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Tony Harrison - Wikipedia Jump to content

Tony Harrison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named Tony Harrison, see Tony Harrison (disambiguation).

Tony Harrison
Harrison in 2015
Harrison in 2015
Born
Tony William Harrison

(1937-04-30)30 April 1937
Beeston, Leeds, England
Died26 September 2025(2025-09-26) (aged 88)
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
OccupationPoet, dramatist, librettist
Alma materUniversity of Leeds
Period1964–2017
Notable works"V", Fram, Yan Tan Tethera, Prometheus
Notable awardsEuropean Prize for Literature (2010)
Spouse
Rosemarie Crossfield
​
​
(m. 1960, divorced)​
​
​
(m. 1984, divorced)​
PartnerSiân Thomas
(from the 1980s)
Children2

Tony William Harrison (30 April 1937 – 26 September 2025) was an English poet, translator and playwright. He was one of Britain's foremost verse writers and many of his works have been performed at the Royal National Theatre. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem "V", as well as his versions of dramatic works such as the tragedies Oresteia and Lysistrata from ancient Greek, Molière's The Misanthrope from French, and The Mysteries from Middle English.

Harrison was also noted for his outspoken views, particularly those on the Iraq War. In 2015, he was honoured with the David Cohen Prize in recognition of his body of work and in 2016, he was awarded the Premio Feronia [it] in Rome.

Biography

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Early life and education

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Tony William Harrison was born on 30 April 1937 into a working-class family in Beeston, Leeds.[1][2][3] He was the elder child of baker Harry Ashton and Florrie (née Wilkinson-Horner) Harrison.[4] He was a scholarship pupil at Leeds Grammar School, then read Classics at the University of Leeds.[1][5][6]

From 1962 to 1966, he lectured in English at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. He then taught at Charles University in Czechoslovakia before returning to England in 1967.[7][8]

Career

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Harrison published his first book of poetry, The Loiners, in 1970;[7] Loiner is an informal demonym, of unclear origin, for people from Leeds.[9] Claire Armitstead, in his obituary for The Guardian, describes the collection as "exuberantly rude".[8]

The Mysteries, his adaptation of the York and Wakefield cycles of English medieval mystery plays, was first performed in 1985 by the Royal National Theatre.[1] Interviewed by Melvyn Bragg for BBC Television in 2012, Harrison said: "It was only when I did the Mystery Plays and got Northern actors doing verse, that I felt that I was reclaiming the energy of classical verse in the voices that it was created for."[10]

One of his best-known works is the long poem "V" (1985), written during the miners' strike of 1984–85, and describing a trip to see his parents' grave in Holbeck Cemetery in Beeston, Leeds, "now littered with beer cans and vandalised by obscene graffiti".[11] The title has several possible interpretations: victory, versus, verse, insulting V sign, etc. Proposals to screen a filmed version of "V" by Channel 4 in October 1987 drew howls of outrage from the tabloid press, some broadsheet journalists, and Members of Parliament (MPs), apparently concerned about the effects its "torrents of obscene language" and "streams of four-letter filth" would have on the nation's youth.[12] Indeed, an early day motion entitled "Television Obscenity" was proposed on 27 October 1987 by a group of Conservative MPs, who condemned Channel 4 and the Independent Broadcasting Authority.[13] The motion was opposed only by MP Norman Buchan, who suggested that fellow members had either failed to read or failed to understand the poem. The broadcast went ahead and, after widespread press coverage, the uproar subsided. MP Gerald Howarth said that Harrison was "Probably another bolshie poet wishing to impose his frustrations on the rest of us". When told of this, Harrison retorted that Howarth was "Probably another idiot MP wishing to impose his intellectual limitations on the rest of us".[14]

Yan Tan Tethera, which premiered on 7 August 1986, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, is a chamber opera (subtitled A Mechanical Pastoral) by the English composer Harrison Birtwistle with a libretto by Harrison. It is based on a supernatural folk tale about two shepherds, their sheep, and the Devil. The title comes from a traditional way of counting sheep. In 2014, it was revived at The Barbican as part of a series celebrating the composer's 80th birthday.[15][16]

Prometheus is a 1998 film-poem, starring Micheal Feast in the role of Hermes, which examines the political and social issues connected to the fall of the working class in England, amidst the more general phenomenon of the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe, using the myth of Prometheus as a metaphor for the struggles of the working class and the devastation brought on by political conflict and unfettered industrialisation. It was broadcast on Channel 4 and was also shown at the Locarno Film Festival. It was used by Harrison to highlight the plight of the workers both in Europe and in Britain. His film-poem begins at a post-industrialist wasteland in Yorkshire brought upon by the politics of confrontation between the miners and the government of Margaret Thatcher.[17][18][19][20]

His play Fram received its premiere at the Olivier auditorium of the Royal National Theatre, London, on 10 April 2008. It uses the story of the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen's attempt to reach the North Pole, and his subsequent campaign to relieve the famine in the Soviet Union, to explore the role of art in a world beset by seemingly greater issues.[21] The production was directed by Harrison and Bob Crowley and its cast included Jasper Britton as Nansen, Mark Addy as Hjalmar Johansen, Siân Thomas as Sybil Thorndike and Jeff Rawle as Gilbert Murray.[22] The production received generally unenthusiastic reviews.[23][24][25]

Harrison is also noted for his versions of dramatic works, such as the tragedies Oresteia and Lysistrata from ancient Greek, Molière's The Misanthrope from French, and The Mysteries from Middle English.[1] He was also noted for his outspoken views, particularly those on the Iraq War.[1][26][27] In 2015, he was honoured with the David Cohen Prize in recognition of his body of work.[28] In 2016, he was awarded the Premio Feronia [it] in Rome.[29]

In 2016, Harrison was interviewed by Ian McMillan for the BBC Radio 4 poetry programme The Verb.[30]

Personal life and death

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Harrison was married to Rosemarie Crossfield from 1960 until their divorce in the 1970s. They had two children, Jane, born in Leeds, and Max, born while the family was living in Nigeria.[8] He remarried, in 1984, to the Canadian soprano Teresa Stratas. After his second marriage ended in divorce, his partner in later life was the actress Siân Thomas, who survives him.[8][31][4]

In the early 1980s, Harrison spent time living in New York and Florida, before settling permanently in Newcastle upon Tyne.[7] He died in Newcastle on 26 September 2025, at the age of 88.[31] He had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease some years before.[7][32]

Reception and legacy

[edit]

Harrison was one of Britain's foremost verse writers and many of his works have been performed at the Royal National Theatre.[1]

Richard Eyre calls his 1990 play The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus "among the five most imaginative pieces of drama in the 90s". Jocelyn Herbert, famous designer of the British theatrical scene, comments that Harrison is aware of the dramatic visual impact of his ideas: "The idea of satyrs jumping out of boxes in Trackers is wonderful for the stage. Some writers just write and have little idea what it will look like, but Tony always knows exactly what he wants."[33]

Edith Hall wrote that she is convinced Harrison's 1998 film-poem Prometheus is an "artistic reaction to the fall of the British working class" at the end of the twentieth century,[17][34] and considers it as "the most important adaptation of classical myth for a radical political purpose for years" and Harrison's "most brilliant artwork, with the possible exception of his stage play The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus".[17]

Professor Roger Griffin of the Department of History at Oxford Brookes University, in his paper The palingenetic political community: rethinking the legitimation of totalitarian regimes in inter-war Europe, describes Harrison's film-poem as "magnificent" and suggests that Harrison is trying to tell his audience: "To avoid falling prey to the collective mirage of a new order, to stay wide awake while others succumb to the lethe of the group mind, to resist the gaze of modern Gorgons".[35]

Following his death on 26 September 2025, his obituary in The Times said, "The 'Bard from Beeston' had not only mastered the cultural heights but had produced a poetry touching people and places few others ever could."[31]

Bibliography

[edit]

A full bibliography can be found here:[36]

Poetry

[edit]
  • The Loiners (1970)[33]
  • From the School of Eloquence and Other Poems (1978)
  • Continuous (50 Sonnets from the School of Eloquence and Other Poems) (1981)
  • A Kumquat for John Keats (1981)
  • V (1985)
  • Dramatic Verse, 1973–85 (1985)
  • The Gaze of the Gorgon (1992)
  • Black Daisies for the Bride (1993)
  • The Shadow of Hiroshima and Other Film/Poems (1995)
  • The Bright Lights of Sarajevo (1995)
  • Laureate's Block and Other Occasional Poems (2000)
  • Under the Clock (2005)
  • Selected Poems (2006)
  • Collected Poems (2007)
  • Collected Film Poetry (2007)
  • Kumkwat dla Johna Keatsa, in Polish, Bohdan Zadura (trans.), Warszawa: PIW (1990)
  • Sztuka i zagłada, in Polish, Bohdan Zadura (trans.), Legnica: Biuro Literackie (1999)

Pamphlets

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  • Earthworks (1964)
  • Newcastle is Peru (1969)
  • Bow Down (1977)
  • Looking Up (1979)
  • A Kumquat for John Keats (1981)
  • The Fire Gap (1985)
  • Anno Forty Two, Seven New Poems (1987)
  • Ten Sonnets from "The School of Eloquence" (1987)
  • A Cold Coming (1991)
  • A Maybe Day in Kazakhstan (1994)
  • Polygons (2017)

Film and television

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Plays

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Operas

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Works about Harrison and his poetry

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  • Astley, Neil, ed. (1991). Tony Harrison. Bloodaxe Critical Anthologies. Vol. 1. Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books. ISBN 1-85224-079-2.
  • Spencer, Luke (1994). The Poetry of Tony Harrison. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester & Wheatsheaf. ISBN 0-7450-1588-3.
  • Rutter, Carol (1995). Permanently Bard. Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books. ISBN 1-85224-262-0.
  • Byrne, Sandie, ed. (1997). Tony Harrison: Loiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-818430-1.
  • Sheehan, Sean (2008). The Poetry of Tony Harrison. Focus On. London: Greenwich Exchange. ISBN 978-1-906075-15-6.

Reviews

[edit]
  • Craig, Cairns (1982), Giving Speech to the Silent, which includes a review of Continuous: 50 Sonnets from The School of Eloquence, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), Cencrastus No. 10, Autumn 1982, pp. 43–44, ISSN 0264-0856

Awards and honours

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See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Head, Dominic (26 January 2006). The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge University Press. pp. 488–489. ISBN 978-0-521-83179-6. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  2. ^ "Tony Harrison". Gale in Context: Biography. Gale. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  3. ^ Bryson, Julia (29 September 2025). "Tributes paid to Leeds poet and playwright Tony Harrison". BBC News. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Tony Harrison, Leeds-born Left-wing poet who revitalised verse drama and stirred protest with 'V.'". Telegraph Obituaries. The Telegraph. 28 September 2025. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  5. ^ Flood, Alison (27 September 2025). "Tony Harrison, poet and dramatist, dies aged 88". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  6. ^ Rosenthal, Alan (2007). Writing, directing, and producing documentary films and videos. Southern Illinois University Press. pp. 78–. ISBN 978-0-8093-8772-4. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d "Tony Harrison (1937–2025)". Bloodaxe Books. 27 September 2025. Archived from the original on 28 September 2025. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d Armitstead, Claire (28 September 2025). "Tony Harrison obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  9. ^ "Loiners of the world unite!". BBC voices2005. 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 19 May 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  10. ^ "Melvyn Bragg on Class and Culture: Episode 2. Archived 18 April 2025 at the Wayback Machine. BBC2. 2 March 2012.
  11. ^ "V. by Tony Harrison – Moving Poems". Moving Poems. 9 February 2012. Archived from the original on 11 February 2025. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
  12. ^ Armstrong, Neil (6 March 2025). "Tony Harrison's V: Why a poem outraged 1980s Britain". BBC. Archived from the original on 6 March 2025. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
  13. ^ "Why the fuss over Tony Harrison's poem V?". BBC News. 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 7 March 2025. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
  14. ^ "The Blagger's Guide To: Tony Harrison". The Independent. 29 April 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  15. ^ Clements, Andrew (30 May 2014). "Yan Tan Tethera review – a glistening, mysterious piece of music theatre". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  16. ^ Hoffman, Gary (June 2014). "Sir Harrison Birtwistle — Yan Tan Tethera: A Mechanical Pastoral – Opera Today". Opera Today. Archived from the original on 12 July 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  17. ^ a b c d Hall, Edith (March 2010). "Tony Harrison's Prometheus: A View from the Left" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025. ...an essential requirement in a film where the most unlikely wheezing ex-miner is slowly made to represent Prometheus himself
  18. ^ Morales, Helen (23 August 2007). Classical Mythology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-0-19-157933-2. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  19. ^ Jaggi, Maya (31 March 2007). "Beats of the heart". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  20. ^ Locarno Film Festival (2011). "Prometheus (1998)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 May 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2013. ...where he sees a Prometheus statue fashioned from the bodies of unemployed Yorkshire miners. As the statue makes a journey in an open truck through the countries of the former Eastern Europe, it brings forth memories of the past and WWII horrors (Auschwitz, Dresden)
  21. ^ "Productions : Fram (Performance dates & Prices)". National Theatre. Archived from the original on 30 May 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  22. ^ "National Theatre : Productions : Fram". National Theatre. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008.
  23. ^ Fisher, Philip (2008). "Theatre review: Fram at RNT Olivier". British Theatre Guide. Archived from the original on 12 February 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  24. ^ Koenig, Rhoda (20 April 2008). "Fram, National Theatre, London". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 January 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  25. ^ Berkowitz, Gerald (2008). "Review of Fram 2008". Theatreguide.London. Archived from the original on 19 January 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  26. ^ "HARRISON, Tony". Who's Who 2012. A & C Black. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  27. ^ Harrison, Tony (1991). A Cold Coming. Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe Books. ISBN 1-85224-186-1.
  28. ^ McAloon, Jonathan (26 February 2015). Poet Tony Harrison wins David Cohen Prize for Literature 2015. The Telegraph.
  29. ^ "Celebrated Leeds-born poet and playwright Tony Harrison receives prestigious Leeds Award". Leeds City Council News (Press release). 22 July 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  30. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – The Verb, Poetry Book Club – Tony Harrison". BBC. Archived from the original on 2 June 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  31. ^ a b c "Tony Harrison obituary: acclaimed Yorkshire poet and playwright". The Times. 27 September 2025. Archived from the original on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  32. ^ McMillan, Ian; Billington, Michael; Hall, Edith (28 September 2025). "Classics with added Yorkshire class: tributes to Tony Harrison". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  33. ^ a b Wroe, Nicholas (1 April 2000). "The Guardian Profile: Tony Harrison Man of mysteries". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  34. ^ Hardwick, Lorna (15 May 2003). Reception Studies. Cambridge University Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-19-852865-4. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  35. ^ Griffin, Roger (December 2002). "The palingenetic political community: rethinking the legitimation of totalitarian regimes in inter-war Europe". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 3 (3): 24–43. doi:10.1080/714005484. S2CID 143065785.
  36. ^ "Tony Harrison". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on 15 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  37. ^ "The Blue Bird". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Archived from the original on 17 February 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  38. ^ "Tony Harrison to perform controversial poem V on Radio". BBC News. 14 January 2013. Archived from the original on 30 November 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  39. ^ "The Blasphemers' Banquet (1989)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
  40. ^ "The Gaze of the Gorgon". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013.
  41. ^ Merten, Karl (2004). Antike Mythen – Mythos Antike: posthumanistische Antikerezeption in der englischsprachigen Lyrik der Gegenwart (in German). Wilhelm Fink Verlag. pp. 105–106. ISBN 978-3-7705-3871-3. Retrieved 4 May 2013. der Räume und Kunstwerke des Achilleions hat, von entsprechendem dokumentarischem Filmmaterial begleitet.
  42. ^ "Sir Harrison Birtwistle – Bow Down – Universal Edition". Universal Edition. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  43. ^ Morley, Sheridan (7 October 1992). "A Sub-Brechtian 'Square Rounds'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  44. ^ Wardle, Irving (4 October 1992). "THEATRE / Bang, bang, dead confusing: Square Rounds – Olivier, National Theatre; Who Shall I Be Tomorrow? – Greenwich Theatre; The Darling Family – Old Red Lion; Lady Aoi – New End". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  45. ^ Taylor, Paul (22 April 1996). "Theatre: The Prince's Play, Royal National Theatre". The Independent. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  46. ^ "Sir Harrison Birtwistle – Yan Tan Tethera – Universal Edition". Universal Edition. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  47. ^ a b "Tony Harrison". Comma Press. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
  48. ^ "Early Winners". The Poetry Society. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  49. ^ "Harrison, Tony". Royal Society of Literature. 1 September 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
  50. ^ Pauli, Michelle (24 March 2004). "Kudos for northern rock". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  51. ^ "The Wilfred Owen Association". Wilfred Owen Association. Archived from the original on 16 March 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  52. ^ Flood, Alison (22 September 2009). "Tony Harrison wins inaugural PEN/Pinter prize". The Guardian.
  53. ^ Neill, Graeme (14 March 2011). "Harrison awarded European prize for literature". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  54. ^ Moss, Stephen (26 February 2015). "Tony Harrison: still open for business". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  55. ^ "Tony Harrison". Faber. Archived from the original on 27 November 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
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