Sitwell, Dame Edith Louisa 1887-1964
English poet

Born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, she was the sister of Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell. She had an unhappy childhood until her governess introduced her to music and literature, in particular the poetry of Algernon Charles Swinburne and the Symbolists. She first attracted notice when she edited an anthology of new poetry, Wheels (1916-21), and the first volume of her own poetry, Fa�ade (1923), with William Walton's music, was given a controversial public reading in London. It was followed by Bucolic Comedies (1923), The Sleeping Beauty (1924) and Elegy for Dead Fashion (1926), the last two written in an elegiac romantic style. The short poems of this romantic period are 'Colonel Fantock', 'Daphne', 'The Strawberry' and 'The Little Ghost who died for Love'. During World War II she denounced human cruelty in Street Songs (1942), Green Song (1944) and The Song of the Cold (1945). Other works include The English Eccentrics (1933), Victoria of England (1936), Fanfare of Elizabeth (1946) and The Queens and the Hive (1962). Her autobiography, Taken Care Of, was published posthumously in 1965.

Bibliography: V Glendinning, A Lion among the Unicorns (1981)