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Sebastian Smart Barker FRSL (16 April 1945 – 31 January 2014) was a British poet notable for a visionary manner that has been compared to William Blake in its use of the long ecstatic line and its "ability to write lyric poetry which used simple words to encapsulate profound meanings".
Sebastian Barker (1945–2014) was the author of many books of poetry and editor of The London Magazine. An ex-chairman of the Poetry Society, he was a director of several literary festivals, including the Royal Berkshire Poetry Festival, and held various writer-in-residence positions; he was the recipient of awards from the Arts Council, the ...
An early autobiographical poem, ‘Lines for My Unborn Son’, contains the memorable line: ‘Each life’s a glass that’s rubbed enough to sing’. Glasses (usually holding wine, usually in the evening, usually in a garden) are plen- tiful in Sebastian Barker’s poetry.
Sebastian Barker (1945-2014): ‘A Labour of Intense Devotion’. As many people will know, the poet Sebastian Barker died on 31 January. Sebastian was a splendid character, a real individual and a delightful person to spend time with. We’d known each other for many years, though only meeting at fairly long intervals.
His father George Barker was an important poet from the 1930s, and a notorious roustabout into the bargain: Sebastian remembers as a small boy in London romping behind the bar at Muriel...
- Michael Glover
Sebastian Barker was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997. He was also chairman of the Poetry Society (1988–92) and editor of the London Magazine (2002–08). He worked as a writer-in-residence, judged poetry and writing competitions, founded and directed literature festivals, and served as an executive for English Pen.
In the Heart of Hackney, Sebastian Barker ‘Behold, a swan. Ten houseboats on the Lee. A cyclist on the towpath. Gentle rain.’
