Francis Warner

Francis Robert Le Plastrier Warner (21 October 1937 – 7 December 2021) was an English poet, playwright, musician, and scholar. Warner received early notice for his lyrical poetry but focused most of his later literary career on Agora, a cycle of plays that explore the development of Western culture up to the late 20th century. An Emeritus Fellow of St. Peter's College, Oxford, and Honorary Fellow of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. He was also a noted advocate for experimental theatre, leading attempts during the 1960s and 1970s to establish a Samuel Beckett Theatre for avant-garde theatre production in Oxford.

Early life and education

Warner was born in Bishopthorpe, Yorkshire, England, to Reverend Hugh Compton Warner and Nancy Le Plastrier Owen. After serving as vicar of Bishopthorpe from 1932 to 1938, Reverend Warner became vicar of St. Martin of Tours in Epsom in 1938, an incumbency he held until his resignation in 1950 to become education secretary of the Church of England Moral Welfare Council. Reverend Warner and his family lived in The Old Vicarage, Epsom, throughout World War II, Warner was educated at Christ's Hospital, London College of Music, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Whilst at Cambridge, Warner was C.S. Lewis's last graduate student. The elder Warner, who had become an honorary canon of Guildford Cathedral in 1948, died in London, age 51, after a long illness, on 1 July 1956. After retirement, he was elected Honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and emeritus Fellow of St Peter's College, Oxford.

Writing Warner produced several volumes of lyrical poetry early in his career and was honoured for his poetry as the recipient of the Messing Award (now known as the St. Louis Literary Award) in 1972 by the St. Louis University Library Associates. Warner began writing plays in the early 1970s, creating a body of theatrical work that would later be styled as the dramatic play cycle Agora. In addition to the plays in Agora, Warner continued writing poetry, publishing several volumes throughout his later literary years.

Early Poetry

Agora The dramatic cycle Agora encompasses the entirety of Warner's literary output as a dramatist. Consisting of 16 individual plays, loosely following a chronological order of action, Agora tracks the development of Western culture from ancient Greece to the present.

+ Agora: A Dramatic Epic Title Publication year Grouping Healing Nature – The Athens of Pericles 1988 none Virgil and Caesar 1993 Roman Trilogy Moving Reflections 1983 Roman Trilogy Light Shadows 1980 Roman Trilogy Byzantium 1990 none Living Creation – Medici Florence 1985 Europa Tetralogy King Francis I 1995 Europa Tetralogy Goethe's Weimar 1997 Europa Tetralogy Rembrandt's Mirror 2000 Europa Tetralogy A Conception of Love 1978 none Emblems 1972 Maquettes for the Requiem Troat 1972 Maquettes for the Requiem Lumen 1972 Maquettes for the Requiem Lying Figures 1972 Requiem Trilogy Killing Time 1976 Requiem Trilogy Meeting Ends 1974 Requiem Trilogy