Part Managerial, Part Poetic

In the event his life was splitAnd half was lost bewailing it;Part managerial, part poetic --Hard to decide the more pathetic.

-- Roy Fuller, "Obituary of R. Fuller."

Poet and novelist Roy Fuller was born on this day in 1912 near Oldham, England.

Writing under the literary influence of W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender, the hallmarks of Fuller's poetry were the sparse directness of his language and his strongly individualistic, humanitarian conscience. Fuller first gained critical notoriety with two collections of poetry he wrote while serving in East Africa with the British Navy during World War II, collections considered to be the among the finest "war" poetry of the period. Following the war he continued to publish poetry collections and several novels while serving as solicitor to a building society. Fuller died on September 27, 1991.