WH DAVIES

At last...a tribute page to one of Britain's most prolific writers of poetry, nature, beauty and outsider-ism,,the original Supertramp.... W H Davies was born William Henry Davies in Newport, Wales in 1871. His father died when he was just two and he was then abandoned by his mother to be brought up by his publican grandparents. After leaving school WH Davies became dissatisfied with his life and dreamt of becoming a famous writer. He left Britain for the USA and Canada and spent his time as a tramp, a fruit-picker, a drinker and observer of nature and human character. In March 1899 in North America he injured his leg while 'train-jumping' resulting in amputation, return to the UK and a serious resolve to write poetry. Between 1905 and 1908 he wrote and published his first work 'The Soul's Destroyer and Other Poems'. In 1908 he published the epic road story 'Autobiography Of A Supertramp' chronicling his adventures in North America as a tramp, his time spent in jail and his amputation. In 1923 in a further act of 'outsider-ism' he married the prostitute, Helen Payne, thirty years his junior, and they settled in Sussex and then Gloucestershire. A relative of the famous actor Sir Henry Irving, and championed by the writer George Bernard Shaw, WH Davies continued to write and in his lifetime had a staggering 749 poems published. In 1929 WH Davies was awarded a Hon Degree by the University of Wales. He died in 1940. Today he remains as one of our most underrated and natural lyricists. MySpace Layouts nUCLEArcENTURy . MySpace Profile Editor !