Poet and biographer. Born at Scarborough into the aristocracy. 6-foot tall, with elongated features she added to the effect with her exuberant flowing and ornate clothing. Her poetry was avant garde and concerned with musicality. Her performance of Façade in 1923 has been described as early white rap or like a "happening" from the 60s, and attracted the same response - bemusement. Noel Coward's review caused her to refuse to speak to him for 40 years. But she gradually gained respect and, when she and her brother Osbert toured America they were a great success, especially with the stars in Hollywood. She was early to promote the work of Dylan Thomas. In WW2 she contributed to the war effort by knitting clothes for friends in the forces, including Alec Guinness.
Died, unmarried at St Thomas's Hospital. Her nephew, Francis, was her literary executor.
There is a wonderful 1943 portrait of her by Wyndham Lewis.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Dame Edith Sitwell
Commemorated ati
Edith Sitwell
English Heritage Dame Edith Sitwell, 1887 - 1964, poet lived here in Flat 42.
Virtues - Sixth Sense
Edith Sitwell reads a book while blithely crossing a chasm on a bridge made o...
Other Subjects
Sylvia Plath
Poet, novelist and short story writer. Born Massachusetts. Came to England and met Ted Hughes at a celebration for a poetry magazine in Cambridge. Married him on 16 June 1956 at St George the Marty...
Charles Morgan
Playwright, novelist and critic. Born Bromley, Kent, son of the engineer Sir Charles Langbridge Morgan. Died at the house with the plaque.
George Eliot
Novelist. Born Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire. Pen name of Mary Ann (or Marian) Evans. Spent her first 21 years on a farm, now (2015) the Griff House Beefeater Grill restaurant on the Coventry Road...
Brendan Behan
Poet, writer, playwright. Born Dublin. Irish republican and, aged 16 - 23, volunteer in the IRA. He once described himself as a "a drinker with a writing problem". Collapsed in a Dublin bar and die...
Oliver Goldsmith
Author. Born Co. Longford, Ireland (though it could have been County Roscommon, and for his date of birth we have only his word). Arrived in London in 1760 and joined the literary group that inclu...
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