Ewart, Gavin Buchanan

(1916-1995)

   Born in London and educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, he saw active service in World War II, after which he worked in publishing, with the British Council, and in advertising. He became a full-time writer in 1971, though his first poem, "Phallus in Wonderland," was published at the age of 17. His work is humorous and irreverent and erotic; W.H. Smith's bookshops banned The Pleasures of the Flesh (1966). He also wrote children's poems as well as poetry on serious subjects, and edited numerous anthologies, including the 1980 Penguin Book of Light Verse. Some of his other publications: Poems and Songs, 1939. Londoners, 1964. The Gavin Ewart Show, 1971. No Fool Like an Old Fool, 1976. All My Little Ones, 1978. The Collected Ewart: 1933-1980, 1980. The Ewart Quarto, 1984. The Learned Hippopotamus, 1986 (for children). Penultimate Poems, 1989. Caterpillar Stew, 1990 (for children). Collected Poems: 1980-1990, 1991. Some of his other poems: "A Dialogue Between the Head and Heart," "A 14-YearOld Convalescent Cat in the Winter," "Bánk the Palatine," "John Betjeman's Brighton," "North American Haiku," "Psychoanalysis."

   Sources: Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Biography of Gavin Ewart (http://www.arlindo-correia.com/051100.html). In Quest of the Miracle Stag: The Poetry of Hungary. Adam Makkai, ed. Atlantic-Centaur, Corvina, 1996. The Chatto Book of Love Poetry. John Fuller, ed. Chatto and Windus, 1990. 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 National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Oxford Book of Short Poems. P.J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds. Oxford University Press, 1985. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The War Poets: An Anthology of the War Poetry of the 20th Century. Oscar Williams, ed. John Day, 1945.