Thom Gunn
(1929-2004), Poet and university teacherThomson William ('Thom') Gunn
Sitter in 8 portraits
Thom Gunn was born in Kent and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before moving to America in 1954. He wrote his first collection of poems Fighting Terms (1954) whilst still a student, for which he gained the reputation as a 'movement poet'. From 1960 onwards, Gunn lived in San Francisco and lectured at the University of California at Berkeley. His third book, My Sad Captains (1961) addresses the contrast between Englishness and Americanness. Other volumes include Touch (1967), To the Air (1974) and The Passages of Joy (1982). Collected Poems and Shelf Life were published in 1983 and Boss Cupid in 2000.
by Antony Barrington Brown
2 1/4 inch square film negative, 1954
NPG x135410
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