The Elizabeth Jennings Papers consists of correspondence, 1956-1968, bulking 1964-1968, including 100 postal and note cards from Elizabeth Jennings to Rugena Stanley, Oxford, during periods of mental stress, written from Spain and hospitals in England, and letters from Richard Church, Robert Conquest, Helen Lehmann, William Somerset Maugham, William Stanley Merwin, Edwin Muir, Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Edith Sitwell, Constantine Trypanis, John Wain, and Ciceley Veronica Wedgwood, discussing Miss Jennings' acceptance of the Somerset Maugham Award, 1956, her poetry, and invitations to dinners and club meetings, Several unsigned drafts of Jennings letters follow, including one in defense of Colin Wilson's Religion and the Rebel, one to the New Statesman concerning religious broadcasts on B.B.C., and one concerning a review of Let's have some poetry, 114 items. Poems, arranged alphabetically by title, are largely unpublished, with some appearing in Song for a birth or a death, Recoveries, The mind has mountains, and the New Poems section of Collected Poems, 1967, ca. 290 items. Essays, arranged alphabetically by title, discuss David Jones, Marianne Moore, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, poetry in the 1960's, Miss Jennings' experience in Rome, her mental illness, writing poetry, personal experiences; also included are Reflections or notes for a journal, notes for an essay and a script for the B.B.C, 9 items. Reviews, arranged alphabetically by author of the work reviewed, concern books by Thomas Gilby, Louis McNeice, O.A. Sherrard, R.S.Thomas, Catherine York, and the Penguin Book of Mystical Verse, 6 items. Notebooks, described in detail elsewhere in this register, are separated into four categories and arranged chronologically: 1, Personal notebooks, 1957-1965, 8 items; 2, Notebooks containing largely mss. of poetry, 1954-ca.1964, 6 items; 3, Notebooks containing essays and reviews, 1960-1966, 14 items; 4, notebooks containing mss. of books, 1958-ca.1965, 10 items. Miscellany contains a newspaper clipping and unidentified note sheets and a photograph, 4 items.
