Curry, Neil

(1937- )

   Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he now lives at Ulverston in the Lake District. After reading English at Bristol University, he taught at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and at secondary schools in England. His verse translations of Euripides, published by Methuen and Cambridge University Press, and in the USA by Doubleday, have been performed in many countries. Some publications are: Ships in Bottles, 1998 (a Poetry Book Society recommendation). Walking to Santiago, 1992 (inspired by the poet's 500-mile journey along the Pilgrim Road from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela). The Bending of the Bow: The Closing Books of the Odyssey, 1993 (translated by Curry and illustrated by Jim Dine). The Road to the Gunpowder House, 2003. Christopher Smart, 2005 (Smart [see entry] composed many of his poems while locked away in a madhouse, then ending his days in a debtor's jail (quote from the book blurb). Some of his poems: "Anne Hathaway Composes Her 18th Sonnet," "Dandelion," "Galapagos," "Gardens," "In a Calendar of Saints," "John Clare and the Acts of Enclosure," "Memorial to the Vicars of Urswick," "St. Kilda," "Swallows and Tortoises."

   Sources: Curry, Neil & Dine, Jim-The Bending of the Bow (http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/bending_of_the_ bow_the_by_curry_neil_dine_jim_i079.aspx). P.E.N. New Poetry I. Robert Nye, ed. Quartet Books, 1986. Shades of Green. Anne Harvey, ed. Greenwillow Books, 1991. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New Lake Poets. William Scammell, ed. Bloodaxe Books, 1991. The Oxford Book of Garden Verse. John Dixon Hunt, ed. Oxford University Press, 1993.