230:, who admired her poetry and once said, according to his friend and biographer George Sayer, that if he was the kind of man who got married, he would have wanted to marry Ruth Pitter. In correspondence between the two, Lewis often critiqued her work and made suggestions. More often he invited her critique of his poems. Pitter is considered by many Lewis scholars to have had an effect on his writing in the 1940s and 1950s.
202:. Unlike the modernists, she rarely experiments with meter or verse form, nor does she explore modernist themes or offer critiques of modern English society. Instead, she works with familiar meters and verse forms, and her reluctance to alter her voice to follow in the modernist line explains in part why critics have overlooked her poetry. She is not trendy, avant-garde, nor, thankfully, impenetrable.
328:, but when the second war broke out, Lewis broadcast several times, and also published some little books (notably "The Screwtape Letters"), and I was fairly hooked. I came to know him personally, and he came here several times. Lewis's stories, so very entertaining but always about the war between good and evil, became a permanent part of my mental and spiritual equipment.
216:
Because of this, Pitter was frequently overlooked by critics of her day, and has only in recent years been seen as important: her reputation was helped by Larkin's respect for her poetry (he included four of her poems in
343:, nothing fancy I realize what a tremendous thing it is to take on, but I can't imagine turning back. It cancels a great many of one's miseries at once, of course: but it brings great liabilities, too.
99:
began. Pitter took work in a factory. After the war, she and O'Hara opened a small business painting trays. Pitter was skilful at the flower-painting used in both furniture and tray decorating.
339:
Did I tell you I'd taken to
Christianity? Yes, I went & got confirmed a year ago or more. I was driven to it by the pull of C. S. Lewis and the push of misery. Straight prayer book
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Later, Pitter and her lifelong good friend, Kathleen O'Hara, operated Deane and
Forester, a small firm that specialised in decorative, painted furniture. The business closed when
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She went on to publish 18 volumes of new and collected verse over a 70-year career as a published poet. Many of her volumes met with some critical and financial success.
301:(New York: Norton, 1996 ), where her "The Military Harpist," "The Irish Patriarch," "Old Nelly's Birthday," and "Yorkshire Wife's Saga" appear (pp. 1573â77).
120:
Pitter began writing poetry early in life under the influence of her schoolteacher parents. In 1920, she published her first book of poetry with the help of
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64:; 1869â1941), both assistant teachers in the East End of London. She grew up in "poor surroundings", but "her childhood was transfigured" by discovering
68:, which she considered "magical". Her birth certificate reports her given name simply as "Ruth." She was educated at the Coborn School, Bow.
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92:, and later helped Orwell find lodgings in London in 1927, taking a vague interest in his writing, of which she was generally critical.
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283:(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), where her "The Diehards" and "Other People's Glasshouses" appear (pp. 236â41).
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in 1955, and was appointed CBE in 1979 to honour her many contributions to
English literature. In 1974, she was named a "
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Pitter was a traditionalist poet; she avoided most of the experimentations of modern verse and preferred the
311:, ed. Paul Keegan (London: Allen Lane, Penguin Press, 2000), where her "But for Lust" appears (p. 962).
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The anatomy of a friendship: the correspondence of Ruth Pitter and C. S. Lewis, 1946â1962
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The anatomy of a friendship: the correspondence of Ruth Pitter and C. S. Lewis, 1946â1962
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As to my faith, I owe it to C. S. Lewis. For much of my life I lived more or less as a
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263:, 1987), where her "The Sparrow's Skull" and "Morning Glory" appear (pp. 77â78).
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once remarked that Pitter was one of the most original and moving poets then living.
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schemes of the 19th century. One critic has described her and her poetry thus:
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radio programmes, and from 1956 to 1960 she appeared regularly on the BBC's
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from 1915 to 1917, later working as a painter at a furniture company in
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Pitter's work continues to be published in anthologies, including:
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Ruth Pitter, BBC Overseas
Service broadcast, 3 January 1956.
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Letter, Ruth Pitter to Nettle Palmer, dated 1 January 1948.
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Anthology of
Literature by Women: The Traditions in English
30:(7 November 1897 â 29 February 1992) was a British poet.
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Hunting the
Unicorn: A Critical Biography of Ruth Pitter
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also appreciated Pitter's work and praised her poetry.
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Letter, Ruth Pitter to Andrew Nye, dated 18 May 1985.
456:. London: Barrie & Rockliff/Cresset Press, 1968.
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Pitter described her spiritual debt to C. S. Lewis:
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Recent project to write two books on Pitter's life.
584:(online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004.
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220:The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse
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267:More Poetry Please! 100 Popular Poems from the
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490:. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2014.
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575:"The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
524:"The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
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462:. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1975.
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408:. Southampton: Shirley Press, 1943.
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468:. London: Enitharmon Press, 1987.
388:A Trophy of Arms: Poems 1926â1935
613:, third series (1938), p. xxvii.
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269:BBC Radio 4
228:C. S. Lewis
196:W. B. Yeats
176:W. H. Auden
168:T. S. Eliot
20:Ruth Pitter
684:Categories
600:required.)
549:required.)
436:The Bridge
368:. London:
172:Ezra Pound
140:The Ermine
78:War Office
271:Programme
259:(London:
239:Thom Gunn
146:, 1953).
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305:The New
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372:, 1927.
307:Penguin
82:Suffolk
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424:Urania
289:Norton
279:, ed.
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72:Career
55:Ilford
495:Notes
160:rhyme
156:meter
434:and
406:Poem
297:and
287:The
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