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Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist. She won the
Cholmondeley Award
The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...
and was awarded the
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...
. A play, ''
Stevie'' by
Hugh Whitemore
Hugh John Whitemore (16 June 1936 – 17 July 2018) was an English playwright and screenwriter.
Biography
Whitemore studied for the stage at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he was taught by Peter Barkworth, then on the staff at RADA ...
, based on her life, was adapted into a
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
starring
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...
.
Life
Stevie Smith, born Florence Margaret Smith in
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...
, was the second daughter of Ethel and Charles Smith.
[(Couzyn, Jeni 1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p. 32.] She was called "Peggy" within her family, but acquired the name "Stevie" as a young woman when she was riding in the park with a friend who said that she reminded him of the jockey
Steve Donoghue.
Her father was a shipping agent, a business that he had inherited from his father. As the company and his marriage began to fall apart, he ran away to sea and Smith saw very little of him after that.
[Smith, Florence Margaret (Stevie) (1902–1971)](_blank)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Retrieved 22 March 2011 He appeared occasionally on 24-hour shore leave and sent very brief postcards ("Off to
Valparaiso, Love Daddy").
When Stevie Smith was three years old, she moved with her mother and sister to
Palmers Green
Palmers Green is a suburban area and electoral ward in North London, England, within the London Borough of Enfield. It is located within the N13 postcode district, around north of Charing Cross. It is home to the largest population of Greek Cy ...
in North London where she would live until her death in 1971.
She resented the fact that her father had abandoned his family. Later, when her mother became ill, her aunt Madge Spear (whom Smith called "The Lion Aunt") came to live with them, raised Smith and her elder sister Molly and became the most important person in Smith's life. Spear was a feminist who claimed to have "no patience" with men and, as Smith wrote, "she also had 'no patience' with Hitler". Smith and Molly, raised in a family of women, became attached to their own independence, in contrast to what Smith described as the typical Victorian family atmosphere of "father knows best".
When Smith was five, she developed tuberculous peritonitis and was sent to a sanatorium near
Broadstairs
Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of ...
, Kent, where she remained for three years.
[(Couzyn, Jeni 1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p. 33.] She related that her preoccupation with death began when she was seven, at a time when she was very distressed at being sent away from her mother.
Death and fear fascinated her and provide the subjects of many of her poems.
[(Couzyn, Jeni 1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p. 35.] Her mother died when Smith was 16.
When suffering from the depression to which she was subject all her life, Smith was so consoled by the thought of death as a release that, as she put it, she did not have to commit suicide. She wrote in several poems that death was "the only god who must come when he is called". Smith suffered throughout her life from an acute nervousness, described as a mix of shyness and intense sensitivity.
In the poem "A House of Mercy", she wrote of her childhood house in North London:
It was a house of female habitation,
Two ladies fair inhabited the house,
And they were brave. For although Fear knocked loud
Upon the door, and said he must come in,
They did not let him in.
Smith was educated at
Palmers Green High School and
North London Collegiate School
North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...
for Girls.
She spent the remainder of her life with her aunt, and worked as private secretary to Sir
Neville Pearson
Sir Neville Arthur Pearson, 2nd Baronet (13 February 1898 – 6 November 1982) was a British newspaper publisher.
Born in Frensham, Surrey, he was the son of the British newspaper magnate Sir C. Arthur and Dame Ethel (Fraser) Pearson. His fath ...
at
Newnes Publishing Company in London from 1923 to 1953. Despite her secluded life, she corresponded and socialised widely with other writers and creative artists, including
Elisabeth Lutyens
Agnes Elisabeth Lutyens, CBE (9 July 190614 April 1983) was an English composer.
Early life and education
Elisabeth Lutyens was born in London on 9 July 1906. She was one of the five children of Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964), a me ...
,
Sally Chilver,
Inez Holden
Beatrice Inez Lisette (Paget) Holden (21 November 1903 – 30 May 1974) was a British writer and Bohemian social figure and journalist, also known for her association with George Orwell. Born at Wellesbourne, Warwickshire to Wilfred Millington ...
,
Naomi Mitchison
Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison, Baroness Mitchison (; 1 November 1897 – 11 January 1999) was a Scottish novelist and poet. Often called a doyenne of Scottish literature, she wrote over 90 books of historical and science fiction, travel writin ...
,
Isobel English
June Guesdon Braybrooke (; 9 June 1920 – 30 May 1994), better known by her pen name Isobel English, was an English writer. Her best-known novel is '' Every Eye''. Fellow writer Stevie Smith called her tone "a voice of our times, ironical and i ...
and Anna Kallin.
After she retired from Sir Neville Pearson's service following a nervous breakdown she gave poetry readings and broadcasts on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
that gained her new friends and readers among a younger generation.
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, ''The ...
became a fan of her poetry and sent Smith a letter in 1962, describing herself as "a desperate Smith-addict." Plath expressed interest in meeting in person but took her own life soon after sending the letter.
Smith was described by her friends as being naive and selfish in some ways and formidably intelligent in others, having been raised by her aunt as both a spoiled child and a resolutely autonomous woman. Likewise, her political views vacillated between her aunt's
Toryism
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
and her friends' left-wing tendencies. Smith was celibate for most of her life, although she rejected the idea that she was lonely as a result, alleging that she had a number of intimate relationships with friends and family that kept her fulfilled. She never entirely abandoned or accepted the
High Church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
faith of her childhood, describing herself as a "lapsed atheist", and wrote sensitively about theological puzzles;
[(Couzyn, Jeni 1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p. 39.]"There is a God in whom I do not believe/Yet to this God my love stretches." Her 14-page essay of 1958, "The Necessity of Not Believing", concludes: "There is no reason to be sad, as some people are sad when they feel religion slipping off from them. There is no reason to be sad, it is a good thing." The essay was unveiled at a meeting of the Cambridge
Humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
Society.
Smith died of a brain tumour on 7 March 1971.
Her last collection, ''Scorpion and other Poems'' was published posthumously in 1972, and the ''Collected Poems'' followed in 1975. Three novels were republished and there was a successful play based on her life, ''
Stevie'', written by
Hugh Whitemore
Hugh John Whitemore (16 June 1936 – 17 July 2018) was an English playwright and screenwriter.
Biography
Whitemore studied for the stage at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he was taught by Peter Barkworth, then on the staff at RADA ...
. It was filmed in 1978 by Robert Enders and starred
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...
and
Mona Washbourne
Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film '' Stevie'' (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Gold ...
.
Fiction
Smith wrote three novels, the first of which, ''Novel on Yellow Paper'', was published in 1936. Apart from death, common subjects in her writing include loneliness; myth and legend; absurd vignettes, usually drawn from middle-class British life; war; human cruelty; and religion.
All her novels are lightly fictionalised accounts of her own life, which got her into trouble at times as people recognised themselves.
Smith said that two of the male characters in her last book are different aspects of
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
, who was close to Smith. There were rumours that they were lovers; he was married to his first wife at the time.
''Novel on Yellow Paper'' (Cape, 1936)
Smith's first novel is structured as the random typings of a bored secretary, Pompey. She plays word games, retells stories from classical and popular culture, remembers events from her childhood, gossips about her friends and describes her family, particularly her beloved Aunt. As with all Smith's novels, there is an early scene where the heroine expresses feelings and beliefs which she will later feel significant, although ambiguous, regret for. In ''Novel on Yellow Paper'' that belief is
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
, where she feels elation at being the "only Goy" at a Jewish party. This apparently throwaway scene acts as a timebomb, which detonates at the centre of the novel when Pompey visits Germany as the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s are gaining power. With horror, she acknowledges the continuity between her feeling "Hurray for being a Goy" at the party and the madness that is overtaking Germany. The German scenes stand out in the novel, but perhaps equally powerful is her dissection of failed love. She describes two unsuccessful relationships, first with the German Karl and then with the suburban Freddy. The final section of the novel describes with unusual clarity the intense pain of her break-up with Freddy.
''Over the Frontier'' (Cape, 1938)
Smith herself dismissed her second novel as a failed experiment, but its attempt to parody popular genre fiction to explore profound political issues now seems to anticipate post-modern fiction. If anti-Semitism was one of the key themes of ''Novel on Yellow Paper'', ''Over the Frontier'' is concerned with militarism. In particular, she asks how the necessity of fighting Fascism can be achieved without descending into the nationalism and dehumanisation that fascism represents. After a failed romance the heroine, Pompey, suffers a breakdown and is sent to Germany to recuperate. At this point the novel changes style radically, as Pompey becomes part of an adventure/spy yarn in the style of
John Buchan
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
After a brief legal career ...
or
Dornford Yates
Cecil William Mercer (7 August 1885 – 5 March 1960), known by his pen name Dornford Yates, was an English writer and novelist whose novels and short stories, some humorous (the ''Berry'' books), some Thriller (genre), thrillers (the ''Chandos ...
. As the novel becomes increasingly dreamlike, Pompey crosses over the frontier to become a spy and soldier. If her initial motives are idealistic, she becomes seduced by the intrigue and, ultimately, violence. The vision Smith offers is a bleak one: "Power and cruelty are the strengths of our lives, and only in their weakness is there love."
''The Holiday'' (Chapman and Hall, 1949)
Smith's final novel was her own favourite, and is her most fully realised. It is concerned with personal and political malaise in the immediate post-war period. Most of the characters are employed in the army or the civil service in post-war reconstruction, and its heroine, Celia, works for the Ministry as a cryptographer and propagandist. ''The Holiday'' describes a series of hopeless relationships. Celia and her cousin Caz are in love, but cannot pursue their affair since it is believed that, because of their parents' adultery, they are half-brother and half-sister. Celia's other cousin Tom is in love with her, Basil is love with Tom, Tom is estranged from his father, Celia's beloved Uncle Heber, who pines for a reconciliation; and Celia's best friend Tiny longs for the married Vera. These unhappy, futureless but intractable relationships are mirrored by the novel's political concerns. The unsustainability of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
and the uncertainty over Britain's post-war role are constant themes, and many of the characters discuss their personal and political concerns as if they were seamlessly linked. Caz is on leave from
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
and is deeply disillusioned, Tom goes mad during the war, and it is telling that the family scandal that blights Celia and Caz's lives took place in India. Just as Pompey's anti-Semitism is tested in ''Novel on Yellow Paper'', so Celia's traditional nationalism and sentimental support for colonialism are challenged throughout ''The Holiday''.
Poetry
Smith's first volume of poetry, the self-illustrated ''A Good Time Was Had By All'', was published in 1937 and established her as a poet. Soon her poems were found in periodicals. Her style was often very dark; her characters were perpetually saying "goodbye" to their friends or welcoming death. At the same time her work has an eerie levity and can be very funny though it is neither light nor whimsical. "Stevie Smith often uses the word 'peculiar' and it is the best word to describe her effects" (
Hermione Lee
Dame Hermione Lee, (born 29 February 1948) is a British biographer, literary critic and academic. She is a former President of Wolfson College, Oxford, and a former Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Pr ...
). She was never sentimental, undercutting any pathetic effects with the ruthless honesty of her humour.
"A good time was had by all" itself became a catch phrase, still occasionally used to this day. Smith said she got the phrase from parish magazines, where descriptions of church picnics often included this phrase. This saying has become so familiar that it is recognised even by those who are unaware of its origin. Variations appear in pop culture, including "
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles for their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written and composed primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
...
" by the Beatles.
Though her poems were remarkably consistent in tone and quality throughout her life, their subject matter changed over time, with less of the outrageous wit of her youth and more reflection on suffering, faith and the end of life. Her best-known poem is "
Not Waving but Drowning
"Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957, as part of a collection of the same title.Sternlicht, Sanford V.''Stevie Smith''. Twayne Publishers (1990) p. 63. The most famous of Smith's poems,Ho ...
". She was awarded the
Cholmondeley Award
The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...
for Poets in 1966 and won the Queen's Gold Medal for poetry in 1969.
She published nine volumes of poems in her lifetime (three more were released posthumously).
As an occasional work, Smith wrote the text of the coffee-table book ''Cats in Colour'' (1959), for which she wrote a humorous series of captions to photographs imagining the inner lives of cats.
Smith's poems have been the focus of writers and critics around the world. James Antoniou writes in ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' that her 'apparent innocence masks such fierce complexities, such ambition and startling originality, that many people baulk at her work', while
Michael Dirda
Michael Dirda (born 1948) is a book critic for the ''Washington Post''. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993.
Career
Having studied at Oberlin College for his undergraduate degree in 1970, Dirda took an M.A. in 1974 and ...
affirms in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' that, 'certainly, an outward charm is part of Smith's aesthetic strategy, though there’s nothing naive or whimsical beneath her surface.'
Carol Rumens
Carol Rumens FRSL (born 10 December 1944) is a British poet.
Life
Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill, South London. She won a scholarship to grammar school and later studied Philosophy at London University, but left before completing her ...
writes in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' that Smith 'skewered formality, though formally deft, and challenged, with a Victorian school marm's brisk tartness, the lingering shades of late-Victorian social hypocrisy.'
Works
Novels
*''Novel on Yellow Paper'' (Cape, 1936)
*''Over the Frontier'' (Cape 1938)
*''The Holiday'' (Chapman and Hall, 1949)
Poetry collections
* ''A Good Time Was Had By All'' (Cape, 1937)
* ''Tender Only to One'' (Cape, 1938)
* ''Mother, What Is Man?'' (Cape, 1942)
* ''Alone in the Woods'' (Cape, 1947)
* ''Harold's Leap'' (Cape, 1950)
* ''Not Waving but Drowning'' (Deutsch, 1957)
* ''Selected Poems'' (Longmans, 1962) includes 17 previously unpublished poems
* ''The Frog Prince'' (Longmans, 1966) includes 69 previously unpublished poems
* ''The Best Beast'' (Longmans, 1969)
* ''Two in One'' (Longmans, 1971) reprint of ''Selected Poems'' and ''The Frog Prince''
* ''Scorpion and Other Poems'' (Longmans, 1972)
* ''Collected Poems'' (Allen Lane, 1975)
* ''Selected Poems'' (Penguin, 1978)
* ''New Selected Poems of Stevie Smith'' (New Directions, 1988)
* '' Come on Come Back'' 1972
* ''The Collected Poems and Drawings of Stevie Smith'' (Faber and Faber, 2015)
* ''All the Poems of Stevie Smith'' (New Directions, 2016)
Other
* ''Some Are More Human Than Others: A Sketch-Book'' (
Gaberbocchus Press, 1958)
* ''Cats in Colour'' (Batsford, 1959)
* ''Me Again: Uncollected Writings of Stevie Smith'' (Virago, 1984)
* "The Necessity of Not Believing" (''Gemini'' No. 5, Spring 1958, Vol. 2, No. 1)
References
Further reading
''Stevie Smith and Authorship'' By William May Oxford University Press''Stevie Smith's Resistant Antics'' by Laura Severin, Univ of Wisconsin Press 1997
External links
Profiles
Smith Profile, poems and audio files at the Poetry Archive Retrieved 12 December 2010
Smith profile at Academy of American Poets Retrieved 12 December 2010
Smith profile at Poetry Foundation Poems and bibliography. Retrieved 12 December 2010
Archive
Retrieved 12 December 2010
*
ttp://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-002002620 Five autograph and typewritten poems by Stevie Smithat the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
. Retrieved 22 June 2020
The Stevie Smith Papersat Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved 12 December 2010
*
Works
Stevie Smith reading "Not Waving But Drowning" BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
(includes poem text and poet's photo). Retrieved 12 December 2010