Editing Cecil Day-Lewis (section)

==Life and work==

Day-Lewis was born in 1904 in Ballintubbert, [[Athy]]/[[Stradbally]] border, Queen's County (now known as [[County Laois]]), Ireland.<ref>{{cite web | title = The Garden at Ballintubbert: Stradbally, County Laois |website=ballintubbert.com| url = http://www.ballintubbert.com/ | access-date = 23 January 2012  }}</ref> He was the son of Frank Day-Lewis, a [[Church of Ireland]] rector of that parish, and Kathleen Blake (née Squires; died 1906).<ref>{{cite book|first=C. S. |last=Lewis|author-link=C. S. Lewis|title=The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy, 1950 – 1963|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPYhDojB6sUC&pg=PA1657|year=2009|publisher=HarperOne|isbn=978-0-06-194728-5|page=1657}}</ref> Some of his family were from England and the family had originally been from [[Berkhamsted]], in [[Hertfordshire]], and settled in Ireland in the late 1860s. His father took the surname "Day-Lewis" as a combination of his own birth father's ("Day") and adoptive father's ("Lewis") surnames.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Peter Stanford|first=Peter|last=Stanford|title=C Day-Lewis: A Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3jUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|year=2007|publisher=London and New York: Continuum|isbn=978-0-8264-8603-5|page=5}}</ref> 
In his autobiography ''The Buried Day'' (1960), Day-Lewis wrote: "As a writer I do not use the hyphen in my surname – a piece of inverted snobbery which has produced rather mixed results."<ref>{{Cite book |first=Cecil |last=Day-Lewis |title=The Buried Day |year=1960 |page=17}}</ref>

{{Quote box|align=left|bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=left
|quote =<poem>
IS IT FAR TO GO?

''Is it far to go?''
A step — no further.
''Is it hard to go?''
Ask the melting snow,
The eddying feather.

''What can I take there?''
Not a hank, not a hair.
''What shall I leave behind?''
Ask the hastening wind,
The fainting star.

''Shall I be gone long?''
For ever and a day.
''To whom there belong?''
Ask the stone to say,
Ask my song.

''Who will say farewell?''
The beating bell.
''Will anyone miss me?''
That I dare not tell —
Quick, Rose, and kiss me. </poem>
(c. 1940)<ref>"Is It Far to Go?" in N. Das Gupta (ed.), ''Modern English Poetry'' (1963), Vol. 2, p. 92.</ref>}}

After the death of his mother in 1906, when he was two years old, Cecil was brought up in London by his father, with the help of an aunt, spending summer holidays with relatives in [[County Wexford]]. He was educated at [[Sherborne School]] and at [[Wadham College, Oxford]]. In Oxford, Day-Lewis became part of the circle gathered around [[W. H. Auden]] and helped him to edit ''Oxford Poetry 1927''. His first collection of poems, ''Beechen Vigil'', appeared in 1925.<ref name=greenwichpast/>

In 1928, Day-Lewis married Constance Mary King, the daughter of a Sherborne teacher. Day-Lewis worked as a schoolmaster in three schools, including Larchfield School, [[Helensburgh]], Scotland (now [[Lomond School]]).<ref name=greenwichpast>[http://wwp.greenwichpast.com/vip/writers/day-lewis.htm Cecil Day-Lewis] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427062702/http://wwp.greenwichpast.com/vip/writers/day-lewis.htm |date=27 April 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/aug/31/helensburgh.heroes|title=Helensburgh lays claim to title of UK's most talented town|first1=Paul|last1=Kelbie|first2=Caroline|last2=Davies|newspaper=The Observer |date=30 August 2008|access-date=9 July 2019|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> During the 1940s, he had a long and troubled love affair with the novelist [[Rosamond Lehmann]], to whom he dedicated his 1943 poetry collection ''Word Over All''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://michaelarditti.com/non-fiction/c-day-lewis/|title=Non-fiction {{!}} C Day-Lewis [Review of C DAY-LEWIS by PETER STANFORD]|website=michaelarditti.com|first=Michael|last=Arditti|access-date=21 December 2023}}</ref> In 1948, Day-Lewis met actress [[Jill Balcon]], daughter of [[Michael Balcon]], at the recording of a radio programme and began an affair with her that year. He conducted simultaneous relationships with his wife Constance Mary, who lived with their two sons in [[Dorset]], with Lehmann, who lived in [[Oxfordshire]], and with Balcon. Finally he broke with his wife and Lehmann, and after his marriage was dissolved in 1951, he married Balcon, but he was no more faithful to her than he had been to his wife or Lehmann. Jill's father was deeply unhappy about the scandalous affair since she was named publicly as co-respondent in Day-Lewis' divorce. He disinherited her and cut off all relationships with her and Day-Lewis.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jul/20/jill-balcon-obituary |title= Jill Bacon Obituary|first=Peter |last=Stanford|author-link=Peter Stanford|newspaper= The Guardian|access-date= 14 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/jul/26/jill-bacon-tribute |title= A Star is Born|first= Peter |last=Stanford| work= The Guardian|date= 26 July 2009| access-date= 14 December 2022}}</ref>

During the Second World War, Day-Lewis worked as a publications editor in the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]], an institution satirised by [[George Orwell]] in his dystopian ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', but equally based on Orwell's experience of the [[BBC]]. During the Second World War, his work was less influenced by Auden and he was developing a more traditional style of [[lyric poetry|lyricism]]. Some critics believe that he reached his full stature as a poet in ''Word Over All'' (1943), when he finally distanced himself from Auden.<ref name=bbc>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/daylewisc2.shtml|title=BBC|access-date=9 July 2019|archive-date=14 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514070213/http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/daylewisc2.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the war, he joined the publisher Chatto & Windus as a director and senior editor.

In 1946, Day-Lewis was a lecturer at [[Cambridge University]], publishing his lectures in ''The Poetic Image'' (1947). Day-Lewis became a [[Order of the British Empire|Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire]] in the [[1950 Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38929 |date=2 June 1950 |page=2785  |supp=y}}</ref> He later taught poetry at [[Oxford University|Oxford]], where he was [[Professor of Poetry]] from 1951 to 1956.<ref name=greenwichpast/> During 1962–1963, he was the Norton Professor at [[Harvard University]]. Day-Lewis was appointed Poet Laureate in 1968, in succession to [[John Masefield]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44494 |date=2 January 1968 |page=89}}</ref> His appointment came after appointments secretary John Hewitt consulted with [[Dame Helen Gardner]], the [[Merton Professor of English]] at the [[University of Oxford]] (who stated that Day-Lewis "produced run of the mill poetry but nothing particularly outstanding") and Geoffrey Handley-Taylor, chair of the [[Poetry Society]] (who stated that Day-Lewis was "a good administrative poet" and "a safe bet").<ref name="BBC2023">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66224984|work=[[BBC News]]|title=No 10 turned down Larkin, Auden and other poets for laureate job|date=19 July 2023|first=Sanchia|last=Berg}}</ref>

Day-Lewis was chairman of the [[Arts Council of Great Britain|Arts Council]] Literature Panel, vice-president of the [[Royal Society of Literature]], an Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]], a Member of the Irish Academy of Letters and a [[Gresham Professor of Rhetoric|Professor of Rhetoric]] at [[Gresham College]], London.
[[File:Cecil Day Lewis headstone, geograph.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Headstone of Cecil Day-Lewis in the [[Stinsford]] churchyard.]]
Cecil Day-Lewis died from [[pancreatic cancer]] on 22 May 1972, aged 68, at [[Lemmons]], the Hertfordshire home of [[Kingsley Amis]] and [[Elizabeth Jane Howard]], where he and his family were staying. As a great admirer of [[Thomas Hardy]], he arranged to be buried near the author's grave at St Michael's Church in [[Stinsford]], [[Dorset]].<ref name=greenwichpast/>

Day-Lewis was the father of four children.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Cecil Day-Lewis, poet laureate, dies|newspaper=[[The Montreal Gazette]]|date=22 May 1972|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yYIuAAAAIBAJ&pg=3428,2147956|access-date=15 March 2010}}</ref> His first two children, with Constance Mary King, were [[Sean Day-Lewis]] (3 August 1931–9 June 2022), a TV critic and writer, and Nicholas Day-Lewis, who became an engineer. His children with Balcon were [[Tamasin Day-Lewis]], a television chef and food critic, and Sir [[Daniel Day-Lewis]], who became an award-winning actor.<ref>{{cite news |last=Rainey |first=Sarah |date=1 March 2013 |title=My brother Daniel Day-Lewis won't talk to me any more |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/oscars/9902698/My-brother-Daniel-Day-Lewis-wont-talk-to-me-any-more.html |work=The Telegraph |access-date= 6 March 2018}}</ref> Sean Day-Lewis wrote a biography of his father, ''C. Day-Lewis: An English Literary Life'' (1980).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/06/17/sean-day-lewis-journalist-author-spent-three-decades-telegraph/|title=Seán Day-Lewis, journalist and author who spent three decades with the Telegraph and wrote a biography of his father Cecil – obituary|website=The Telegraph|date=17 June 2022|access-date=17 June 2022}}</ref>

Sir Daniel Day-Lewis donated his father's archive of poetry to the [[Bodleian Library]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Daniel Day-Lewis donates poet father's archive |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20124596 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=30 October 2012 |access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Bodleian library celebrates acquisition of Cecil Day-Lewis archive |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9642767/Bodleian-library-celebrates-acquisition-of-Cecil-Day-Lewis-archive.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=30 October 2012 |access-date=28 March 2016}}</ref>