John Figueroa

John Joseph Maria Figueroa (4 August 1920 – 5 March 1999) was a Jamaican poet and educator. He played a significant role in the development of Anglophone Caribbean literature both as a poet and an anthologist. He contributed to the development of the University College of the West Indies as an early member of staff, and had a parallel career as a broadcaster, working for various media organizations including the BBC. He also taught in Jamaica, Britain, the United States, Nigeria and Puerto Rico.

Biography

Figueroa was born in Jamaica, the eldest of the 13 children (10 of whom survived infancy) of Blanche Maria Palomino and Rupert Aston Figueroa. He was educated at St George's College, and won a scholarship to attend the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, graduating in 1942. He then taught at St George's College and at Wolmer's School in Jamaica. Blue Mountain Peak, his first collection of poetry, appeared in 1944. In the words of Andrew Salkey, "The phrase 'cosmopolitan poet' does not really adequately describe him or the impact that he has had on Anglophone Caribbean poetry, but it certainly goes some way in defining a part of his concern in not being tagged as regional or provincial. This is so because he is absolutely free from national limitations." The influence of classical poets like Horace, Virgil and Sappho is balanced by his linguistic attention to Jamaican speech and Trinidadian calypso music.

Archives Figueroa's papers were donated by his daughter to the University of the West Indies at Mona and are housed in two collections: one at the UWI Archive, the other at the West Indies Collection at the Library.

Works Blue Mountain Peak: Poetry & Prose (privately published, Jamaica, 1944). Love Leaps Here (privately published, UK, 1962). Ignoring Hurts (Three Continents Press, Washington, 1976) The Chase: A Collection of Poems 1941–1989 (Peepal Tree Press, 1991) As editor: Caribbean Voices, vol. 1: Dreams and Visions (1966) and vol. 2, The Blue Horizons.