Sydney Clouts
Sydney David Clouts was a notable South African poet born in 1926 in Cape Town. His experiences during World War II, where he served in the South African Signals Corps, influenced his later work. After obtaining a BA from the University of Cape Town in 1950, Clouts had various careers, including roles as a bookseller and editor. His poetry often explored themes such as perception, existentialism, and the African experience, drawing on influences from Romanticism and metaphysical poetry. Although his early work went largely unnoticed, he gained recognition after moving to London in the 1960s, where his poetry was published and even broadcast by the BBC. Clouts's collection "One Life" won him the Olive Schreiner Prize and the Ingrid Jonker Prize in 1966. He returned to South Africa for reading tours in the 1970s and remained an influential figure until his death in 1982. His legacy continues through posthumous collections of his work and through the Sydney Clouts Memorial Prize for Poetry, honoring his contributions to South African literature.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Sydney Clouts
Poet
- Born: January 10, 1926
- Birthplace: Cape Town, South Africa
- Died: August 1, 1982
Biography
Poet Sydney David Clouts was born in 1926, in Cape Town, South Africa. Following voluntary service in the South African Signals Corps in World War II, he attended the South African College School and the University of Cape Town, where he earned his BA in 1950. After serving in World War II, he held a variety of jobs, including bookseller, insurance clerk, and editor for the International Press Agency in Cape Town. After his initial poetry went largely unnoticed, Clouts left South Africa for London in the early 1960’s, but he returned to his native country in 1974 and 1980 on reading and lecture tours. He married Marjorie Leftwich in 1952 and had three sons with her.
Clouts’s poetry, which dealt with a wide range of themes including problems of perception, the inner being, existentialism, and the African reality, was widely published and anthologized during his lifetime and even broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation after he moved to England. A poet who was heavily influenced by Romanticism, Clouts was praised for his brilliant use of unusual imagery but also criticized for his too-infrequent discussion of social issues. Some of his poems were metaphysical—he wanted to truly discover the heart of a being—but he also dealt with biblical issues. More often than not, though, he approached the Bible from a metaphysical standpoints like those taken by the religious poets Henry Vaughan and John Donne. In 1966 he won both the Olive Schreiner Prize and the Ingrid Jonker Prize for his collectionOne Life. Clouts died in 1982, and his Sydney Clouts: Collected Poems were published posthumously by his wife and brother in 1984. Although not a very prolific poet, Clouts was one of the more important South African writers who wrote in English during his lifetime, and his memory endures, not only through his work but also through the Sydney Clouts Memorial Prize for Poetry.