Language led him to the brink of silence,
he sought out vision till starfish, sunflower,
and blow-torch flame, all near-blinded him.
He’d sniff the wind, drunk on the world’s fragrance,
at music his body cried out to dance,
irresistible, that strain again.
His tongue pursued what no taste-buds
had ever found edible. Sparks flew
at his touch; they left his hands forever scorched.

Présentation de l’auteur

Adrian Grafe

Adrian Grafe est né en Angleterre, où il a grandi. Diplôme d’Oxford. Auteur de monographies de Hopkins et d’Emily Dickinson et directeur ou co-directeur de plusieurs ouvrages consacrés à la poésie anglaise moderne. A publié quelques poèmes dans des revues et a dirigé le dossier Hopkins de NUNC (juin 2012). Collabore à la chronique des livres des Etvdes pour la littérature anglaise et co-dirige, avec Emily Taylor Merriman, la chronique des livres du Hopkins Quarterly (Philadelphie). Il enseigne la poésie et la littérature anglophone, ainsi que la traduction, à l’université d’Artois. Il vit à Paris.

Adrian Grafe was born and raised in Oxfordshire and studied at Oxford University. He is the author of monographs of Hopkins and Emily Dickinson, and has edited or co-edited several volumes of essays on modern British poetry. He has published poems in small magazines and edited the Hopkins dossier of NUNC (June 2012). He is a contributor on English literature to the Book Reviews section of the Etvdes and co-edits with Emily Taylor Merriman the Book Reviews section of the Hopkins Quarterly (Philadelphia). He was named a Fellow of the English Association (GB) in 2011 and appointed a member of Pacific Coast Philology’s consultative committee in 2012. He teaches English-language poetry and literature, and translation, at Université d’Artois and lives in Paris.