|
 |
Flecker was born in London
on November 5, 1884. His death in 1915 at the age of thirty was
"unquestionably the greatest premature loss that English literature
has suffered since the death of Keats". The eldest son of the Rev. W.
H. Flecker, Headmaster of Dean Close School, Flecker attended Trinity
College, Oxford, and also Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied
oriental languages in preparation for a consular career.
He joined the Consular Service in 1908, was posted to Constantinople
in 1910, and he married Helle Skiadaressi, a Greek. From 1911 to 1913
Flecker served as vice-consul at Beirut. This appointment reinforced
his life-long love for the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Suffering from tuberculosis, he moved to Switzerland and died in Davos
on January 3, 1915, and is buried in Cheltenham, England, at the foot
of the Cotswold Hills. His grave is marked with a granite cross
inscribed with the poet's own words: "O Lord, restore his realm to the
dreamer."
|
|
Flecker had a splendor and
breadth of vision unmatched among young English poets of his time. His
writings include poetry, short stories, non-fiction prose, and two plays
that were published posthumously. Though sometimes grouped chronologically
with the Georgian poets, Flecker's real literary affinity is with the French
Parnassian school.
|
