John Bayliss (1919- 2008)

                     A Forgotten Poet of World War 2                                      
                                  

A pillbox in Northumberland Avenue in London, with Nelson's Column visible in the background, 19 June 1945

Courtesy of Creative Commons Licence 

              I first came across the work of John Bayliss from looking at Andrew Sinclair 'The War of the Wasp- The Lost Decade of the Forties'  (1989). The book's title came from a John Bayliss poem 'Epilogue : Testament and Prophecy' .

                 "And  I say to you who have seen
                 war like a wasp under a warm apple
                 rise and sting the unwary
                 that its breed shall multiply
                 and fill the air with wings, and dapple
                 disaster on the bright sky,
                and worse things shall be than have been.

                  But there shall yet be  better "

RAF serving John Bayliss is probably most known for his poem Reported Missing.

             Born in October 1919, educated at St. Catherine College Cambridge. John Bayliss' poetry was already widely published in magazines such as (Modern Reading, The Providence Journal, Poetry London, Lyra ) by 1943- the year that 'Indications', a joint poetry collection featuring John Bayliss, James Kirkup and John Ormond Thomas was published by Grey Walls Press. Bayliss was also an accomplished literary editor before joining up in 1943.

John Bayliss also co-edited an anthology with Alex Comfort ( poet, writer, and pacifist) titled 'New Road' .
A review can be found in The Spectator Archives  Whilst in 1944, John Bayliss' poetry collection 'The White Knight and other Poems' was published Fortune Press.

A particular favourite of mine is 'Sonnet' , just sums perfectly the vulnerability of a town or city from bombing as in to 'bear the flame' . Time or the weathering of the climate can not diminish them, but an enemy out to avenge a bombing raid can.

               SONNET

          .....And all the lovely towns that lie in darkness,
               carved by their statuary of spire and wall,
              betrayed by tower or winding terraces,
              white road and whiter waterfall;
              what must there fear, who did not fear the spoil
              and spell of Time, whom winter did not tame
             with blade of frost,-shall these now bear the flame
              because an alien town has suffered first?


             So was it ever with the beauty made
             to stir and breathe by man. His creatures fade
             even in their imagining.
            And now the darkness breaks into a thing
            of fire, and bell in burning tower
             sounds birth and death with one far ringing."


From 'I Burn for England- and anthology of the poetry of World War II' Selected and Introduced by Charles Hamblett. ( 1966). Finally, from the same anthology, the only war poem that I can think of that mentions Tarot cards,- John Bayliss' -An Old Photograph'

             "See what rewards the Tarot send;-
              these children playing in the sand
              have met their deaths by water of
             under the moon in the dark air
             on deserts where steel dragons stood
             triumphant in the angel's stead.

             For this one found his castles were
             no counter to the waves of war,
             and fever took this one and made
             the salt sea water drive him mad,
             and this one died a falling dream
             beside a friendly aerodrome;

            One photograph, three graveless men,
             the Tarot pack, All Hallows moon. "
       
       Possibly inspired by T.S.Elliot's 'The Wasteland' and its several  references to the Tarot.
     
       

            Current  projects 

Currently working on 17th century war and literature blog A Burnt Ship

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