Collected Poems of Elinor Wylie

by Elinor Wylie

A compilation of 4 previously published collections and 47 additional poems arranged in chronological order to show the development of the poet's style

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

First published May 1, 1932

About the author

Elinor Morton Wylie, born Elinor Morton Hoyt, was an American poet and novelist.

She was the grandaughter of Henry M. Hoyt and a sister to Nancy Hoyt.

Reviews

[l · Rating 4 out of 5]

tbh some of the poems make my eyes glaze over (my own issue tbh) but I love her sharpness.

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wylie can bring a fine female wit to bear on love and life. But she often adopts a mannered aestheticism.

[actionbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the 1938 edition.

[Wanda Lea Brayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who couldn't love Elinor as much as Edna did?

[Daniel Klawitter · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some first-rate formal poems in this collection that have stood the test of time, but also many poems that come across now as a bit antiquated and clunky in their diction and that reach for rhymes that don't always land as effortlessly as they do in Wylie's best work. While she doesn't always rise to the lyrical and observational heights of, say, an Elizabeth Bishop or Marriane Moore, she remains an important poet whose poems deserve to be remembered and anthologized:

Now let no charitable hope
Confuse my mind with images
Of eagle and of antelope:
I am by nature none of these.

I was, being human, born alone;
I am, being woman, hard beset;
I live by squeezing from a stone
What little nourishment I get.

In masks outrageous and austere
The years go by in single file;
But none has merited my fear,
And none has quite escaped my smile.

[Ela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this collection at a vintage bookstore while visiting Jim Thorpe; it called to me! Elinor Wylie's writing brought to mind one of my favorites, Edna St. Vincent Millay, though I didn't realize they were contemporaries at the time, both actively writing during the 1920s. Wylie’s poetry carries a dark, mysterious vibe, woven with melancholic undertones and themes of life—and especially death. This became my poetry book of the summer, a companion for quiet moments on the patio, during a rainstorm, or a nighttime reading just before bed. I savored each poem slowly; Wylie's haunting words tend to linger...

My favorites from this collection were:

Wild Peaches
The Church-Bell
Bells in the Rain
Confession of Faith
Speed the Parting
Where, O, Where?
The Bird
Dark Mirror

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compared with the poetry of her contemporaries, Wylie’s work seems more comfortable among the British Romantics, who preferred stilted, archaic diction; the formalization of feeling; rhyming and measured meters; and formal structures, such as the corseted sonnet—or perhaps even the metaphysical poets of the 17th-Century, who were so keen on intellectually complex poetry that explores the interplay between the physical and spiritual worlds.

Favorite poems:
ANGELS AND EARTHLY CREATURES
“Sonnet 7”
“Sonnet 8”
“Sonnet 18”
“Felo De Se”
“O Virtuous Light”
“The Lie”