A. S. J. Tessimond

Arthur Seymour John Tessimond (July 19, 1902-May 13, 1962 in Birkenhead) was a poet.

After studying in Liverpool he moved to London where he worked in a bookshop. He later moved to France.

After avoiding military service in World War II, he later discovered he was unfit for service.

An eccentric and an Imagist, Tessimond wrote astute, elegant poetry. He suffered from depression and received electro shock treatment.

He first began to publish in the 1920s in literary magazines. He was to see three volumes of poetry were published during his life: Walls of Glass in 1934, Voices in a Giant City in 1947 and Selections in 1958. He contributed several poems to a 1952 edition of Bewick's Birds.

He died in 1962 from a brain haemorrage.

In the mid-1970s he was the subject of a radio programme entitled Portrait of a Romantic. This, together with the publication of the posthumous selection Not Love Perhaps in 1972, increased interest in his work; and his poetry subsequently appeared in school books and anthologies.

A 1985 anthology of his work The Collected Poems of A. S. J. Tessimond contains previously unpublished works.

External links

• A.S.J. Tessimond Poetry and Translations at the Open Translation Project sponsored by Bryant H. McGill