The work of the poet Maurice Rutherford, who has died aged 103, ranges from love poems and elegies for his late wife to friendly, witty, but sometimes politically trenchant responses to poems by Philip Larkin, and demonstrates that a poet can be a master of language and form without compromising the authentic voice of working-class experience.
It was not until he was in his 50s that, during a 10-year period of voluntary service with the Samaritans, Maurice first tried his hand at verse. As a branch publicity officer, one of his tasks was the monthly production of an in-house newsletter, and he decided to print, anonymously, a comic anecdote in verse form. When he asked a colleague who was a grammar school teacher what he thought of the contributor’s effort, the answer was dismissive: it did not rhyme or scan! Maurice decided to take up the challenge.
