Michael Hamburger
Michael Hamburger was a notable poet, translator, and critic, born in Berlin, Germany, in 1924. He grew up in a family with Jewish roots, facing the impact of rising anti-Semitism which prompted their move to Edinburgh in 1933. The challenges of adapting to a new environment were significant, particularly following the death of his father in 1940. Hamburger pursued higher education at Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied modern literature, though his academic journey was interrupted by military service during World War II.
After the war, he returned to Oxford, earning both a B.A. and M.A. by 1948. Hamburger's literary career began in the 1950s, characterized by his translations of German poetry and his own poetic works, often influenced by the style of W.B. Yeats. His themes frequently drew from his personal experiences of war, exile, and social issues. Throughout his career, Hamburger held various teaching positions, primarily in the United States, while also establishing a reputation through his poetry and critical essays. He received numerous prestigious awards recognizing his contributions to literature, including the Goethe Medal and the Order of the British Empire.
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Michael Hamburger
Poet
- Born: March 22, 1924
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Died: June 7, 2007
- Place of death: Suffolk, England
Biography
Michael Hamburger was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1924. His father was a pediatrician, his mother an actress and poet. Although the family had Jewish roots, they gave little attention to that heritage until Hitler’s rise to power forced them to move to Edinburgh in 1933. There the family faced learning a new language and the necessity for Hamburger’s father to take courses for requalification in order to practice medicine. The family settled in London where Hamburger attended the Westminster School. In 1940, Hamburger’s father died of Hodgkin’s disease.
Hamburger attended Christ Church, Oxford, on scholarship, but interrupted his studies of modern literature in order to serve in the British army. After the war, he returned to Oxford and received both the B.A. and M.A. degrees in 1948. After his marriage to Anne Beresford in 1951 (they had three children), Hamburger began a literary career which joined Germany, England, and the United States. He used his language skills first as a teacher of German at University College, London, then from 1955 to 1964 at the University of Reading. The greater value of his skills, however, lay in empowering Hamburger as a translator of literature, particularly of German poetry, a literary achievement which has contributed strongly to his reputation.
Hamburger began publishing his own poetry in the early 1950’s with works that seemed influenced by the language of Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Hamburger is known, however, for his willingness to undertake stylistic experiments, and later works include social satire and still later, a growing sense of his own poetic voice. His themes grew out of his own experience of war, bigotry, exile (notable particularly in his Ownerless Earth: New and Selected Poems, 1973), and an awareness of the land.
After he left his position at the University of Reading, Hamburger’s teaching consisted of temporary posts, especially in the United States, where he taught at Mount Holyoke College, the State University of New York at Buffalo and at Stony Brook, and at the University of South Carolina, among other American schools. Otherwise he made a living by his poetry, his translations, and by his criticism and other essays. He has received a number of important prizes, American, British, and German, including a Bollingen Foundation fellowship, the Arts Council of Great Britain’s translation prize, the European Poetry Translation Prize, the Goethe Medal, the Order of the British Empire, the Hoelderlin Prize, and the Cholmondeley Award for Poetry.