Selected Poems

by Sylvia Townsend Warner, Claire Harman

Deals with myths, magic, love, the past, death, nature, religion, the mind, wishes, dreams, and parenthood

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Sylvia Townsend Warner was born at Harrow on the Hill, the only child of George Townsend Warner and his wife Eleanora (Nora) Hudleston. Her father was a house-master at Harrow School and was, for many years, associated with the prestigious Harrow History Prize which was renamed the Townsend Warner History Prize in his honor, after his death in 1916. As a child, Sylvia seemingly enjoyed an idyllic childhood in rural Devonshire, but was strongly affected by her father's death.

She moved to London and worked in a munitions factory at the outbreak of World War I. She was friendly with a number of the "Bright Young Things" of the 1920s. Her first major success was the novel Lolly Willowes. In 1923 Warner met T. F. Powys whose writing influenced her own and whose work she in turn encouraged. It was at T.F. Powys' house in 1930 that Warner first met Valentine Ackland, a young poet. The two women fell in love and settled at Frome Vauchurch in Dorset. Alarmed by the growing threat of fascism, they were active in the Communist Party of Great Britain, and visited Spain on behalf of the Red Cross during the Civil War. They lived together from 1930 until Ackland's death in 1969. Warner's political engagement continued for the rest of her life, even after her disillusionment with communism. She died on 1 May 1978.

Reviews

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was delighted when I spotted Sylvia Townsend Warner's Selected Poems on the shelves of my University library. I adore her prose, but had not previously ventured into her poetry, and was thus very excited to check the red-jacketed tome out. Claire Harman, Townsend Warner's biographer, writes in her afterword that the poems here have been arranged thematically rather than chronologically, and span a fifty-year period.

There are many miniature stories to be found within the pages of Selected Poems. Whilst a nice enough collection, Selected Poems was nowhere near as varied as I was expecting it to be. I found that it lacked the sparkle and playful wit which I have come to expect from Townsend Warner's books. There were no stanzas here which I liked enough to copy down, and there was a little too much written about religion for my personal liking. I shall have to sum up by saying that I found Selected Poems a little disappointing, and would have liked to see more about mythology and Medievalism in the collection.

[F · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Drawing you, heavy with sleep to lie closer,
Staying your poppy head upon my shoulder,
It was as though I pulled the glide
Of a full river to my side."

Some of these are breathtaking. Others, less so, or at least not to me. Some feel honest, raw and hurting, others take you to a fire side where a British witch tells you of medieval times. Townsend Warner doesn't have one style or one theme, she does whatever she goddamn well pleases, and for that, I will always hold her close to my heart.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

while nothing can hold a candle to the absolute brilliance of opus 7 i hugely enjoyed checking out stw’s other poetry.

[Marjorie Jensen]

A lovely collection. Some of my favorite poems in this book are: "Gloriana Dying," "Wish in Spring," "Awake for Love," "Drawing you, heavy with sleep..." and, of course, the "Farewell, I thought..." sonnet.