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It traces his refusal to fight in the First World War on conscientious grounds, his literary beginnings in London and Paris, friendships across major modernist circles, and later spy duties for MI6 across Iran and the Middle East. The narrative follows his precarious finances, connections in Rapallo, RAF years, expulsion in 1951, and belated recognition in the 1960s.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-poet-as-spy-the-life-and-wild-times-of-basil-bunting/532889/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-poet-as-spy-the-life-and-wild-times-of-basil-bunting/532889.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"นรินทร์","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-10-09",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Who was Basil Bunting, and what fields did he work in?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Basil Bunting was a poet whose life included roles as a sea captain, music critic, RAF Squadron Leader, convict, correspondent, and a British intelligence agent specializing in the Middle East.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why was Bunting imprisoned during the First World War?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"He refused to serve in the army on conscientious grounds and was imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How did Bunting begin his intelligence work?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"He was posted to a squadron in Iran for RAF service after teaching himself ancient Persian, and his career as a spy for MI6 began 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SPY\n\nTHE LIFE AND WILD TIMES OF BASILBUNTING  \nHe was a man of many parts who had an amazing helter-skelter of a life.The author of Briggflatts,hailed as the greatest long poem produced inBritain since T.S.Eliot's Four Quartets,Basil Bunting(1900-85)wasalso a sea captain,a music critic,an RAF Squadron Leader,a convict,apolitical correspondent for The Times,a builder's labourer,and a Britishintelligence agent specializing in the Middle East.  \nHis life had dramatic ups and downs.After attending expensiveQuaker public schools,he was called up to serve in the army in the lastmonths of the First World War,but he refused,on conscientiousgrounds,and was imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs.On his release hewas for a while a student at the London School of Economics,butdropped out and tried to begin a literary career.He hung aroundFitzrovia,spending a good deal of time at the Fitzroy Tavern,and he alsocame to know members of the Bloomsbury Group,such as VirginiaWoolf,E.M.Forster and Roger Fry.  \nFinding scant success in London,he moved on in the early1920s to Paris,where he associated with writers and artists such asErnest Hemingway,Constantin Brancusi,Ford Madox Ford and EzraPound.When Pound went to live in Italy,Bunting followed him toRapallo and an important literary friendship developed.Returning toEngland for a while,Bunting became a concert reviewer.He also spenttime in the United States where he married a beautiful girl from EauClaire,Wisconsin.But continually he returned to Rapallo,where a gooddeal of his early poetry was produced.  \nAn extravagant man,he was usually short of money,despite thegenerous patronage of a wealthy American lady.To live more cheaply,heand his family moved in the mid-thirties to the Canary Islands.Here herecalled playing chess with the military governor of the islands,thefuture Fascist dictator General Francisco Franco.When the SecondWorld War began,Bunting decided he had no conscientious objectionsto fighting against Hitler and joined the RAF.For literary reasons,hehad taught himself ancient Persian,and so the Air Force posted him toa squadron in Iran.He was later sent to Egypt,the western desert ofNorth Africa,Italy and Normandy before returning to Iran,where hiscareer as a spy for MI6 began.  \nHe continued this work off and on until expelled by thenationalist leader Dr Mossadeq in 1951.Returning to England with hissecond wife,an Iranian teenager,Bunting,a man in his fifties,haddifficulties in finding work.He had to settle for lowly jobs onnewspapers in his native Northumberland.  \nBut then the sixties generation discovered his poetry.Theiradmiration stimulated him to return to writing and he producedBriggflats.Its immense success brought him eminence,and honourspoured in on him until the end of his life.He died at the age of eighty-five,and to the very last energetically pursued his interest in poetry,poetic theory,malt Scotch and young pretty girls  \nKeith Alldritt was educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School and StCatharine's College,Cambridge.He has taught at universities in Britain,Europe,the United States and Candada.He is a reviewer,novelist andthe author of influential critical books on George Orwell,the novels of  \nD.H.Lawrence,and the Four Quartets of T.S.Eliot.His most recentbook is a biography of W.B.Yeats.He divides his time between hishomes in North America and Lichfield,Staffordshire.He is a Fellow ofthe Royal Society of Literature.  \nCover photograph:Basil Bunting at Briggflats Meeting HousePhotograph by Jonathan Williams  \nBack of jacket:Basil Bunting in Rapallo,early 1930s  \nJacket design by Desmond Curran  \nAurum Press Limited25 Bedford AvenueLondon WC1B 3AT  \n| HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY   |  |\n| --- | --- |\n| LOCATION   | ML920BUNTING   |\n| AUTHOR   | ART个   |\n| Acc DATE   |  |\n\n# AS SPY\n\n# THE LIFE AND WILD TIMESOF BASIL BUNTING\n\nKEITH ALLDRITT  \nAURUM PRESS  \nFirst publi","cbCairaajUMnHluQ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairaajUMnHluQ","pdf",14518337,260,"English","# Basil Bunting: life and roles\n## War, refusal, and imprisonment\n## Literary circles in London and Paris\n## Rapallo, patrons, and the RAF\n## Intelligence work for MI6\n## Exile, late recognition, and legacy","[{\"question\":\"Who was Basil Bunting, and what fields did he work in?\",\"answer\":\"Basil Bunting was a poet whose life included roles as a sea captain, music critic, RAF Squadron Leader, convict, correspondent, and a British intelligence agent specializing in the Middle East.\"},{\"question\":\"Why was Bunting imprisoned during the First World War?\",\"answer\":\"He refused to serve in the army on conscientious grounds and was imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs.\"},{\"question\":\"How did Bunting begin his intelligence work?\",\"answer\":\"He was posted to a squadron in Iran for RAF service after teaching himself ancient Persian, and his career as a spy for MI6 began there.\"}]","The Poet as Spy - The Life and Wild Times of Basil Bunting | PDF",1791585722,400]