Geoffrey Dearmer facts for kids

Geoffrey Dearmer (born March 21, 1893 – died August 18, 1996) was a British poet. He was honored with the LVO, which is a special award given by the British monarch. Geoffrey was the son of Percy Dearmer, who studied church services and hymns, and Mabel Dearmer, an artist and writer.

Early Life and Education

Geoffrey Dearmer didn't enjoy school very much. However, when he went to university, he truly thrived. A writer named Stephen Gwynn, who knew Geoffrey's family well, said that Geoffrey became "radiant" and "swimming in felicity" once he started university. He especially loved the atmosphere and friendships he found at Oxford University.

Serving in World War I

Geoffrey Dearmer served in the First World War. In 1915, he joined the Royal Fusiliers and fought in the Gallipoli Campaign. This was a difficult time for him, as his younger brother, Christopher, had recently died there while serving as a pilot.

Later, Geoffrey served with the Royal Army Service Corps on the Western Front in France. His mother, Mabel, also died during the war. She was working as a paramedic with a Red Cross ambulance unit in Serbia. Geoffrey Dearmer was later appointed a lieutenant in the Royal Victorian Order, which is another special honor.

Career Beyond Poetry

From 1936 to 1958, Geoffrey Dearmer had an interesting job. He was the "Examiner of Plays" for the Lord Chamberlain. This meant he reviewed plays to make sure they were suitable for public performance.

At the same time, he also worked as the editor for the BBC radio program called Children's Hour. In 1935, he wrote a science fiction novel called They Chose to Be Birds.

His Poetic Legacy

Geoffrey Dearmer lived a very long life, passing away at the age of 103. To remember him and his work, the Geoffrey Dearmer Award was created in 1998. This award helps new poets.

War Poems and Faith

Many of Dearmer's poems were about the harsh realities of war and violence, which he saw firsthand. His war poems were popular for a short time during and after World War I. However, other poets like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon became more famous for their powerful and often angrier war poems.

Unlike some other war poets, Dearmer's poems were never filled with anger or despair. Instead, they often showed his strong Christian faith.

Here is a famous part of his poem "Turkish Trench Dog":

Night held me as I crawled and scrambled near
The Turkish lines. Above, the mocking stars
Silvered the curving parapet, and clear
Cloud-latticed beams o'erflecked the land with bars
I, crouching, lay between
Tense-listening armies peering through the night,
Twin giants bound by tentacles unseen.
Here in dim-shadowed light
I saw him, as a sudden movement turned
His eyes towards me, glowing eyes that burned
A moment ere his snuffling muzzle found
My trail; and then, as serpents mesmerise,
He chained me with those unrelenting eyes,
That muscle-sliding rhythm, knit and bound
In spare-limbed symmetry, those perfect jaws
And soft-approaching pitter-patter paws.
Nearer and nearer like a wolf he crept—
That moment had my swift revolver leapt—
But terror seized me, terror born of shame
Brought flooding revelation. For he came
As one who offers comradeship deserved,
An open ally of the human race,
And sniffing at my prostrate form unnerved
He licked my face!

Nature's Beauty in Verse

Geoffrey Dearmer also wrote beautiful poems about nature. One critic who knew him well thought his garden poems were just as good as his war poems. Here are some lines from his poem "The Strolling Singer" that show his love for nature:

[...] The fields were loud with bees
And drowsy with the wind-stirred meadowsweet.
From bowing trees
Fell chatter, and above the garden wall
Wide sunflowers beamed at spearing hollyhocks
That dared the wind, and scorned the clustered stocks,
And bore their laddered blooms high over all.

Published Works

Geoffrey Dearmer published several collections of his poems:

• Poems, 1918
• A Day's Delight, 1923
• A Pilgrim's Song, John Murray, 1993