The constant themes of the great poet, Birth, Death, Pity and Indignation, the unity of life, the re-birth that is brought by Spring, and the necessity for choice that informs all sentient life, are the core of this collection of poems by Dr. Edith Sitwell. The poet's awareness of the atomic age into which mankind has emerged renders more poignant and moving her assurance of the spiritual pattern behind the material facades. She knows that: "...we live now in the age of the terrible Furies Changed into Butterflies, and of the Butterfly-weather, gilding the hopeless heart:" yet for her "Through the rough Ape-dust the gold fires of the spirit spring like the wild-beast fires upon the branches, The little and the great, The shadow of the crooked and the straight Complete each other." "Pitee renneth soone in gentil herte" and Dr. Sitwell makes articulate the anguish of men that no assembly can legislate away.

Author Biography

Edith Sitwell (1887-1964) was born into an aristocratic family and, along with her brothers, Osbert and Sacheverell, had a significant impact on the artistic life of the 20s. She encountered the work of the French symbolists, Rimbaud in particular, early in her writing life and became a champion of the modernist movement, editing six editions of the controversial magazine Wheels. She remained a crusading force against philistinism and conservatism throughout her life and her legacy lies as much in her unstinting support of other artists as it does in her own poetry.