Susan Miles was the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Ursula Wyllie Roberts (1887–1975).

Biography

She was born at

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, where her father was in the British military. He was Lieutenant-Colonel Robert John Humphrey Wyllie and her mother was Emily Titcomb. Under her own name, she wrote a pamphlet ''The Cause of Purity and Women's Suffrage'' which was published by the

Church League for Women's Suffrage The Church League for Women's Suffrage (CLWS) was an organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom. The league was started in London, but by 1913 it had branches across England, in Wales and Scotland and Ireland. Aims an ...

in 1912. As Susan Miles, she published several slim volumes of poetry: ''Dunch'' (1918), ''Annotations'' (1922), ''Little Mirrors'' (1923?), ''The Hares'' (1924), ''News! News!'' (1943?), ''Rainbows'' (1962), ''A Morsel of Gold'' (1962) and ''Epigrams and Jingles'' (1962) as well as the more famous novel in verse ''Lettice Delmer'' (1958, reprinted by

Persephone Books ''Persephone Books'' is an independent publisher based in Bath, England. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone Books reprints works largely by women writers of the late 19th and 20th century, though a few books by men are included. Th ...

in 2002), two other novels (''Blind Men Crossing a Bridge'' (1934) and ''Rabboni'' (1942)) and a biography of her husband, Rev. William Corbett Roberts, ''Portrait of a Parson'' (1955). ''Dunch'' was sufficiently significant to earn her a reasonably positive mention in

Harold Monro Harold Edward Monro (14 March 1879 – 16 March 1932) was an English poet born in Brussels, Belgium. As the proprietor of the Poetry Bookshop in London, he helped many poets to bring their work before the public. Life and career Monro was born ...

's often unforgiving ''Some Contemporary Poets (1920)'' and

Herbert Palmer Herbert Palmer may refer to: *Herbert Palmer (Puritan) (1601–1647), Puritan writer * Herbert James Palmer (1851–1939), Canadian politician, Premier of Prince Edward Island *Herbert Richmond Palmer (1877–1958), British colonial governor *Herb ...

described her as "One fthe most original" in the chapter on Women Poets in his 1938 study of post-Victorian poetry. She also edited ''Childhood in Verse and Prose'' (1923) and ''An Anthology of Youth in Verse and Prose'' (1925).Miles, S., 1925. "An Anthology of Youth in Verse and Prose", London: John Lane, The Bodley Head.

References

External links

Author profile
at Persephone Books

at Persephone Books
Susan Miles correspondence
at Senate House Library, University of London {{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Susan 1887 births 1975 deaths English women poets 20th-century English poets 20th-century English women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers People from Meerut British people in colonial India

Biography

References

Further reading

External links