John Dudley YOUNG

JOHN DUDLEY YOUNG (Dudley) Died peacefully after a brief illness on October 19, 2021, in Colchester, U.K., at the age of 80. Born in the United States and raised in Toronto, Dudley was the son of the late Marjory Grant Glassco and Dudley Stewart Young. Dudley attended University of Toronto Schools, Neuchâtel Junior College, and Trinity College, the University of Toronto, completing an honours B.A. in 1963. Shortly after graduating, Dudley moved to England, beginning a Ph.D. on the poetry of W. B. Yeats at Peterhouse College, University of Cambridge. During his Cambridge years, Dudley rented a cottage in the village of Whittlesford on the River Cam. There he created a community of intellectuals and with great panache held court, establishing his reputation as a brilliant conversationalist, polemicist, and charismatic teacher. Dudley later switched from Cambridge to the University of Essex where he completed his Ph.D. and, in 1967, joined its Department of Literature. Turning his thesis into a monograph, Dudley published Out of Ireland: The Poetry of W. B. Yeats in 1976. In 1991, delving deeper into thoughts he had been developing over the years, he published his masterpiece, Origins of the Sacred: Ecstasies of Love and War. Drawing a vast historical panorama covering history, literature, mythology, and religion, he argued prophetically that western civilization had long lost its connection with its roots and with the soil, the earth and nature. Practicing what he preached, Dudley lived for many decades close to the soil at Church Farm, near the small town of Abberton, Essex, where he tended to his dogs, sheep, livestock, and magnificent rose bushes. Over the years, he wrote for the London Review of Books, the New York Times Book Review, and other publications. An inspiring teacher, he taught at the University of Essex for over 30 years. A funeral for Dudley will be held at the Church of St. Andrew, Abberton on Dec 1st at 11 am. Burial will follow in the church's graveyard.