John Cowper Powys
John Cowper Powys (1872-1963) was a British novelist, poet, and essayist, renowned for his unique literary voice and prolific output. Born into a creative family in Derbyshire, England, he was influenced by both his literary lineage and the artistic environment around him. After graduating from Cambridge University, Powys initially embarked on a career as a lecturer, where his emotionally charged literary criticism captivated audiences. His literary journey was marked by significant influences, including Thomas Hardy and the Celtic romanticism of early W.B. Yeats, which shaped his writing style.
Powys's notable works include the Wessex novels, with his first success coming from "Wolf Solent" (1929), followed by "A Glastonbury Romance" (1932), "Weymouth Sands" (1934), and "Maiden Castle" (1936). He later explored Welsh themes in novels such as "Morwyn" (1937) and "Porius" (1951), which delve into historical and mythological narratives. His writing often blends various genres and forms, reflecting his deep engagement with the spiritual and mystical aspects of human experience. After spending many winters in the United States, Powys eventually settled back in Wales, where he continued to create until his death. His works remain a testament to his imaginative prowess and emotional depth.
Subject Terms
John Cowper Powys
English novelist, lecturer, poet, and literary critic.
- Born: October 8, 1872
- Birthplace: Shirley, Derbyshire, England
- Died: June 17, 1963
- Place of death: Blaehau Ffestiniogg, Merioneth, Wales
Biography
John Cowper Powys (POH-uhs), born in Derbyshire, England, on October 8, 1872, was a member of an extraordinarily artistic family. His father was a minister of the Church of England, his mother a descendant of the poets William Cowper and John Donne. John Cowper Powys was an exceptionally prolific writer, and his two brothers, Llewelyn and Theodore Francis, each turned out a volume of work almost equal to his own. Of the other eight Powys children, one sister became a novelist and poet, another sister a painter, another brother an architect. All shared an inheritance of English common sense and Celtic imagination.
Powys, once graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, began his career as a lecturer in the United States and Britain. His approach to figures such as Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson was peculiarly romantic; he would try to intuit the essential nature of the man about whom he was speaking and would often identify himself with that person. As a result, his literary criticism is emotionally based, and his comments frequently reveal more about Powys than they do about the ostensible subject of the lecture. Despite this subjective quality, or perhaps because of it, he was a very successful lecturer.
His father having granted him an annuity of sixty pounds, Powys began the risky career of writing. He had been influenced by the pantheism of William Wordsworth and the Celtic romanticism of the early William Butler Yeats. Soon after his graduation from Cambridge he met Thomas Hardy, who was the principal influence on Powys’s fiction. At first, Powys wrote regional romances in the style of Hardy’s early-to mid-career fiction, but later he turned to the encyclopedic mysticism that would define his greatest works. His first success was with Wolf Solent in 1929. This was followed by three other books that would complete what became known as the Wessex novels: A Glastonbury Romance (1932), Weymouth Sands (1934), and Maiden Castle (1936).
Powys's next cycle of works, including Morwyn (1937), Owen Glendower (1941), and Porius (1951), would become known as his Welsh novels. Frequently these later novels deal with subject matter from the Welsh past that lends itself to a presentation of grotesque and fantastic scenes. Porius, for example, explores fifth century Wales, drawing on its Arthurian romance and the religious rituals of the Druids. His historical novels allow his imagination free rein; as a result they are frequently polymorphous, involving many different genres, shapes, and forms in order to emphasize their depiction of the spiritual totality of the human experience.
After 1910 a case of ulcers caused Powys frequently to spend his winters in the United States. In 1928 he settled there, living mostly in New York City, where he was a valued member of the bohemian literary scene in Greenwich Village, and at a cottage named Phudd Bottom in upstate New York. Having returned to Britain in 1934, he lived out the rest of his life accompanied by his companion, Phyllis Playter, in Wales, the land in which his imagination almost continually dwelt.
Author Works
Long Fiction:
Wood and Stone, 1915
Rodmoor, 1916
Ducdame, 1925
Wolf Solent, 1929
A Glastonbury Romance, 1932
Weymouth Sands, 1934 (also known as Jobber Skald, 1935)
Maiden Castle, 1936
Morwyn: or the Vengeance of God, 1937
Owen Glendower, 1940
Porius, 1951
The Inmates, 1952
Atlantis, 1954
The Brazen Head, 1956
Up and Out, 1957
Homer and the Aether, 1959
All or Nothing, 1960
Real Wraiths, 1974
Two and Two, 1974
You and Me, 1975
After My Fashion, 1980
Short Fiction:
The Owl, the Duck, and—Miss Rowe! Miss Rowe!, 1930
Romer Mowl and Other Stories, 1974
Three Fantasies: Abertackle, Cataclysm, Topsy-Turvy, 1985
Poetry:
Odes and Other Poems, 1896
Poems, 1899
Wolf’s-Bane, 1916
Mandragora, 1917
Samphire, 1922
Lucifer: A Poem, 1956
Horned Poppies, 1986
Nonfiction:
The War and Culture, 1914
Visions and Revisions, 1915
Confessions of Two Brothers, 1916 (with Llewelyn Powys)
Suspended Judgments, 1916
The Complex Vision, 1920
Psychoanalysis and Morality, 1923
The Religion of a Sceptic, 1925
The Meaning of Culture, 1929
In Defense of Sensuality, 1930
Dorothy M. Richardson, 1931
A Philosophy of Solitude, 1933
Autobiography, 1934
The Art of Happiness, 1935
The Pleasures of Literature, 1938 (also known as The Enjoyment of Literature)
Mortal Strife, 1942
The Art of Growing Old, 1944
Dostoievsky, 1946
Rabelais, 1948
In Spite Of: A Philosophy for Everyman, 1953
Bibliography
Birns, Nicholas. "'A Peculiar Blending': Powys’s Anglo-American Synthesis." Powys Notes 8, nos. 1-2 (1992). Sheds light on Powys’s American years.
Cavaliero, Glen. John Cowper Powys: Novelist. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1973. Critical study including bibliography.
Churchill, R. C. The Powys Brothers. London: Longmans, Green: 1962. Brief forty-page work on Powys and his brothers.
Fawkner, H. W. The Ecstatic World of John Cowper Powys. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1986. Critical study stresses Powys’s affinity with postmodernism.
Graves, Richard Percival. The Brothers Powys. New York: Scribner, 1983. Full-length biographical study includes bibliography.
Hopkins, Kenneth. The Powys Brothers: A Biographical Appreciation. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1967. Studies Powys, his family background, and related material.
"John Cowper Powys (1872–1963)." The Powys Society, 2017, www.powys-society.org/The%20Powys%20Society%20Society%20John%20Cowper%20Powys.html. Accessed 18 Apr. 2017. Provides an overview of Powys's life and career with discussion of his major works; includes bibliography.
Krissdóottir, Morine. Descents of Memory: The Life of John Cowper Powys. New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2007. This biography provides a thorough account of Powys’ life and writing. Krissdóttir chronicles important events in his literary career and fleshes out his character through an examination of his personal relationships.
Krissdóttir, Morine. John Cowper Powys and the Magical Quest. London: Macdonald and Jane’s, 1980. Critical study emphasizes Powys’s mysticism.
Lane, Denis, ed. In the Spirit of Powys: New Essays. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1989. A good introduction to Powys studies.