Life and work

Sansom was born on 21 June 1910 in East Finchley, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and educated at Southgate

Southgate, London

Southgate is an area of north London, England, primarily within the London Borough of Enfield, although parts of its western fringes lie within the London Borough of Barnet. It is located around north of Charing Cross. The name is derived from being the south gate to Enfield Chase...

 County School, where he matriculated in 1926. He worked as a clerk until 1934, and then studied speech and drama at the Regent Street Polytechnic

University of Westminster

The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...

 and the London Speech Institute under Margaret Gullan. He went on to study phonetics

Phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...

 under Daniel Jones

Daniel Jones (phonetician)

Daniel Jones was a London-born British phonetician. A pupil of Paul Passy, professor of phonetics at the École des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne , Daniel Jones is considered by many to be the greatest phonetician of the early 20th century...

 at University College London

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

, and joined the London Verse Speaking Choir. He lectured in speech training at Borough Road Training College, Isleworth, and the Speech Fellowship in 1937-9, and edited the Speech Fellowship Bulletin (1934-49). He was also an instructor in the Drama School of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art

The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art is a leading British drama school in west London. LAMDA's president is Timothy West and its new principal is Joanna Read, who recently succeeded Peter James...

.

Sansom married the poet Ruth Large, a Tasmanian, in 1937, at the Quaker

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 Friends Meeting House in Winchmore Hill

Winchmore Hill

Winchmore Hill is a district in the Borough of Enfield, North London, in the N21 postal district.- Location :With the Winchmore Hill conservation area as a focal point, Winchmore Hill is a ward of Enfield borough, bounded on the east by Green Lanes , Barrowell Green, Firs Lane and Fords Grove, and...

, and subsequently joined. Sansom was a conscientious objector during the Second World War. His best known collection of poems, The Witnesses, tells the life of Jesus of Nazareth, from the perspective of those who knew him during his time on earth. It was joint winner of the Festival of Britain poetry prize in 1950 and has been performed all over the world. Sansom was also a committed conservationist and the founding patron of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society. He fought long and hard to preserve the original Lake Pedder, in Tasmania's south west. He was devastated when the then premier, Eric Reece, refused to accept millions of dollars from the Whitlam Labor government to hold a moratorium, which could have saved the lake, one of the most exquisite places on earth. The couple settled in Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

 in 1949, where they were both supervisors with the Tasmanian Education Department, in charge of its Speech Centre. Clive Sansom died following a stroke in Hobart

Hobart

Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...

, Tasmania in 1981. A commemorative volume appeared in 1990.

As a poet, Sansom was best known for his performance poetry and his verses for children. He also wrote a number of plays. His Passion Play was a novel based around the Oberammergau Passion Play

Oberammergau Passion Play

Oberammergau Passion Play is a passion play performed since 1634 oberammergau-passion.com. 2009. Retrieved November 19, 2011. as a tradition by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany.-Origins:...

of 1950.

As co-author

• With Rodney Bennett: Adventures in Words. Speech training readers. Second series (London: University of London Press, 1939).
• With Rodney Bennett: Adventures in Words. Speech training for Canadian schools (Toronto/London: Clark Irwin & Co./University of London Press, 1940).
• With Richard Harding Graves: The Carpenter’s Son. A carol for voices and organ, poem by Clive Sansom (London: Adam & Charles Black, [1949])
• With Walter Stiasny: Two Songs. 1. The Forest Wind. 2. Inscription for an old Tomb. Poems by Clive Sansom (London/New York: Peters/Hinrichsen, [1955]).
• With Ann Hamerton: Shepherds’ Carol. Words by Clive Sansom (London/New York: J. Curwen & Sons/G. Schirmer, [1959]).
• With Richard Harding Graves: The Farmyard. Ten songs with optional mime and movement. Words by Clive Sansom,etc. (London/New York: J. Curwen & Sons/G. Schirmer, [1963.]).
• With Arthur Edwin Veal: The Irish Fiddler. Words by Clive Sansom (London: OUP, [1971]). Oxford Choral Songs U 146.

As editor etc.

• With Marjorie Gullen: The Poet Speaks: an anthology for choral speaking (London: Methuen, 1940, reprints to 1957).
• English Heart: an anthology of English lyric poetry ([London]: Falcon Press, [1946]).
• Plays in Verse with Spoken Choruses ((London: A & C Black, [1947]). Children's Theatre No. 7.
• Acting Rhymes (London: A & C Black, 1948, 2nd e. 1975). ISBN 0713615419
• Briar Rose and Other Plays with Choruses (London: A & C Black, [1950]). Children's Theatre No. 10.
• By Word of Mouth. An anthology of prose for reading aloud (London: Methuen & Co., 1950)
• The World of Poetry. Poets and critics on the art and functions of poetry. Extracts selected and arranged by Clive Sansom (London: Phoenix House, 1959; reprint 1960).
• Helen Power: A Lute with Three Strings. Selected and introduced by Clive Sansom (poems, London: Robert Hale, 1964).
• Counting Rhymes (London: Black, 1974). ISBN 0713614846

External resources

• Some poems by Clive Sansom: Retrieved 13 September 2011.
• The verse "Mary of Nazareth" from Sansom's collection The Witnesses: Retrieved 14 September 2011.
• "The Forbidden Room", from Return to Magic: Fairy-Tale Poems (1969).
• The catalogue of the Clive Sansom papers held at the University of Tasmania Library, with a short biography: Retrieved 13 September 2011.