Carol Rumens Facts: Know More About The Creative Poet

Carol Rumens is a famous British poet from London.

Carol Rumens was born on December 10, 1944. She authored 14 collections of poems.

Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill in south London. She was a famous British poet, with many accolades under her belt, including the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award. She attended Grammar school on a scholarship, following which she attended London University to study philosophy.

She worked as a Creative Writing professor at various universities. She was also the Poetry Editor for the Literary Review and the publisher Quarto. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Life History Of Carol Rumens

Carol Rumens is a poet from Forest Hill, South London. She was born in 1944, making her 77 years old in 2021. She is a famous poet and has authored 14 collections of poems and a few pieces of drama, fiction, and translation.

Carol Rumens attended grammar school on a scholarship at the Arden school, following which she attended London University to study Philosophy. However, she did not complete the course of her study.

At age 16, she began to publish a variety of music reviews, news articles, and periodicals. She went on to be a college professor, teaching at the University College Cork, University of Kent, Queens University Belfast, University of Hull, and the University of Stockholm.

She also worked as a visiting professor, teaching creative writing. While teaching creative writing as a visiting professor, Carol taught at the University of Hull and the University of Wales.

During this period, Carol also acted as the Poetry Editor of 'Quarto' from 1982-1984, and the 'Literary Review' from 1984-1988. In 1984, The Royal Society of Literature elected Carol as a fellow. In addition to this, Carol is a member of the Society of Authors and The Welsh Academy.

Famous Books Of Carol Rumens

Carol Rumens authored 14 collections of poems. Her work was published in 'The Guardian' and 'Harper's'.

Carol's first poetry collection was titled 'A Strange Girl in Bright Colors', and was published in 1973. Some of her other famous works include 'Unplayed Music' (1981), 'Star Whisper' (1983), 'The Greening of Snow Beach' (1988), 'From Berlin to Heaven' (1989), 'Holding Pattern' (1998), Hex (2002), 'Blind Spots' (2008), and 'De Chirico's Threads' (2010).

Carol also authored the novel 'Plato Park' (1987), which tells the tale of an affair between a British woman and a Russian Journalist.

She has also published three plays which include, 'Nearly Siberia' (1989), 'The Freak of the Week Show' (2001), and 'Suzanne Hecabe' (2002). In addition to this, she worked on various translations, including the translation of the Russian books 'The Poetry of Perestroika' (1990), 'Pencil Letter' (1988), 'After Pushkin' (2000), and 'Yevgenii Rein: Selected Poems' (2001).

Her most recent works include 'Writing Poetry', published in 2006, and 'Self into Song', which is a book of poetry lectures that she gave at Newcastle University in 2007.

Awards Won By Carol Rumens

Carol Rumens won eight awards for her extensive work from 1981-2002.

In 1981, Carol won two prestigious awards. She was awarded the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award for her poem collection 'Unplayed Music'. In addition to this, she won the New Statesman Prudence Farmer Award for her work, 'An Easter Garland'.

In 1984, Carol was awarded the Cholmondeley Award. This award is a special annual award for poetry, given to distinguished poets by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom.

In 1988, Carol was shortlisted for two awards once again. She was shortlisted for the Belfast Arts Award for Literature for her poem collection, 'Holding Pattern'. She was also shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize for the Best Single Poem for her poem, 'A Day In The Life of A Farmer Dream'.

Following this, in 2001 she received the fourth prize in the Cardiff International Poetry Competition for her poem 'Kings of the Playground', and a position in the National Poetry Competition for her poem, 'Stay in Touch'.

2002 marked her last award. Carol got shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize for the Best Single Poem.

What mainly influenced Carol Rumens writing?

Carol Rumens is considered to be one of the only women poets who has been inspired by various male poets and Philip Larkin, a famous English poet who died in 1985.

Although Carol was born in London, she had an affinity for the cultures of Central and Eastern Europe. Her biggest inspiration, however, was Philip Larkin, a poet who she adoringly referred to as 'The greatest musician of his generation'.

Philip Larkin's style was conversational yet formal, literary yet colloquial.

A very similar style can be seen in her first poetry collection, 'A Strange Girl in Bright Colors'.

Although Carol drew inspiration from Philip Larkin's characteristic writing style, she infused it with east European elements and imagery that can be traced back to the famous poet, Sylvia Plath. Carol's work was considered to be memorable and was described by poetry critic Gerard Woodward as complex, lengthy and rich while maintaining a colloquial tone of voice.

Carol Rumens found her biggest source of inspiration from foreign languages, cultures, and languages. For example, her collection 'Holding Pattern' has been inspired by her travels to Russia. She was so captivated by east European culture, that she famously translated various Russian books and literature to English.

The most common theme in her poetry is that of femininity and the domestic, local aspect of life. This has led her to write a number of extremely candid poems. Her later work was laced with political bias based on her opinion, which was considered to be unfortunate in the literary world.

Rumens signature was considered to be the way she would blend formal British culture with traditional European energy and history. Her intertwining of British literature and European history was considered quite unusual. This was evident in her work 'Outside Oswiecim' (1985), which has been described as 'Tackling the twentieth century's darkest hour with authority'.

Carols favorite poetry saying says that the person who writes the piece of poetry is above everyone because writing a verse requires an extraordinary alertness of your consciousness. Since she experienced this acceleration, she is not capable of throwing this chance of repeating this experience. The person becomes dependent as someone becomes dependent on alcohol.