STEVIE SMITH

(1902-1971)

BIO

• Florence Margaret Smith

  • "Stevie" from jockey Steve Donoghue

  • when 20

• British

• Father:

  • left on North Sea patrol when young

• Mother:

  • died when teenager

• Raised by:

  • spinster aunt

  • “The Lion”

• Novel on Yellow Paper (1936)

  • unrest in England during WWI

• A Good Time Was Had by All (1937) poetry

  • STYLE:

    • serious themes in nursery rhyme structure

    • accompanied w/sketches

• worked as a secretary instead of college

• lived with her aunt

• GENRES:

  • novels, books of poetry,

  • books of drawings,

  • short stories, essays, reviews, letters
     

POETRY

• used nursery rhymes, popular songs, hymns

• used clever twists & witty verbal maneuvers

  • = fresh, funny, zany, immediate poems

  • (irony)

  • mischievous humor

• underlying preoccupation with death

• & fascination with grotesque & macabre

• often accompanied by her odd drawings/sketches

• *hidden social criticism amid humor

• "Frog Prince" (1937), "Not Waving but Drowning" (1957)

• INFLUENCES:

  • Brothers Grimm

  • Theology (staunch Church of England supporter)

  • Tennyson & Browning