HOBSBAUM, Philip 1932-2005

(Philip Dennis Hobsbaum)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born June 29, 1932, in London, England; died of complications from diabetes, June 28, 2005, in Glasgow, Scotland. Educator and author. A professor emeritus at Glasgow University, Hobsbaum was a poet who was even better known for establishing writing seminars throughout the United Kingdom that inspired such authors as Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. Interested in both literature and music, he attended Downing College, Cambridge, to earn a B.A. in 1955 and an M.A. in 1961; he also completed licentiates at the Royal Academy of Music in 1956 and the Guildhall School of Music in 1957. Hobsbaum finished his formal education at Sheffield University, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1968. After teaching at Queen's University in Belfast for several years, he joined the University of Glasgow faculty in 1966 as a lecturer in English. He rose to the post of full professor of English literature there in 1995, retiring two years later, although he continued to be involved at the university as a research fellow. As a poet, Hobsbaum published several collections that were well reviewed in both Europe and the United States. Among these are In Retreat, and Other Poems (1966), Coming out Fighting (1969), and Women and Animals (1972). In later years, he focused more on textbooks and other scholarly works, such as A Reader's Guide to Charles Dickens (1972) and Metre, Rhythm, and Verse Form (1996). He was most appreciated by his fellow and aspiring poets, however, for establishing seminars for writers in Glasgow, Belfast, London, and Cambridge.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, July 2, 2005, p. B14.

Times (London, England), July 6, 2005, p. 58.