Strivings : poems, 1972-1976

by William Radice

William Radice's second book shows him to be a natural story-teller as well as a vigorous and inventive poet. In these extended poems he catches a variety of people at critical points in the relationships through which they strive towards self-knowledge and understanding of their roles in life. From the violin-playing tramp in `Epithalamium' to the retired watch-mender in `Two Meditations', the remarkable personalities of David and Mary, or the imagined historical character of the Irish landowner who dramatizes Goldsmith's `The Deserted Village' - all the characters are finely realized, and their predicaments are sympathetically presented. The vitality of Radice's language matches his skill in narrative and lyric forms.

56 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

William Radice was a British poet, writer and translator. He was also the senior lecturer in Bengali in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. His research area is in Bengali language and literature. He translated several Bengali works, and works by Rabindranath Tagore and Michael Madhusudan Dutt.
Radice adapted the text Debotar Grash by Rabindranath Tagore as an opera libretto, which was set to music by Param Vir as Snatched by the Gods. He wrote the libretto for a children's opera Chincha-Chancha Cooroo or The Weaver's Wedding with music by Bernard Hughes.
He published nine volumes of poetry ranging from Eight Sections (1974), Strivings (1980), Louring Skies (1985) and Gifts (2002) to his latest two books This Theatre Royal (2004) and Green, Red, Gold, a novel in 101 sonnets (2005) which were hailed by A.N. Wilson in The Daily Telegraph as stunning. He has also fore-worded the a collection of translated Tagore poems, Soaring High, written by Mira Rani Devi.
In 2002, he published the voluminous (784 pages) Myths and Legends of India, a collection of 112 of his own retellings with selections from P. Lal's ongoing transcreation of the Mahabharata. Along with the major Hindu myths, he included legends and folk tales from Muslim, Buddhist, Jain, Syrian Christian and tribal sources.
His mother was the editor and translator Betty Radice.