Donald Sidney-Fryer:
The Last of the Courtly Poets
Continuing the brilliant tradition of California Romantic Poetry whose luminaries include Ambrose Bierce, George Sterling and Clark Ashton Smith, the poet-author Donald Sidney-Fryer (b. 1934) also stands in the long shadow of that other Courtly Poet, Edmund Spenser (1552?-1599), author of the Elizabethan epic romance The Faerie Queene.
His major contribution in the poetic vein is his series of Songs and Sonnets Atlantean (first series, 1971; second series, 2003; third series, 2005), which uses the myth of Atlantis as a springboard for both art and artifice. The original poetry is presented under the multiform guise of translations from the Atlantean of Prince Atlantarion and the Renaissance French of Michel de Labretagne, supplemented in the first series by introduction and notes by premier Atlantologist Dr. Ibid Andor (1895-1990).
S. T. Joshi has called him "an assured master of many poetic forms. . . especially the alexandrine" who has "a vibrant, exotic imagination that vivifies realms of fantasy into living realities." Brian Stableford designates his Songs and Sonnets Atlantean "a brilliant achievement."
In addition to his original works, Donald Sidney-Fryer has translated important works of French poetry and poems-in-prose by Baudelaire, José-Maria de Heredia and Aloysius Bertrand (whose forgotten classic Gaspard de la Nuit was published by Black Coat Press in 2004).
In the realm of scholarship, Donald Sidney-Fryer's bio-bibliography of Clark Ashton Smith, Emperor of Dreams (1976), is the cornerstone of subsequent Smith studies. His earlier, seminal essay on Smith's life and work, "The Sorcerer Departs", has been revised and reissued, and his critical essay on "The Hashish Eater" provides important insights into this magnum opus of fantastic verse.
His public performances of works by Spenser, Baudelaire, Sterling and Smith along with his own poetry (whether a cappella or with self-accompaniment on lute), are intended both to pay homage to his masters and to practice the ancient craft of enchauntment. In this he amply succeeds -- and also demonstrates to the enchanted audience the true value of his own crystalline verse.
This website presents a selection of his published poems along with a bio-chronology, bibliography, webography, photos and other material relevant to The Last of the Courtly Poets.
A BioChronology of Donald Sidney-Fryer
A Bibliography of Donald Sidney-Fryer
Selected Poems by Donald Sidney-Fryer
Photos of Donald Sidney-Fryer
Donald Sidney-Fryer on the Web
Artwork by William Boddy.
[Bio] [Bibliography] [Poems] [Photos] [Webography]
Website design and content Copyright © 2006 by Alan Gullette except:
Poetry Copyright © 1971, 2003, 2006 by Donald Sidney-Fryer
Arwork by William Boddy Copyright © 2004 by William Boddy
Artwork by Don Herron Copyright © 1975, 2006 by Don Herron
Photography Copyright © 2006 by Donald Sidney-Fryer
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First posted: 4/24/2004
Last updated: 2/15/2006