Sitwell

Sit·well

S0439700 (sĭt′wĕl′, -wəl) Family of British writers, including Dame Edith Sitwell (1887-1964), whose experimental poetry is collected in volumes such as Clowns' Houses (1918) and Music and Ceremonies (1963). Her brother Sir Osbert (1892-1969) is known especially for his five-volume autobiography (1944-1950). Their younger brother Sacheverell (1897-1988) wrote several volumes of poetry, including Agamemnon's Tomb (1972).

Sitwell

(ˈsɪtwəl) n1. (Biography) Dame Edith. 1887–1964, English poet and critic, noted esp for her collection Façade (1922)2. (Biography) her brother, Sir Osbert. 1892–1969, English writer, best known for his five autobiographical books (1944–50)3. (Biography) his brother, Sir Sacheverell (səˈʃɛvərəl). 1897–1988, English poet and writer of books on art, architecture, music, and travel

Sit•well

(ˈsɪt wəl, -wɛl)

n. 1. Dame Edith, 1887–1964, English poet and critic. 2. her brother, Sir Osbert, 1892–1969, English poet and novelist. 3. her brother, Sir Sacheverell, 1897–1988, English poet and novelist.

Thesaurus

Noun

Sitwell - English poet (1887-1964)Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell, Dame Edith Sitwell

Sitwell

Sitwell,

English literary family, one of the most celebrated literary families of the 20th cent. Its members included Dame Edith Sitwell, 1887–1964, English poet and critic, Sir Osbert Sitwell, 1892–1969, English author, and Sir Sacheverell Sitwell (səshĕv`ərəl), 1897–1988, English art critic. They were the children of Sir George Sitwell, an antiquarian and genealogist, and were reared on the family estate in Derbyshire. All three Sitwells evidenced a lively interest in contemporary movements in music, art, and literature. Although all were noted for their frivolity, precocity, and sophistication, a somber despair with the modern world underlies many of their works.

Edith Sitwell

An angular, aristocratic woman, 6 ft (183 cm) tall, Dame Edith Sitwell was famous for her wit and her eccentric appearance. Her poetry, strongly influenced by the French symbolists, ranges from the artificial and clever verse of her early years to the deeper and more religious poems of her maturity. Collections of her work include Clowns' Houses (1918), Rustic Elegies (1927), Gold Coast Customs (1929), The Song of the Cold (1948), Façade, and Other Poems, 1920–1935 (1950), Gardeners and Astronomers (1953), and The Outcasts (1962). Her Collected Poems appeared in 1954. Façade, characterized by ragtime rhythms and abstract word patterns, was set to music by William WaltonWalton, Sir William Turner,
1902–83, English composer, b. Oldham. Walton studied at Oxford. One of his earliest works was a piano quartet (1918–19). In 1923, Façade,
..... Click the link for more information. and first read by her in 1922.

Important among her critical works are Poetry and Criticism (1925), Aspects of Modern Poetry (1934), and A Poet's Notebook (1943), a collection of aphorisms on the art of poetry. Other prose works include Alexander Pope (1930); The English Eccentrics (1933); I Live under a Black Sun (1937), a novel about Jonathan Swift; and Fanfare for Elizabeth (1946) and The Queens and the Hive (1962), biographies of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1954 she was made dame of the British Empire.

Osbert Sitwell

Sir Osbert was the author of poems, short stories, novels, and memoirs. Most of his verse is light and satiric. His works include: Triple Fugue (1924), short stories; Before the Bombardment (1926), a novel; Collected Poems and Satires (1931); Selected Poems (1943); Four Songs of the Italian Earth (1948); Collected Stories (1953); The Four Continents (1954), discursions on travel, art, and life; and Tales My Father Taught Me (1962).

His five-volume reminiscences about his family are a delightful account of British society of the Edwardian era—Left Hand, Right Hand (1944), The Scarlet Tree (1946), Great Morning (1947), Laughter in the Next Room (1948), and Noble Essences (1950). Upon his father's death in 1943, he became 5th baronet.

Sacheverell Sitwell

Sir Sacheverell was known for his art criticism—Southern Baroque Art (1924), German Baroque Art (1927), and The Gothick North (1929)—and for his poetry—The Cyder Feast (1927) and Canons of Giant Art (1933). He was also the author of biographies, Mozart (1932) and Liszt (rev. ed. 1955); essays and observations, Conversation Pieces (1936), The Hunters and the Hunted (1948), and Cupid and the Jacaranda (1952); and travel books, Spain (1950), Denmark (1956), and Golden Wall and Mirador (1961).

Bibliography

See Dame Edith's autobiography, Taken Care Of (1964) and selected letters (1970); study of her work by G. Singleton (1960); R. Fulford, Osbert Sitwell (1951); S. Bradford, Splendours and Miseries: A Life of Sacheverell Sitwell (1993); P. Ziegler, Osbert Sitwell (1999); J. Lehman, A Nest of Tigers: The Sitwells in Their Times (American ed. 1968).

Sitwell

1. Dame Edith. 1887--1964, English poet and critic, noted esp for her collection Façade (1922) 2. her brother, Sir Osbert. 1892--1969, English writer, best known for his five autobiographical books (1944--50) 3. his brother, Sir Sacheverell . 1897--1988, English poet and writer of books on art, architecture, music, and travel

Sitwell

Sit·well

Sitwell

Sit•well

Sitwell

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Edith Sitwell

Osbert Sitwell

Sacheverell Sitwell

Bibliography

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Synonyms for Sitwell

noun English poet (1887-1964)

Synonyms