thumb|right|Photograph of Griffiths taken by Tom Raworth.

Brian William Bransom Griffiths (20 August 1948 – 13 September 2007), known as Bill Griffiths, was a poet and Anglo-Saxon scholar associated with the British Poetry Revival.

Overview

Griffiths was born in Kingsbury, Middlesex, England. As a teenager, he became a Hells Angel; his experiences with bikers provided material for many early poems. From 1971, these poems were published in Poetry Review, under the editorship of Eric Mottram, and by Bob Cobbing's Writers Forum. He also collaborated on a number of performance poetry pieces with Cobbing and others.

Griffiths soon started his own imprint, Pirate Press, which published work by himself and other like-minded poets. In addition to Cobbing and other Writers Forum poets, Griffiths listed his early influences as Michael McClure, Muriel Rukeyser, John Keats, George Crabbe, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Old English poetry.

In 1987, he obtained a Ph.D. in Old English from King's College London. He published a number of editions and translations of Old English texts and authored Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic.

  • Durham and other sequences, West House Books, 2002
  • Ushabtis, Talus, 2001
  • A Book of Spilt Cities, Etruscan Books, Burkfastleigh 1999
  • Nomad Sense, Talus Editions, London, 1998
  • Etruscan Reader 5, Etruscan Books, Buckfastleigh, 1997
  • Rousseau and the Wicked, Invisible Books, London, 1996
  • TALISMAN No. 16 Fall 1996 Special Boston/U.K. Issue: a journal of contemporary poetry and poetics
  • Future Exiles, Paladin, 1992

References

  • Nomadics: Bill Griffiths (1948-2007) A tribute by poet Pierre Joris: this piece includes the opening section of Griffith's Cycles on Dover Borstal (1974), which Joris published in a magazine he edited in the early 1970s called "SIXPACK".
  • Death of poet and a scholar: Bill Griffiths an article from a British (Newcastle) paper "The Journal" (reprinted on Pierre Joris's blog).
  • Bill Griffiths (1948-2007) this "Cyber-tombeau" at Silliman's Blog by poet Ron Silliman includes comments, tributes, and links
  • Tribute by poet Bill Sherman
  • obituary at The Guardian: 22 September 2007 a piece by William Rowe
  • Raworth's cyber-tombeau for Griffiths extensive links, photos, and tributes to Griffith at British poet Tom Raworth's web page
  • Another tribute an obituary/memoir by friend John Muckle at PN Review
  • A History of the Solar System: Fragments of A History of the Solar System a mimeo of a work by Griffiths published by Writers Forum and Pirate Press (1978)