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The Lyrical Architect

An in-depth academic exploration of Elizabeth Jennings's life, literary contributions, and enduring impact on 20th-century British poetry.

Her Life ๐Ÿ‘‡ Her Works ๐Ÿ“–

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Biography

Early Life and Education

Elizabeth Joan Jennings, born on July 18, 1926, in Skirbeck, Boston, Lincolnshire, England, was the younger daughter of Dr. Henry Cecil Jennings, a distinguished medical officer of health for Oxfordshire, and Helen Mary, nรฉe Turner. At the age of seven, her family relocated to Oxford, a city that would remain her lifelong home and profoundly influence her intellectual and spiritual development. She pursued her higher education at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she honed her literary sensibilities before embarking on her career as a poet.

Acknowledged Talent

Jennings's poetic talent was recognized early in her career. In 1955, her second poetry collection, A Way of Looking, earned her the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award. This accolade not only affirmed her burgeoning reputation but also provided the financial means for a transformative three-month sojourn in Rome. This experience proved to be a revelation, deepening her religious convictions and significantly enriching her imaginative landscape, elements that would subsequently permeate much of her poetic output.

Later Years and Legacy

Despite her significant literary achievements, Jennings faced considerable personal challenges, including periods of severe mental illness and financial hardship, which regrettably overshadowed her critical reception at times. She spent her later years in various temporary accommodations, including Unity House in Old Headington. Elizabeth Jennings passed away in a care home in Bampton, Oxfordshire, at the age of 75, on October 26, 2001. She is interred in Wolvercote Cemetery, Oxford, leaving behind a substantial body of work that continues to be studied and appreciated.

Poetic Journey

Early Publications and Influences

Elizabeth Jennings began publishing her poetry in various esteemed journals, including Oxford Poetry, New English Weekly, The Spectator, Outposts, and Poetry Review. However, her inaugural book of poems was not released until she reached the age of 27. She frequently cited a distinguished group of lyrical poets as her primary influences: Gerard Manley Hopkins, W. H. Auden, Robert Graves, and Edwin Muir. These poets' mastery of form and profound thematic concerns resonated deeply with Jennings, shaping her own distinctive voice.

The Roman Revelation

The Somerset Maugham Award, received for A Way of Looking (1955), was a pivotal moment, enabling Jennings to spend nearly three months in Rome. This period was not merely a travel experience but a profound spiritual and artistic awakening. The ancient city's rich history and spiritual resonance brought a new dimension to her Roman Catholic faith and ignited her imagination, leading to a deeper integration of religious themes and imagery into her subsequent poetry.

A Glimpse into Her Poetic World

It was a yellow voice, a high, shrill treble in the nursery
White always and high, I remember it so,
White cupboard, off-white table, mugs, dolls' faces
And I was four or five. The garden could have been
Miles away. We were taken down to the green
Asparagus beds, the cut lawn, and the smell of it
Comes each summer after rain when white returns. Our bird,
A canary called Peter, sang behind bars. The black and white cat
Curled and snoozed by the fire and danger was far away.

From "A Bird in the House"
in Collected Poems (Carcanet, 1987)

Jennings's poetry often evokes vivid sensory details and a contemplative mood, as exemplified in "A Bird in the House." This excerpt showcases her ability to weave together childhood memories with a sense of innocence and underlying introspection. The imagery of the nursery, the garden, and domestic animals creates a poignant tableau, hinting at themes of memory, confinement, and the passage of time, all rendered with her characteristic precision and lyrical grace.

Literary Style

Mastery of Form and Lyricism

Elizabeth Jennings is widely recognized for her adherence to traditional poetic forms and her exceptional lyrical quality, distinguishing her as a traditionalist rather than an innovator. Her verse is characterized by a remarkable simplicity of metre and rhyme, a stylistic choice she shared with contemporaries such as Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis, and Thom Gunn. This shared aesthetic positioned her within "The Movement," a significant group of English poets in the 1950s who advocated for clarity, restraint, and a return to formal structures in poetry.

Catholicism in Her Canon

A profound and deeply held Roman Catholicism permeated much of Jennings's work, serving as a foundational element of her thematic exploration. While her poetry was not explicitly autobiographical, she consistently affirmed that her personal experiences, including her struggles with mental illness, contributed significantly to the underlying themes. Her faith provided a lens through which she examined universal human experiences, often exploring themes of suffering, redemption, doubt, and spiritual yearning with remarkable candor and intellectual depth.

The Inward War

Jennings's poetry, while not overtly confessional, often delves into the complexities of the inner life. Her work reflects a keen awareness of psychological states, exploring the "inward war" of the human spirit. This introspection, coupled with her formal discipline, allowed her to articulate profound emotional and spiritual truths without resorting to sentimentality. Her ability to transmute personal struggle into universal artistic expression is a hallmark of her enduring appeal.

Challenges & Perception

Personal Struggles and Public Image

Elizabeth Jennings faced considerable difficulties in managing the practical aspects of her life and career. Her struggles with mental health and increasing impoverishment unfortunately contributed to a tarnishing of her critical reputation in certain circles. A particularly unfortunate incident occurred in 1992 when, upon being honored by the Queen, she appeared in a "knitted hat, duffle coat, and canvas shoes." This led to tabloid newspapers derisively labeling her "the bag-lady of the sonnets," a description that, regrettably, persisted and impacted public perception.

Reassessing Her Stature

Despite these public and personal challenges, a significant reassessment of Jennings's artistic stature has emerged. In 2018, Dana Gioia, a prominent poet and critic, offered a comprehensive review of her life and career. Gioia asserted that "Despite her worldly failures, her artistic career was a steady course of achievement. Jennings ranks among the finest British poets of the second half of the twentieth century. She is also England's best Catholic poet since Gerard Manley Hopkins." This critical perspective underscores her enduring importance in modern British literature.

Scholarly Biography

Further solidifying her place in literary history, the first biography of Elizabeth Jennings, titled Elizabeth Jennings: The Inward War by Dana Greene, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018. This scholarly work provides an in-depth examination of her life, her poetic development, and the complex interplay between her personal experiences and artistic output, offering valuable insights for students and scholars alike.

Honours

Selected Awards and Distinctions

Elizabeth Jennings received numerous accolades throughout her career, recognizing her significant contributions to poetry. These honours highlight her consistent artistic achievement and critical acclaim:

  • 1953: Arts Council of Great Britain Prize for Poems, her debut collection.
  • 1955: Somerset Maugham Award for A Way of Looking, a pivotal recognition that facilitated her transformative trip to Rome.
  • 1966: Richard Hillary Memorial Prize for The Mind has Mountains, acknowledging the profound psychological depth of her work.
  • 1987: W.H. Smith Literary Award for Collected Poems 1953โ€“1985, a testament to the cumulative impact of her extensive poetic output.
  • 1992: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), a significant national honour for her services to literature.
  • 2001: Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Durham University, recognizing the spiritual and theological dimensions often present in her poetry.

Publications

Poetry Collections

Jennings's extensive body of work includes numerous poetry collections, showcasing her consistent dedication to the craft:

  • Poems (1953)
  • A Way of Looking (1955)
  • A Sense of the World (1958)
  • Song For a Birth or a Death (1961)
  • Recoveries (1964)
  • The Mind has Mountains (1966)
  • The Secret Brother and Other Poems for Children (1966)
  • Collected Poems 1967 (1967)
  • The Animals' Arrival (1969)
  • Lucidities (1970)
  • Relationships (1972)
  • Growing Points (1975)
  • Consequently I Rejoice (1977)
  • After the Ark (1978)
  • Selected Poems (1979)
  • Winter Wind (1979)
  • Moments of Grace (1980)
  • Celebrations and Elegies (1982)
  • Extending the Territory (1985)
  • In Shakespeare's Company (1985)
  • Collected Poems 1953-1985 (1986)
  • An Oxford Cycle: Poems (1987)
  • Tributes (1989)
  • Times and Seasons (1992)
  • Familiar Spirits (1994)
  • In the Meantime (1996)
  • A Spell of Words: Selected Poems for Children (1997)
  • Praises (1998)
  • Timely Issues (2001)
  • New Collected Poems (2001)
  • Elizabeth Jennings: The Collected Poems (2012)
  • Father to Son: Poem (Undated)

Translations and Edited Anthologies

Beyond her original poetry, Jennings also contributed significantly through translations and by curating anthologies, demonstrating her broad literary engagement:

  • The Sonnets of Michelangelo (translated by Jennings, 1961; revised 1969, 2003)
  • The Batsford Book of Children's Verse (illustrated, 1958)
  • An Anthology of Modern Verse: 1940-1960 (1961)
  • Wuthering Heights and Selected Poems by Emily Brontรซ (1967)
  • A Choice of Christina Rossetti's Verse (1970)
  • The Batsford Book of Religious Verse (1981)
  • A Poet's Choice (1996)

Critical Works

Essays and Studies

Elizabeth Jennings also engaged in literary criticism, offering insightful perspectives on poetry and mystical experience:

  • "The Difficult Balance". London Magazine 6.9 (1959): 27โ€“30
  • "The Restoration of Symbols: The Poetry of David Gascoyne". Twentieth Century 165 (June 1959): 567โ€“577
  • Let's Have Some Poetry! (for children) (1960)
  • "Poetry and Mysticism: on re-reading Bremond". Dublin Review 234 (1960): 84โ€“91
  • "The Unity of Incarnation: a study of Gerard Manley Hopkins". Dublin Review 234 (1960): 170โ€“184
  • Every Changing Shape: Mystical Experience and the Making of Poems (1961; reprinted 1996)
  • Poetry Today (British Council and National British League) (1961)
  • "Emily Dickinson and the Poetry of the Inner Life". Review of English Literature 3.2 (April 1962): 78โ€“87
  • Frost (Robert Frost) (1964)
  • Christianity and Poetry (1965)
  • Reaching into Silence: a study of eight twentieth-century visionaries (1974)
  • Seven Men of Vision: an appreciation (1976)
  • "The State of Poetry". Agenda 27.3 (Autumn 1989): 40โ€“41

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References

References

  1.  Couzyn, Jeni (1985), Contemporary Women Poets. Bloodaxe, pp. 98รขย€ย“100.
A full list of references for this article are available at the Elizabeth Jennings (poet) Wikipedia page

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