Simon West (poet)

Simon West

Simon West ( born 1974) is an Australian poet. He is the author of two books of poetry and a translation and critical edition of the Italian poet Guido Cavalcanti.[1] He lives in Melbourne, where he works as a translator and Italianist.

Life

Simon West was born in Melbourne in 1974. He grew up in Melbourne and Shepparton. He was educated at the University of Melbourne where he received the chancellor’s prize in 2004 for his PhD in Italian Literature. He has lived for long periods in Turin and Rome and returns to Italy frequently. He was a lecturer in Italian studies 2007–2010 at Monash University, and he is now an honorary research fellow in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne. He is married with one daughter.[2]

Writing

West’s poetry, written to "scrutinize the actual world",[3] is characterised by the presence of both the Australian and Italian landscapes. For Barry Hill in The Weekend Australian "his poems invoke the mouthing of words, love affairs with vowels, a sense of the foreign word well digested. The mood of his Italian landscapes reminds me of the modem Italian poet Eugenio Montale, just as his two poems after Guido Cavalcanti, along with the imagist lyrics that follow, call up the figure of Ezra Pound, that passionate disciple of Italy." Later he writes, "West’s graphic power is wonderful, so that you feel, in all of his language moments, of this world."[4]

Martin Duwell in Australian Poetry Review has noted "a genuine fascination with the word, its sound, almost its taste in the mouth [and] that fascination continually alters the path of what might be, otherwise, predictable poems. The first poem in [First Names], 'Mushrooms' … demonstrates this theme of the tactility of language."[5]

Publications

Poetry

Anthologies

Critical edition with translations

Essays on poetry

Occasional reviews

Awards

Video

Simon West reads in the Keats–Shelley House, Rome, 21 July 2012.

References

  1. ↑ West, Simon (editor) (2009). The selected poetry of Guido Cavalcanti : a critical English edition. Leicester: Troubador. ISBN 9781906510725.
  2. ↑ Leonard, John (editor) (2011). Young Poets: An Australian Anthology. Melbourne: John Leonard Press. p. 111. ISBN 9780980852332.
  3. ↑ West, Simon. "The World is but a Word: or An Answer to the Question, What is your Poetry About?". So Long Bulletin September 2012. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  4. ↑ Hill, Barry (2007). "Lyrical Poet Attuned to Earth and Sky: review of First Names". The Weekend Australian (26–27 May, p.15). The Hill review is quoted in full in McKinley, Brian. "Review of First Names". Not Too Much. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  5. ↑ Duwell, Martin. "Review of First Names". Australian Poetry Review.
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