D. J. Enright
Dennis Joseph Enright, born on March 11, 1920, in Leamington, Warwickshire, England, was a distinguished English poet, essayist, and professor. After studying at Leamington College and Downing College, Cambridge, he began his academic career in Egypt before taking on teaching roles in various countries, including Japan, Germany, Thailand, and Singapore. Enright's literary work often explores themes of social disparity, contrasting the lives of the affluent with those of the less fortunate, while maintaining an understated and sometimes caustic humor.
Returning to England in 1970, he took on several editorial and teaching roles, including at the University of Leeds and as coeditor of Encounter magazine. Enright's later writing continued to reflect his sharp wit and personal experiences of poverty, allowing him to connect deeply with readers. He received numerous accolades for his contributions to literature, including the Cholmondeley Award for Poetry and the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Notably, he played a pivotal role in the establishment of "the Movement," a collection of poets who sought a rational and ironic approach to writing, distancing themselves from the confessional style of their contemporaries. Enright's eclecticism and excellence across multiple literary genres solidified his reputation as a significant figure in 20th-century literature.
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D. J. Enright
Poet
- Born: March 11, 1920
- Birthplace: Leamington, Warwickshire, England
- Died: December 31, 2002
- Place of death: London, England
Biography
Dennis Joseph Enright was born March 11, 1920, to George and Grace Cleaver Enright in Leamington, Warwickshire, England. He attended Leamington College and then Downing College, Cambridge, where he earned a B.A. with honors in 1944 and a M.A. in 1946. From 1947 to 1950, Enright worked as a lecturer in English at the University of Alexandria, Egypt, where he earned his doctorate of letters in 1949. On November 3, 1949, he married Madeleine Harders.
Nearly twenty-five years of his career as a professor were spent in foreign countries. Before returning to England in 1970, Enright served as organizing tutor in the Extra-Mural Department of Birmingham University from 1950 to 1953, as visiting professor at Konan University, Kobe, Japan, from 1953 to 1956, as gastdozent at Free University, West Berlin, from 1956 to 1957, British Council Professor of English at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, from 1957 to 1959, and professor of English at the University of Singapore from 1960 to 1970. In his volumes of poetry aimed at adults, his essays, and in the novels written during this period, diverse cultures and experiences are linked by the common theme of the contrasts between wealthy and poor, powerful and weak. While eschewing the sentimentality of the early Romantics towards the common man, Enright, always understated, always restrained, and sometimes caustic in his humor, nonetheless emphasizes concern for each unique individual and his or her particular suffering. When Enright returned to his native land, he worked first as a temporary lecturer of English at the University of Leeds in Yorkshire from 1970 to 1971 and as coeditor of Encounter magazine in London from 1970 to 1972. In 1971 he became editorial advisor for Chatto & Windus Publishers, and he retained that position until 1973, when he became a member of the company’s board of directors. He served as a board member until 1982. He also took a position as honorary professor of English at the University of Warwick, Coventry, from 1975 to 1980. After 1982, he devoted himself solely to freelance writing. The works of this later period are equally biting in their deceptively simple phrasing and understated irony, and Enright never excludes himself or his experiences of growing up poor from his rapier wit.
Enright has received the Cholmondeley Award for Poetry from the British Society of Authors (1974); the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry (1981); a Society of Authors Traveling Scholarship (1981); an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Warwick (1982); an honorary doctorate for the University of Surrey, Guilford (1985); an Officer in the Order of the British Empire; and a Companion of Literature award (1992).
In addition to Enright’s quiet, ironic poetry, eclecticism in subject matter, and excellence in multiple literary genres, he is remarkable for his role in helping to establish “the Movement,” which he did in the anthology Poets of the 1950’s. The publication of this work helped to solidify the loose group of poets who rebelled against the confessional mode of writing exemplified by Robert Lowell and John Berryman. Instead, this group adopted a deliberately rational, ironic, antisentimental stance. Enright gained further recognition for his humorous essays critiquing literature and television.