Hewitt, John Harold

(1907-1987)

   Born in Belfast, the son of parents who were both teachers, he graduated B.A. in 1930 and was awarded an M.A. for his thesis on Ulster Poets, 1800-1870 from the Queen's University, Belfast, in 1951. By 1943 he had established himself as a writer and art critic. Between 1943 and 1956 he was on the Arts Advisory Committee of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, serving as chairman for a number of years. In 1974 he received the honorary degree of doctor of letters from the University of Ulster. From 1976 to 1979 he was writer in residence at Queen's University, Belfast. He was made a freeman of the City of Belfast in 1983. He was a voluminous writer from a young age and composed nearly 5000 poems and produced 20 collections and pamphlets of verse. Some of his publications: No Rebel Word, 1948. Collected Poems 1932-1967, 1968. The Day of the Corncrake, 1969. The Planter and the Gael, 1970. Some of his poems: "Bangor, Spring 1916," "Colonial Consequence," "Freehold," "Sonnets for Roberta (1954)," "The Anglo-Irish Accord," "The Bombed Public House," "The Volunteer," "Young Womanhood."

   Sources: The Collected Poems of John Hewitt. Frank Ormsby, ed. Blackstaff Press, 1992. 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 John Hewitt Papers, D/3838. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/private/hewitt.htm).