His poetry – comic, magical, mischievous, mystical, spiritual (and spirited) by turns – has impressive technical skill, much learning lightly worn, and an unfailing instinct for coining an image or a turn of phrase. The war subtly infused much of his peacetime world and vision.Ĭausley’s writing has many tones: not just sombre or portentous. Others are a veteran’s musings, up to nearly 50 years on, about ‘aftermath’. Some recount evocative episodes, or sketch insightful portraits, from Causley’s six years of service. That haunted – and haunting – blend of reflections on comradeship, loss, anger, isolation, shame and obligation informs many of his poems drawing upon war in one way or another.

He published many collections for children as well as a short-story collection mainly about wartime experiences – Hands to Dance and Skylark (1951).

Other collections include Farewell, Aggie Weston (1951: see below), Union Street (1957), Johnny Alleluia (1961), Underneath the Water (1968), Secret Destinations (1984) and A Field of Vision (1988). Indeed, one early published collection (1953) was entitled Survivor’s Leave. The floodgates of his poetry and other writing only really opened after the war, in an ordinary civilian working life underpinned by naval experience, lore and language – as well as a powerful sense of ‘survivor’s guilt’. He was demobilised in 1946, chose to train as a teacher, and returned to teach in his old school for nearly 30 years.Ĭausley wrote only early drafts of some poems whilst in the Navy, publishing just one (although several short plays were broadcast and published in the 1930s). Rising to Petty Officer Coder, Causley joined the new carrier HMS Glory at Belfast, sailing to the Pacific.

Convoy escort duties took him to West Africa, and then Gibraltar, transferring to the shore base for service around the Med (where Eclipse later sank, with heavy losses). Thereafter, he was largely self-educated, working in ordinary jobs between until enlisting in 1940.Īfter training in Plymouth and Lincolnshire, he joined the destroyer HMS Eclipse at Scapa Flow as an Ordinary Seaman Coder. That war, that man, and his death understandably meant little to the boy – yet they came to affect the adult Causley deeply, especially post-war.īorn in Launceston in 1917, Causley attended the Cornish town’s ‘National School’ and Grammar schools. Additionally, he served in the Royal Navy, as a seaman, and came from a poor working-class background – the son of a Western Front survivor who died as a result of being gassed when his only child Charles was 7. Charles Causley was unusual amongst the first rank of poets who saw active service in the Second World War.

Charles causley poems list