early Poems (1930)
  • George Moore (1931) biography
  • Snow (1931) poems
  • Signpost to Poetry (1931)
  • Reverie of Policeman: A ballet in three acts (1933)
  • Now a Stranger (1933) autobiography
  • Romantic and Unromantic Poetry (1933)
  • Truffle Eater. Pretty Stories and funny pictures An anti-Nazi parody of the famous Struwwelpeter, published under the alias "Oistros", with pictures by Archibald Louis Charles Savory (1933)
  • Portraits by Inference (1934) biographical sketches
  • Sonnets pour Helene (by Ronsard) (1934) translator
  • X at Oberammergau : A poem (1935) drama
  • The Fourth of August (1935) poems
  • Selected Lyrics of Heinrich Heine (1935) translator
  • P. L. M.: Peoples Landfalls Mountains (1936)
  • The Pilgrim's Way (1936)
  • Personalities; a selection from the writings of A. A. Baumann (1936) editor, biographical sketches by Arthur A. Baumann
  • The Silent Knight: A Romantic Comedy in Three Acts (by Eugene Heltai)(1937)
  • Others Abide: Translated Greek Epigrams (1937)
  • The Upward Anguish (1938) autobiography
  • Out of Great Tribulation (1939) poems
  • Kensington Gardens in War-Time (1940) poems
  • Cyrano de Bergerac (1941) by Edmond Rostand translator

References
  1. "Wolfe, Humbert" in Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft, Twentieth Century Authors, A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature, (Third Edition). New York, The H.W. Wilson Company, 1950, (pp. 1540-1)
  2. Moggridge, Donald (1992). Maynard Keynes: An Economist's Biography. Routledge. p. 915. ISBN 978-0-415-05141-5.
  3. Holst, Gustav (1930). 12 Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 48. London: Augener. Full score at imslp
  4. Mick Temple, The British Press. McGraw-Hill International, 2008 ISBN 0335222978, (p. 127)
  5. "The London Magazine".
  6. "Celebrating Humbert Wolfe". Wadham College Alumni News. 5 June 2015.
  7. "Sculpture of 'colourful' Bradford-born WW1 poet to be presented to city". Bradford Telegraph and Argus.

Other sources
Wikisource has original works by or about:
Humbert Wolfe
Wikiquote has quotations related to Humbert Wolfe.
  • Bagguley, Philip (1997). Harlequin in Whitehall: a Life of Humbert Wolfe, Poet and Civil Servant 1885-1940. London: Nyala Publications, ISBN 9780952937609
  • Helen Ferris, Favorite Poems Old and New (1957).
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