Niel Wright is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 poet, literary critic, bibliographer, publisher, and cultural and political commentator. He is best known for his epic poem The Alexandrians, published in 120 books between 1961 and 2007 and totalling some 36,000 lines. He has since published 1045 post-Alexandrian poems totalling 8331 lines, of which 681 are triolets

Triolet

A triolet is a three stanza poem of eight lines. Its rhyme scheme is ABaAabAB and often all lines are in iambic tetrameter: the first, fourth and seventh lines are identical, as are the second and final lines, thereby making the initial and final couplets identical as well.-Examples:The form...

. He has also published extensive notes to The Alexandrians.

Life

Born in Sydenham

Sydenham, New Zealand

Sydenham is an inner suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located two kilometres south of the city centre, on and around the city’s main street, Colombo Street...

 Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 of mixed French, Scandinavian and English ancestry, Wright aspired to become a writer at an early age. His first school was Elmwood in Merivale

Merivale

Merivale is a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, north of the city centre. Its boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand as being Heaton Street to the north, Papanui Road to the east, Harper and Bealey Avenues to the south and Rossall Sreet to the west, although Real Estate advertising...

, his second St Albans

St Albans, New Zealand

St Albans is one of Christchurch, New Zealand's largest suburbs. It is a short walk from the central city. To the east of St Albans is Shirley and to the west is Fendalton...

. He then attended Christchurch Boys' High School

Christchurch Boys' High School

Christchurch Boys' High School is a single sex state secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated on a 12 hectare site between the suburbs of Riccarton and Fendalton, 4 kilometres to the west of central Christchurch. The school also provides boarding facilities for 130 boys, in a...

.

Early influences on his literary development were his godmother Lillian Harris (née Wright), the Reverend W.E.D. Davies who opened his private library to him at age 13, headmaster Jim Leggat who similarly recognised his intellectual promise, and J.H.E. Schroder. Poets Ruth Gilbert

Ruth Gilbert

Ruth Gilbert ONZM is a New Zealand poet whose work has been widely published in New Zealand and Commonwealth countries. She was born in Greytown and educated at Hamilton High School and the Otago School of Physiotherapy....

 and Dennis List

Dennis List

Dennis List was a New Zealand poet, editor and novelist.List was born in Wellington to a professional family whose name was originally Liszt but grew up in Rotorua. He became a student at Victoria University of Wellington in 1964 and quickly gained prominence as a writer and editor...

 were also to become important influences.

Wright moved to Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 in 1953, at first off and on, then permanently from the 1960s. He attended Victoria University of Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington

Victoria University of Wellington was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and some scientific disciplines, but offers a broad range of other courses...

, earning a BA and MA (Hons) in English, and was awarded a PhD in 1974.

A student activist during the 1960s, he was co-founder of the Communist Party of Aotearoa

Communist Party of Aotearoa

The Communist Party of Aotearoa is a Maoist political party which formed in 1993 as a split from the Communist Party of New Zealand, which had formerly been Maoist, but was then drifting towards Trotskyism....

 in 1974 and a contributor to the People's Voice newspaper.

He is married with one son, one daughter and two grandchildren. He lives in Wellington.

Literary output

Wright is a prolific author and publisher, with 1026 books and booklets listed in the National Library of New Zealand

National Library of New Zealand

The National Library of New Zealand is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations"...

. Many are published under his own imprint Cultural and Political Books, Wellington.

His critical writings survey New Zealand poetry from 1898 on, covering mainly Georgian

Georgian Poetry

Georgian Poetry was the title of a series of anthologies showcasing the work of a school of English poetry that established itself during the early years of the reign of King George V of the United Kingdom....

 but also a few earlier and later writers. From 1985, he has focused on the Elizabethan and Jacobean

Jacobean era

The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...

 dramatists, and since 2002, increasingly on Shakespeare. His major books are Shakespeare's Ongoing Composition (2008) and Argybargy and the Big D (2009).

He has published essays on numerous New Zealand writers including Maude Ruby Basham (Aunt Daisy), James K. Baxter

James K. Baxter

James Keir Baxter was a poet, and is a celebrated figure in New Zealand society.-Biography:Baxter was born in Dunedin to Archibald Baxter and Millicent Brown and grew up near Brighton. He was named after James Keir Hardie, a founder of the British Labour Party. His father had been a conscientious...

, George Bouzaid, Alan Claudius Brassington, Alan Brunton, Charles Brasch

Charles Brasch

Charles Orwell Brasch was a New Zealand poet, literary editor and arts patron. He was the founding editor of the literary journal Landfall....

, Alfred Edward Caddick, Alex Calder, Alistair Campbell

Alistair Campbell (poet)

Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, ONZM was a New Zealand poet, playwright, and novelist. His father was a New Zealand Scot and his mother a Cook Island Maori from Penrhyn Island.-Biography:...

, Ronald Brian Castle, R. E. Coury, Charles Doyle

Charles Doyle

Charles Doyle may refer to:* Charles Hastings Doyle , British soldier and Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick* Charles Altamont Doyle , artist...

, Kate Gerard, Patricia Godsiff, C. W. Grace, Arnold Grierson Lamont Cork, D'Arcy Cresswell, Peter Crisp, Allen Curnow

Allen Curnow

Thomas Allen Munro Curnow ONZ CBE was a New Zealand poet and journalist. Curnow was born in Timaru and educated at Christchurch Boys' High School, Canterbury University, and Auckland University...

, Eileen Duggan, E. L. Eyre, Bernard Gadd, Michele Leggott

Michele Leggott

Michele Joy Leggott MNZM is a New Zealand poet, and Associate Professor of English at the University of Auckland. She was born in Stratford, New Zealand, and received her secondary education at New Plymouth Girls High School, before attending the University of Canterbury where she completed an MA...

, Arthur Frederick Thomas Chorlton, Leigh Davis, Arthur Rex Dugard Fairburn, Gerald Fitzgerald, Patricia Fry, Ruth Gilbert, Denis Glover

Denis Glover

Lieutenant Commander Denis James Matthews Glover DSC was a New Zealand poet and publisher.Well-known for radical leftist opinions, he was often in trouble with authorities. In 1935 he founded the Caxton Press, which he used to encourage a less sentimental style of poetry in New Zealand than was...

, Alexander Connell Hanlon, Robin Hyde

Robin Hyde

Robin Hyde is one of New Zealand's major poets. She was born Iris Guiver Wilkinson in Cape Town, South Africa and taken to Wellington, New Zealand before her first birthday. She had her secondary education at Wellington Girls' College where she wrote poetry and short stories for the school...

, Noel Farr Hoggard, Louis Johnson, John Liddell Kelly, Dennis List, Iain Lonie, Bill Manhire

Bill Manhire

William "Bill" Manhire, CNZM is an award-winning New Zealand poet, short story writer, and professor, New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate.-Biography:...

, Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield

Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp Murry was a prominent modernist writer of short fiction who was born and brought up in colonial New Zealand and wrote under the pen name of Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield left for Great Britain in 1908 where she encountered Modernist writers such as D.H. Lawrence and...

, Charles Allan Marris, Frank McKay, Philip Mincher, Barry Mitcalfe

Barry Mitcalfe

Barry Mitcalfe was a New Zealand poet, editor, and peace activist. Born 31 March 1930 in Wellington, New Zealand, Mitcalfe studied at Victoria University of Wellington, where he received a Diploma in Education in 1962, and a Bachelor of Arts in 1963...

, Count Geoffrey Potocki de Montalk

Count Geoffrey Potocki de Montalk

Count Geoffrey Wladislas Vaile Potocki de Montalk , poet, private printer, pamphleteer, pagan and pretender to the Polish throne, was born in New Zealand, the eldest son of Auckland architect Robert Wladislas de Montalk, grandson of Paris-born Professor Count Joseph Wladislas Edmond Potocki de...

, Peter Munz

Peter Munz

Peter Munz was a philosopher and historian, Professor of the Victoria University of Wellington; among the major influences on his work were Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein.-Major works:...

, Walter Edward Murphy, Marjory Lydia Nicholls, Esma North, Victor O'Leary, W. H. Oliver

W. H. Oliver

W.H. Oliver is a New Zealand historian and poet, born in Feilding, on 14 May 1925, the son of Cornish immigrants. He studied at Victoria University of Wellington and completed a PhD at Oxford University in 1953. He returned to New Zealand and lectured at University of Canterbury and Victoria,...

, Vincent O'Sullivan

Vincent O'Sullivan (poet)

Vincent Gerard O’Sullivan is New Zealand poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, critic and editor....

, Charles Stuart Perry, Mark Pirie

Mark Pirie

Mark Pirie is a New Zealand poet, writer, literary critic, anthologist, publisher, and editor. He is best known for his Generation X New Zealand anthology The NeXt Wave, which included an 8,000 word introduction , the literary journals JAAM and Broadsheet, a book cover photo series of tributes to...

, Mary E. Richmond, Harry Ricketts, Betty Riddell, J. H. E.Schroder, Rosemary Seymour, Kendrick Smithyman

Kendrick Smithyman

William Kendrick Smithyman was an award-winning New Zealand poet and one of the most prolific of that nation's poets in the 20th century.-Family and early life:...

, Charles Spear, C. K. Stead

C. K. Stead

Christian Karlson Stead, ONZ, CBE is a New Zealand writer whose works include novels, poetry, short stories, and literary criticism....

, John Pyne Snadden, J. E. Weir, Karl Wolfskehl

Karl Wolfskehl

Karl Wolfskehl was a German Jewish author who wrote poetry, prose and drama in German. He also translated from French, English, Italian, Hebrew, Latin and Middle High German into German....

 and the Australian writer Pamela Travers.

Among the British authors he has written on are Rupert Brooke

Rupert Brooke

Rupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially The Soldier...

, Robert Browning

Robert Browning

Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.-Early years:...

, Robin George Collingwood, Frances Cornford

Frances Cornford

Frances Crofts Cornford was an English poet.She was the daughter of the botanist Francis Darwin and Ellen Crofts, born into the Darwin — Wedgwood family. She was a granddaughter of the British naturalist Charles Darwin. Her elder half-brother was the golf writer Bernard Darwin...

, William Davenant

William Davenant

Sir William Davenant , also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil...

, Richard Edwards

Richard Edwards

Richard Edwards may refer to:* Richard Edwards , Commodore for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador for 1745* Richard Edwards Richard Edwards may refer to:* Richard Edwards (Royal Navy officer) (?–1773), Commodore for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador for 1745*...

, T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

, J. M. Edmonds, George Rostrevor Hamilton

George Rostrevor Hamilton

Sir George Rostrevor Hamilton was an English poet and critic. He worked as a civil servant and Special Commissioner. He was knighted in 1951....

, Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...

, John Marston

John Marston

John Marston was an English poet, playwright and satirist during the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods...

, Thomas Middleton

Thomas Middleton

Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...

, John Milton

John Milton

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...

, Anthony Munday

Anthony Munday

Anthony Munday was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. The chief interest in Munday for the modern reader lies in his collaboration with Shakespeare and others on the play Sir Thomas More and his writings on Robin Hood.-Biography:He was once thought to have been born in 1553, because...

, Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War...

, George Peele

George Peele

George Peele , was an English dramatist.-Life:Peele was christened on 25 July 1556. His father, who appears to have belonged to a Devonshire family, was clerk of Christ's Hospital, and wrote two treatises on bookkeeping...

, Geoffrey Pollett, William Rowley

William Rowley

William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...

, Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...

, Anthony Thwaite

Anthony Thwaite

Anthony Simon Thwaite, OBE, is an English poet and writer. He is married to the writer Ann Thwaite. He was awarded the OBE in 1992, for services to poetry. He was mainly brought up in Yorkshire and currently lives in Norfolk....

, Alfred Tennyson and William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....

. He has also written on Goethe.

Among the New Zealand bibliographers and critics he has written on are Peter Alcock, Rowan Gibbs, Don McKenzie and Joan Stevens. He has published bibliographies of Ivan Bootham

Ivan Bootham

Ivan Bootham is a New Zealand novelist, short story writer, poet and composer.- Life and literary works :Ivan Bootham was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, in 1939, and migrated to New Zealand as a teenager, working in a variety of jobs in provincial centres...

, Jeremy Commons

Jeremy Commons

Jeremy Commons is a New Zealand opera historian, scholar, impresario and librettist. He is an authority on nineteenth-century Italian opera and has published major works on the composers Gaetano Donizetti and Nicola Vaccaj.- Academic career :...

, Mark Pirie

Mark Pirie

Mark Pirie is a New Zealand poet, writer, literary critic, anthologist, publisher, and editor. He is best known for his Generation X New Zealand anthology The NeXt Wave, which included an 8,000 word introduction , the literary journals JAAM and Broadsheet, a book cover photo series of tributes to...

 and Michael O'Leary

Michael O'Leary (publisher and writer)

Michael O'Leary is a New Zealand publisher, poet, novelist, performer, artist and bookshop proprietor. He publishes under the imprint Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop, which he founded in 1984. He now runs a bookshop, Kakariki Books, from the Paekakariki Railway Station. He also has an on-line book...

.

Wright's published works include plays, filmscripts, novels, short stories and two verse novellas.

His earliest plays date from the 1950s. From 1984 all his plays have been written in verse. They include Orestes in Phthia, Apollonius at Rome and Women of Sparta. He has also written three filmscripts: Mysterious Eve, Wolf's Gorge, or Operation Fullscale, and Across the Ningthi. His novels include Underprivileged Lovers, Strangers in the Blood, Caisson, and The Last Time I Saw Turfit. His latest is Weston Burley's Business in Great Waters (2007). He has also written The Fall of the Modern West, a book on the philosophy of history.

He has published two major works of literary autobiography: Brilliantly Wright (1989) and Being, Obsession and Besetment (2007).

Wright's most recent work is The Pop Artist's Garland: Selected Poems 1952-2009, drawing on his epic poem The Alexandrians as well as his post-Alexandrian work.

Reviews and critical studies

• James Bertram, "The Last Maker", New Zealand Listener, 12 August 1978, p. 71

• Peter Dronke, Reviews, Landfall, September 1964, pp. 277–280

• John Sebastian Hales, An introductory essay: Niel Wright and his epic, Wellington (author), 1976.

• Chris Hilliard,"Mad by Auckland Standards", The Pandar 3, Autumn 1998, Auckland

• Robert Johnson, "Extracts from a growing epic", Palmerston North Evening Standard, 12 September 1980

• Catherine Robertson, "The Perverse Poet",The Dominion Post "Indulgence" magazine, 29 December 2007, p. 3

• Roger Robinson, Niel Wright in Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, OUP, 1998

• Joe Wylie, Review, Takahe 54, 2005

External links

Niel Wright: The Pop Artist's Garland http://headworx.eyesis.co.nz/poetry/popartist.php

For a complete listing of Niel Wright's works, see the online catalogue of the National Library of New Zealand http://www.natlib.govt.nz/