Elizabeth Jennings

'The Inward War'

Dana Greene

The first biography of Elizabeth Jennings, one of the most popular, prolific, and widely anthologized lyric poets of the late twentieth century
Based on extensive archival research and interviews with Jennings's contemporaries
Accessible to scholars and general readers alike
Includes over twenty photographs of Jennings, her family, and places of importance

Elizabeth Jennings

'The Inward War'

Dana Greene

Description

Elizabeth Jennings was one of the most popular, prolific, and widely anthologized lyric poets in the second half of the twentieth century. This first biography, based on extensive archival research and interviews with Jennings's contemporaries, integrates her life and work and explores the 'inward war' the poet experienced as a result of her gender, religion, and mental fragility.

Originally associated with the Movement, Jennings was sui generis, believing poetry was 'communication' and 'communion.' She wrote of nature, friendship, childhood, religion, love, and art, endearing her to a wide audience. Yet lifelong depression, unbearable loneliness, unrelenting fears, poverty, and physical illness plagued her. These were exacerbated by her gender in a male-dominated literary world and an inherited Catholic worldview which initially inculcated guilt and shame. However, a tenacious drive to be a poet made her, 'the most unconditionally loved writer of her generation.'

Although her claim was that the poem is not the poet, her life is tracked in her voluminous published and unpublished poetry and prose. The themes of mental illness, the importance of place, the problems associated with being an unmarried woman artist, her relationship with literary mentors and younger poets, her non-feminist feminism, and her marginality and sympathy for the outcast are all explored. It was poetry which saved her; it helped her push back darkness and discover order in the midst of chaos. Poetry was her raison d'etre. It was her life.

Elizabeth Jennings

'The Inward War'

Dana Greene

PrologueDSFinding Elizabeth Jennings
1. Bliss
2. Oxford
3. A Saving Experience
4. Coming Up To Oxford
5. Breaking into Print
6. The Movement
7. Rome
8. Poetic Vocation
9. The Darkness
10. Breakdown
11. Writing in the Dark
12. As I Am
13. Interim
14. Revival
15. Grief's Surgery
16. Reprieve
17. Halcyon Days
18. National Acclaim
19. Dislocation
20. Assurance Beyond Midnight
21. EpilogueDSLife as Poetry, Poetry as Life
Notes
Bibliography

Elizabeth Jennings

'The Inward War'

Dana Greene

Author Information

Dana Greene, Dean Emerita, Oxford College, Emory University

Dana Greene is Dean Emerita of Oxford College of Emory University. An historian by training, she served on the faculty of St. Mary's College of Maryland for almost three decades. By craft she is a biographer, author of the lives of Evelyn Underhill, Maisie Ward, and Denise Levertov, and editor of four volumes of works by Evelyn Underhill, Lucretia Mott, and Olympia Brown.

Contributors:

Dana Greene, Oxford College, Emory University

Elizabeth Jennings

'The Inward War'

Dana Greene

Reviews and Awards

"Dana Greene's new biography fills a large gap in literary scholarship. She provides the first full account of the life of Elizabeth Jennings, a major woman poet who has been beloved by readers but neglected by critics. It is a superb book -- exactly the right length, thorough but never overlong. It tells the fascinating and often harrowing story of Jennings' troubled life and prolific writing, covering each stage of her complicated career. The book is a real achievement. Unlike so much scholarship, Greene has done something both new and necessary" -- Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and current California Poet Laureate

"[A] triumph, for several reasons. First, there's the covering of the ground so thoroughly -- the depth of the research, no stone left unturned, including absorbing that vast number of unpublished poems for their autobiographical significance. Then there's the mastery of making order and sense of so much material, all written elegantly and clearly: for instance, I like the way the relatively short chapters of near equal length become stepping stones on the journey, encouraging the reader to follow; and amongst the stylistic features that I noticed is a knack of following a longish sentence with a short one of snappy comment, sometimes bringing the reader up short. Beyond these matters, and because of the completeness of the investigative work, is the 'mere' feat of telling a compelling story out of a life of relatively little outward incident or glamour." -- Roger Pringle, Executive Director Emeritus, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

"A brilliant job. I read it solidly for two days and am still thinking about it. Knowing how difficult Elizabeth Jennings is as a subject, how much material there is, plus the sensitives, I don't think it could be better. I really enjoyed it." -- Dr Jane Dowson, De Montfort University, UK