Hunting the Unicorn , livre ebook

361

pages

English

Ebooks

2008

Écrit par
W. King Don

Publié par
The Kent State University Press

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361

pages

English

Ebooks

2008

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

The Kent State University Press

Date de parution

15 mai 2008

EAN13

9781612776118

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

A significant poet in her own right, Ruth Pitter has long deserved this biography, which thoughtfully assesses her place in the British poetic landscape. Popular in the United Kingdom from the early 1930s until her death in 1992, Pitter won the Hawthornden Prize for Literature in 1937 for A Trophy of Arms and was the first woman to win the Queen's Gold Medal for poetry in 1955. A working artisan from Chelsea, she lived through World War I and World War II and appeared often on BBC radio and television. Pitter had close relationships with C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Lord David Cecil, and other Inklings. Author Don W. King's exploration of these notable friendships brings a critical perspective to Pitter's remarkable life and work. Once she found her poetic voice, Pitter created work that is profound, amusing, and beautiful. The lyricism and accessibility of her poems reflect her personality-humorous, independent, brave, kind, stern, proud, and humble. King draws on Pitter's personal journals and letters to present this overview of her life and also offers a close, critical reading of Pitter's poetry, tracing her development as a poet. Hunting the Unicorn is the first treatment to discuss the entire body of Pitter's verse. It will appeal to scholars and general readers as it places Pitter into the overall context of twentieth-century British poetry and portrays a rather modest, hardworking woman who also "witnessed" the world through the lens of a gifted poet.

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Publié par

The Kent State University Press

Date de parution

15 mai 2008

EAN13

9781612776118

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Hunting the Unicorn

A Critical Biography of Ruth Pitter

�

Don W. King

�

Hunting the Unicorn

Ruth Pitter standing on a piling, looking off into the distance. Courtesy of Mary-Lou Legg.

Hunting the Unicorn

A Critical Biography of Ruth Pitter





Don W. King





The Kent State University Press Kent, Ohio

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data King, Don W.,1951– Hunting the unicorn : a critical biography of Ruth Pitter / Don W. King p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn978-0-87338-947-1(hardcover : alk. paper)∞ 1. Pitter, Ruth,1897–1992. 2. Poets, English—20th century—Biography. I. Title. pr6031.i7z75 2008 821'.912—dc22 [b]2008001511

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication data are available.

1211100908

54321

To Bethany, Rebecca, Nathan, and Joanna

Acknowledgments

Permissions

Introduction

Contents

1 The Growth of a Poet,1897–1920

2 Artisan Poet,1921–1931

3 Critical Acclaim,1932–1937

4 War Watches,1938–1941

5 Crossing Over,1942–1946

6 Friendship with C. S. Lewis,1947–1949

7 Lurking in the Undergrowth,1950–1953

8 Unexpected Turns,1954–1955

9 Public Figure,1956–1966

10 Flickering Fires,1967–1992

Notes

Bibliography

Index

xiii

112

141

162

195

222

250

275

319

335

Acknowledgments

This book began with a conversation and a mystery. When I was doing research for what eventually becameC. S. Lewis, Poet: The Impulse of His Poetic Legacy(Kent State University Press,2001), I spent many hours in Oxford at the Bodle-ian Library. One day while we were conversing, Judith Priestman, curator of the Bodleian’s literary manuscripts, told me that a biography of Ruth Pitter was long overdue. She pointed out that while feminist criticism had rehabilitated the work of many seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century female poets, those of the twentieth century had remained largely neglected, conspicu-ously so in the case of Pitter, the ﬁrst woman to win the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. Priestman argued Pitter was worth writing about on those grounds alone. I made a mental note of her point and decided to explore the possibility of writing a critical biography of Pitter after I ﬁnishedC. S. Lewis, Poet. This decision was afﬁrmed days later when I came across correspondence be-tween Lewis and Pitter about her admiration forPerelandra,the second book in his Ransom trilogy. Pitter had been so taken with the ending ofPerelandrathat she asked Lewis if she might compose poetic transcriptions of the ﬁnal pages as a mnemonic. He readily agreed, although he joked that he did not see why she wanted to waste her poetry on his prose. In subsequent letters between them I learned that she had done the poetic transcriptions. Since her transcriptions supported my essential contention inC. S. Lewis, Poet—that Lewis’s best poetry is found in his prose—I began a dogged search for the transcriptions. I wrote the Lewis estate, but they did not know where Pitter’s papers were located. I wrote Pitter’s publisher with similar results. I was stumped by the mystery. So when I returned to the Bodleian the following summer, I decided to ask if the library held Pitter’s papers. To my delight, I learned that her papers were indeed held by the Bodleian. My happiness was short lived. When I asked if I could review her papers, I was told I could not. Why, I asked. Because, I was told, Pitter’s papers had not been cataloged. When I explained why it was so important for me to look at her papers (of which there were at that time thirty-six boxes), I was given limited access to her papers. Since I was certain the transcriptions were in spiral note-books, I soon limited my search to three boxes. At the same time, my time at the

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