WRITINGS ANNA WICKHAM

by Anna; Smith Wickham

Book by ANNA WICKHAM

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Jee Koh]

The "Writings" consist of generous selections from Wickham's books of poems, Songs of John Oland, The Contemplative Quarry, The Little Old House, Richards' Shilling Selections, and Selected Poems. It also includes many unpublished poems, organized according to the poet's persistent themes. Wickham was a prolific poet, though in her earlier years she had to snatch time from managing her house. She believed in spontaneity and not in over-working the poems. As a result, the successful poems retain a winning freshness and directness, but more poems suffer from a lack of revision.The most significant work of the 7 prose pieces is Wickham's essay on D. H. Lawrence called "The Spirit of the Lawrence Women." Most memorable is a fragment of autobiography that conveys Anna's frankness admirably. In it she tries to explain herself by tracing the lives of her grandparents and parents, and they are fascinating, just as she is. The editor R.D. Smith wrote an interesting memoir of Anna, which includes a critical assessment of her poetry. Her son James Hepburns contributed a preface.