Sitwell, Edith Louisa, Dame, 1887-1964

Edith Sitwell was born on September 7, 1887 in Scarborough, England to Sir George Reresby Sitwell, fourth Baronet, and Lady Ida Emily Augusta Denison. In 1913, one of her earliest poems, “Drowned Suns”, was published in The Daily Mirror. Three years later, Sitwell began editing Wheels, an anthology of new verse that sparked controversy among conservative critics. In the 1920s, Sitwell and her two brothers, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell, became known for their avant-garde literary work. Sitwell became truly famous in 1923, following a reading of her 1922 poem, Facade, during which she sat with her back to the audience, her voice muffled by the Sengerphone into which she spoke.

Sitwell published her first significant piece of prose in 1930, a biography of the English poet Alexander Pope. That same year, she published her Collected Poems. In 1933, Sitwell was awarded the Royal Society of Literature medal. She later received an honorary degree from the University of Leeds in 1947, and Durham University in 1949, and the honorary degree of doctor of letters from Oxford University in 1951. In 1954 she was made Dame of the British Empire. Sitwell converted to Catholicism in 1955, filling a spiritual void she had been experiencing for some time. She continued to publish, including an anthology collection, The Atlantic Book of British and American Poetry (1958) and her own poetry collection, The Outcasts (1962). Sitwell died in London on December 9, 1964.