Edith Sitwell
(1887-1964), PoetDame Edith Sitwell
Sitter in 56 portraits
Sitwell's first volume of poems, The Mother, was published in 1915. In collaboration with Osbert, she wrote Twentieth Century Harlequinade (1916). Her early work was characterised by marked stylisation, striking images and unconventional rhythms. As editor of the poetry anthology Wheels (1916-21), she encouraged modernist writers and attracted critical attention. Façade, her poem set to William Walton's music, established her reputation. Her best-known work includes Gold Coast Customs (1929) and English Eccentrics (1933). Four wartime volumes, including Street Songs (1942) and The Shadow of Cain (1947), were inspired by the blitz and the atom bomb.
Explore the portrait of Edith Sitwell by Maurice Lambert (NPG 5801) from all angles
Related People
- William Henry Forester Denison, 1st Earl of Londesborough (grandfather)
- Edith Frances Wilhelmina (née Somerset), Countess of Londesborough (grandmother)
- Lady Ida Emily Augusta Sitwell (née Denison) (mother)
- Francis Trajan Sitwell (nephew)
- Sir (Francis) Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Bt (brother)
- Sir (Sacheverell) Reresby Sitwell, 7th Bt (nephew)
- Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, 6th Bt (brother)
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