Birth date: 
1909
Death date: 
1984
Birth town: 
Yorkshire
Country: 
England

Hugh Sykes Davies was an English poet, novelist and communist who was one of a small group of 1930s British surrealists.

Davies was born in Yorkshire to a Methodist minister and his wife. He went to Kingswood School, Bath and studied at Cambridge University, where he co-edited a student magazine called Experiment with William Empson. He spent some time in Paris during the 1930s. He was to stand as a communist candidate in the 1940 general election, but the vote was cancelled because of World War II. He was one of the organisers of the London International Surrealist Exhibition in 1936.

He had a talent for friendship, and as well as Empson, he numbered T. S. Eliot, I. A. Richards, Anthony Blunt, Wittgenstein and Salvador DalĂ­ amongst his circle. At one stage he had Malcolm Lowry declared his ward in an attempt to stop Lowry's drinking.

Davies' poems were mostly published in avant garde magazines and were not collected during his lifetime. His novels include Full Fathom Five (1956) and The Papers of Andrew Melmoth (1960). He also wrote Petron (1935).

He was a University Lecturer and Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge.

Hugh Sykes Davies's Works:

Full Fathom Five (1956)
The Papers of Andrew Melmoth (1960)
Petron (1935)

Poems by this Poet

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Decline of Phathon 31 July 2013
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Music in an Empty House 31 July 2013
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Poem In The Stump of The Old Tree... 31 July 2013
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Poem It Doesnt Look Like A Finger... 31 July 2013
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Sententia 31 July 2013
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