Charles Causley

Charles Causley
Causley's grave in St Thomas Churchyard
Born	24 August 1917 Launceston, Cornwall, England
Died	4 November 2003(2003-11-04) (aged 86)
Resting place	St Thomas Churchyard, Launceston
Nationality	British
Genre	Poetry (notably ballads)
Notable works	Green Man In The Garden

Charles Stanley Causley, CBE, FRSL (24 August 1917 – 4 November 2003) was a Cornish poet, schoolmaster and writer. His work is noted for its simplicity and directness and for its associations with folklore, especially when linked to his native Cornwall.

Causley was born at Launceston in Cornwall and was educated there and at a teacher training college in Peterborough. His father died in 1924 from long-standing injuries from the First World War. Largely because of this, Causley had to leave school at 15 to earn money for the family, working as an office boy during his early years.

He enlisted in the Royal Navy and served as a coder during the Second World War, aboard the destroyer HMS Eclipse in the Atlantic and later in the Pacific as part of the crew of the aircraft carrier HMS Glory. Causley later wrote about his wartime experiences in his poetry, and also in a book of short stories, Hands to Dance and Skylark. His first collection of poems, Farewell, Aggie Weston (1951) contained his "Song of the Dying Gunner A.A.1":

Farewell, Aggie Weston, the Barracks at Guz,
Hang my on the door
I'm sewn up neat in a canvas sheet
And I shan't be home no more.

The collection Survivor's Leave followed in 1953, and from then until his death Causley published frequently. He worked as a teacher at his old school, St. Catherine's CofE Primary, in Launceston, leaving the town seldom and reluctantly. He did however twice spend time in Perth as a visiting Fellow at the University of Western Australia, and also worked at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Canada. He travelled widely and frequently, especially after his retirement, early in 1976. Causley was much in demand at poetry readings in the United Kingdom and worldwide. He also made many television and radio appearances over the post-war period, particularly for the BBC in the West Country, and as the presenter for many years of the BBC Radio 4 series Poetry Please.