Oliver Bernard

For his father, the English architect and designer, see Oliver Percy Bernard.

Oliver Bernard (6 December 1925 – 1 June 2013)[1] was an English poet and translator. He is perhaps best known for translating Arthur Rimbaud into English as part of the Penguin Classics collection.

Bernard's former house, Poets' Corner, in Kenninghall, where a memorial plaque has been erected.

Biography

Bernard was born in London, to the English architect Oliver Percy Bernard OBE and the opera singer Dora Hodges. He had two brothers, the art critic and photographer Bruce Bernard and the journalist Jeffrey Bernard. All three brothers were prominent in London's literary and artistic scene in the mid-twentieth century.[2] He was a paternal cousin to the actor Stanley Holloway.[1]

Bernard published a book of memoirs.[3] Tony Benn wrote of him: "Oliver Bernard's Peace Poems are sensitive and perceptive in their description of the militaristic society which imprisons us all. They also offer some comforting visions of life as it could be if we release the compassion that is in us all."[4]

In later life, Bernard converted to Roman Catholicism and lived in a small cottage in Kenninghall, Norfolk. In 1985 he spent several weeks in prison for his involvement in anti-nuclear civil disobedience action as part of the Snowball Campaign.[5] He was married twice and had three children.[2] Following his death, villagers in Kenninghall created two circular walks to remember him, one through Kenninghall Woods, and the other to the Quidenham Monastery.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "He was the nice one: farewell to Oliver Bernard". London Evening Standard. 4 June 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Oliver Bernard obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  3. ^ Bernard, O. (1992). Getting Over It: Recollections. London: Peter Owen. ISBN 0720608651.
  4. ^ Bernard, O. (1985). Five Peace Poems. London: Five Seasons Press. 0947960015.
  5. ^ Barker, Elspeth (30 June 2013). "Oliver Bernard obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2019. In 1985 he became a Catholic and was involved in the Snowball campaign to cut the wire perimeter fences at airbases, in protest at the government's attitude to nuclear weapons. For this he was sent to prison for several weeks, emerging in a very good mood: "I felt grateful to just about everyone," he said.
  6. ^ "Oliver's Way" (PDF). Kenninghall News. June 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2021.