Edith Sitwell : the development of her religious imagery

Abstract

'I...watch the dark fields for a rebirth of faith and wonder.'

The history of the poetic career of Dame Edith Sitwell is the story of her growth and development. The one thing profoundly true of her is, as John Lehman once observed, that 'Above all, she has never remained set!' Indeed, the differences between her early Facade and her recent Canticle of the Rose have tempted some critics to consider them works by entirely different poets.