What made Basil Bunting a legendary literary figure?

 

               ‘Compose aloud; poetry is a sound’ so goes the first line of ‘Advice to Young Poets’, written by Basil Bunting.

               Born in England on 1st March 1900, Bunting had a liking for music, and a passion for the sound of poetry. He emphasized the importance of reading poetry aloud.

               His poem ‘Briggflatts’, published in 1966, brought Bunting fame as a modern poet. ‘Briggflatts’, is a long, autobiographical poem in five sections.

               ‘Villon’ was one of his sonatas. The name stresses the aural qualities or the sound of the poem. ‘Attis: or, Something Missing’, ‘Aus Dem Zweiten Reich’, ‘The Well of Lycopolis’, and ‘The Spoils’ were his other famous sonatas.

               Basil Bunting worked for the British military intelligence in Persia during World War II. In 1948, after the end of the war, he switched jobs, and became the correspondent for The Times of London, in Iran.

               However, he was forced to leave by Mohammad Mossadegh, the Prime Minister of Iran, in 1952. Basil Bunting passed away in 1985, at Hexham, in England.