Description
Elizabeth Jennings was one of the most popular, prolific, and widely anthologized lyric poets in the second half of the twentieth century. This first biography, based on extensive archival research and interviews with Jennings's contemporaries, integrates her life and work and explores the 'inward war' the poet experienced as a result of her gender, religion, and mental fragility. Originally associated with the Movement, Jennings was sui generis, believing poetry was 'communication' and 'communion.' She wrote of nature, friendship, childhood, religion, love, and art, endearing her to a wide audience. Yet lifelong depression, unbearable loneliness, unrelenting fears, poverty, and physical illness plagued her. These were exacerbated by her gender in a male-dominated literary world and an inherited Catholic worldview which initially inculcated guilt and shame. However, a tenacious drive to be a poet made her, 'the most unconditionally loved writer of her generation.' Although her claim was that the poem is not the poet, her life is tracked in her voluminous published and unpublished poetry and prose. The themes of mental illness, the importance of place, the problems associated with being an unmarried woman artist, her relationship with literary mentors and younger poets, her non-feminist feminism, and her marginality and sympathy for the outcast are all explored. It was poetry which saved her; it helped her push back darkness and discover order in the midst of chaos. Poetry was her raison d'etre. It was her life.
About the Author
Dana Greene is Dean Emerita of Oxford College of Emory University. An historian by training, she served on the faculty of St. Mary's College of Maryland for almost three decades. By craft she is a biographer, author of the lives of Evelyn Underhill, Maisie Ward, and Denise Levertov, and editor of four volumes of works by Evelyn Underhill, Lucretia Mott, and Olympia Brown.
Reviews
This excellent biography coonets Jennings's work to the many important historical, political, and aesthetic concerns of the age. Recommended. * B. Wallenstein, CHOICE *
Greene ... has done much meticulous research in Jennings's unpublished papers and talked to many who knew her. * Hilary Davies, The Times Literary Supplement *
[Dana Greene] has performed herculean labour wading through not only the published, but the massively greater unpublished poetry and prose to produce this first biography of Jennings. So thorough and exhaustive is her research on this private, secretive, and even deceiving lady that it is not likely that anyone will surpass her in the foreseeable future. * Patrick Madigan, Heythrop Journal *
With 20 chapters and an epilogue, this is a major contribution to the appreciation of a poet that should both deepen understanding of her work and extraordinary achievement and introduce her to readers as yet barely acquainted with her. * Ann Loades, University of St Andrews, Theology *
Greene's book does full justice to Jennings' dedication to her art by showing how much it was nurtured and sustained by her Catholic faith [...] Greene is particularly perceptive about how Jennings's sense of religious and artistic vocation intertwined, a reality which few of her contemporary critics understood or respected [...] In Elizabeth Jennings: The "Inward War", Dana Greene has written an exemplary life of a praiseworthy poet by revealing not only the hidden artist in Jennings but the faithful pilgrim as well. * The Catholic World Report *
Greene is to be applauded for contributing to the posthumous reputation of Jennings's poetry and for bringing into stark focus the fascinating questions about the woman who produced it. * Peter Stanford, The Observer *
... attractively concise survey of Jennings' achievement [is] so engrossing... Greene's study makes an admirable introduction to the life and work of a significant figure in 20th century poetry. I think Jennings would have been gratified by it. * Francis Phillips, Catholic Herald *
Dana Greene is an assiduous biographer who seems to grow in affection for her subject during the course of writing... this is a fine book, which succeeds in prompting the reader to revisit those wonderful poems. * Sue Gaisford, The Tablet *
Greene's book is the impressive product of a considerable labour mining a large number of disparate sources... * Roger Kojecky, The Glass *
One must admire Greene's talent for organizing the disarray of Jenning's life into a cohesive narrative... There is much to celebrate in this biography... * A M Juster, LA Review of Books *
[A] triumph, for several reasons. First, there's the covering of the ground so thoroughly -- the depth of the research, no stone left unturned, including absorbing that vast number of unpublished poems for their autobiographical significance. Then there's the mastery of making order and sense of so much material, all written elegantly and clearly: for instance, I like the way the relatively short chapters of near equal length become stepping stones on the journey, encouraging the reader to follow; and amongst the stylistic features that I noticed is a knack of following a longish sentence with a short one of snappy comment, sometimes bringing the reader up short. Beyond these matters, and because of the completeness of the investigative work, is the 'mere' feat of telling a compelling story out of a life of relatively little outward incident or glamour. * Roger Pringle, Executive Director Emeritus, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust *
A brilliant job. I read it solidly for two days and am still thinking about it. Knowing how difficult Elizabeth Jennings is as a subject, how much material there is, plus the sensitives, I don't think it could be better. I really enjoyed it. * Dr Jane Dowson, De Montfort University, UK *
Dana Greene's new biography fills a large gap in literary scholarship. She provides the first full account of the life of Elizabeth Jennings, a major woman poet who has been beloved by readers but neglected by critics. It is a superb book -- exactly the right length, thorough but never overlong. It tells the fascinating and often harrowing story of Jennings' troubled life and prolific writing, covering each stage of her complicated career. The book is a real achievement. Unlike so much scholarship, Greene has done something both new and necessary * Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and current California Poet Laureate *
... a triumph, for several reasons. First, the covering of ground so thoroughly - the depth of the research, no stone left unturned... Then there's the mastery of making order and sense of so much material... The book has given me a much deeper appreciation of Elizabeth's character and work, and the relationship between them. * Roger Pringle, former Director of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198820840
Author Dana Greene
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 144mm * 22mm
About the Author
Dana Greene is Dean Emerita of Oxford College of Emory University. An historian by training, she served on the faculty of St. Mary's College of Maryland for almost three decades. By craft she is a biographer, author of the lives of Evelyn Underhill, Maisie Ward, and Denise Levertov, and editor of four volumes of works by Evelyn Underhill, Lucretia Mott, and Olympia Brown.
Reviews
This excellent biography coonets Jennings's work to the many important historical, political, and aesthetic concerns of the age. Recommended. * B. Wallenstein, CHOICE *
Greene ... has done much meticulous research in Jennings's unpublished papers and talked to many who knew her. * Hilary Davies, The Times Literary Supplement *
[Dana Greene] has performed herculean labour wading through not only the published, but the massively greater unpublished poetry and prose to produce this first biography of Jennings. So thorough and exhaustive is her research on this private, secretive, and even deceiving lady that it is not likely that anyone will surpass her in the foreseeable future. * Patrick Madigan, Heythrop Journal *
With 20 chapters and an epilogue, this is a major contribution to the appreciation of a poet that should both deepen understanding of her work and extraordinary achievement and introduce her to readers as yet barely acquainted with her. * Ann Loades, University of St Andrews, Theology *
Greene's book does full justice to Jennings' dedication to her art by showing how much it was nurtured and sustained by her Catholic faith [...] Greene is particularly perceptive about how Jennings's sense of religious and artistic vocation intertwined, a reality which few of her contemporary critics understood or respected [...] In Elizabeth Jennings: The "Inward War", Dana Greene has written an exemplary life of a praiseworthy poet by revealing not only the hidden artist in Jennings but the faithful pilgrim as well. * The Catholic World Report *
Greene is to be applauded for contributing to the posthumous reputation of Jennings's poetry and for bringing into stark focus the fascinating questions about the woman who produced it. * Peter Stanford, The Observer *
... attractively concise survey of Jennings' achievement [is] so engrossing... Greene's study makes an admirable introduction to the life and work of a significant figure in 20th century poetry. I think Jennings would have been gratified by it. * Francis Phillips, Catholic Herald *
Dana Greene is an assiduous biographer who seems to grow in affection for her subject during the course of writing... this is a fine book, which succeeds in prompting the reader to revisit those wonderful poems. * Sue Gaisford, The Tablet *
Greene's book is the impressive product of a considerable labour mining a large number of disparate sources... * Roger Kojecky, The Glass *
One must admire Greene's talent for organizing the disarray of Jenning's life into a cohesive narrative... There is much to celebrate in this biography... * A M Juster, LA Review of Books *
[A] triumph, for several reasons. First, there's the covering of the ground so thoroughly -- the depth of the research, no stone left unturned, including absorbing that vast number of unpublished poems for their autobiographical significance. Then there's the mastery of making order and sense of so much material, all written elegantly and clearly: for instance, I like the way the relatively short chapters of near equal length become stepping stones on the journey, encouraging the reader to follow; and amongst the stylistic features that I noticed is a knack of following a longish sentence with a short one of snappy comment, sometimes bringing the reader up short. Beyond these matters, and because of the completeness of the investigative work, is the 'mere' feat of telling a compelling story out of a life of relatively little outward incident or glamour. * Roger Pringle, Executive Director Emeritus, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust *
A brilliant job. I read it solidly for two days and am still thinking about it. Knowing how difficult Elizabeth Jennings is as a subject, how much material there is, plus the sensitives, I don't think it could be better. I really enjoyed it. * Dr Jane Dowson, De Montfort University, UK *
Dana Greene's new biography fills a large gap in literary scholarship. She provides the first full account of the life of Elizabeth Jennings, a major woman poet who has been beloved by readers but neglected by critics. It is a superb book -- exactly the right length, thorough but never overlong. It tells the fascinating and often harrowing story of Jennings' troubled life and prolific writing, covering each stage of her complicated career. The book is a real achievement. Unlike so much scholarship, Greene has done something both new and necessary * Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and current California Poet Laureate *
... a triumph, for several reasons. First, the covering of ground so thoroughly - the depth of the research, no stone left unturned... Then there's the mastery of making order and sense of so much material... The book has given me a much deeper appreciation of Elizabeth's character and work, and the relationship between them. * Roger Pringle, former Director of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198820840
Author Dana Greene
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 1g
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 144mm * 22mm
