Denis Glover, 1912–1980

Abstract

Denis James Matthews Glover, renowned in his day as a wit, war hero, boxer, sailor and legendary drinker, remains one of New Zealand’s best-loved and most anthologised poets. Yet he tended to deprecate his own efforts at verse, regarding his work on behalf of other writers – as a printer, typographer and publisher – as an altogether more significant achievement. The Caxton Press, founded by Glover in Christchurch in 1936, occupies a signal position in New Zealand literary history. In his fifteen years at Caxton, Glover directed a publishing programme of poetry, criticism and short fiction which did much to define ‘New Zealand literature’ both for its day, and for much of the rest of the century. From 1947, the Press also sustained Landfall magazine. Caxton publications were distinguished by their physical beauty, reflecting Glover’s passionate commitment to excellence in typography, design and production. His friend and fellow-poet Allen Curnow later commented that at Caxton, Glover ‘created and kept in being ... a centre which, under his care, did more than any other to help good writing in New Zealand and to raise publishing and book production standards.’ (Curnow Penguin 320).