ernest

LOC: Negative inscription says "Hermine Earnest"

Ernest Briggs (1905-1967), poet, broadcaster, and critic, was born on 24 January 1905 in Sydney. After his mother's death in 1908, Ernest was raised by his father. A small, frail child with a speech impediment (eventually cured through therapy), he spent much time on lonely bush ramblings; from his father, he gained a love of ballads and song, and of family and colonial history. In 1931 to join station 4BK, Brisbane. He was subsequently a general announcer, continuity manager, program director, feature writer, and publicity officer. Mobilized in the Militia on 6 February 1942, Briggs served as a clerk at New Guinea Force headquarters before being discharged medically unfit on 14 December in Brisbane. He published his first volume of poetry, The Merciless Beauty, in 1943: in it, he reflected on his early personal and mystical experiences which were to lead to his subsequent interest in theosophy, spiritualism, and the religions of the East. His brief term in New Guinea resulted in the powerful, concentrated emotionalism of The Death of the Hare (1949); its title was derived from Yeats. Briggs reverted to his childhood experiences when writing the meditative lyrics in The Secret Listener (1949) and published the third volume of poetry, The Timeless Flowers, in 1952. For his sequences on Yeats, The High Ascent, and Other Poems (1953), he was admitted to the Poetry Society of America. In 1961 and again in 1962 he was awarded the literature diploma of the Leonardo da Vinci Academy, Rome, for his contributions to international culture and understanding. As a music critic, Briggs wrote reviews for the Brisbane Courier-Mail, the Sunday Mail, and the music journal, Canon. He made a notable collection of historical recordings, specializing in vocal art and poetry. Of medium build, with small hands, a high forehead, and frizzy, ginger hair, Briggs had a light baritone voice. Despite a shy, other-worldly outlook, he impressed many people and was known for his spontaneous generosity. Briggs remained a bachelor. He died of myocardial infarction on 21 June 1967 in Brisbane and was cremated with Methodist forms. Source: adb.anu.edu.au/biography/briggs-ernest-9581

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