Elinor Wylie
Encyclopedia
Elinor Morton Wylie was an American poet
and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s. "She was famous during her life almost as much for her ethereal beauty and personality as for her melodious, sensuous poetry."
, into a socially prominent family. Her grandfather, Henry M. Hoyt
, was a governor
of Pennsylvania
. Her aunt was Helen Hoyt
, a minor poet. Her parents were Henry Martyn Hoyt, Jr., who would be United States Solicitor General
from 1903 to 1909; and Anne Morton McMichael (born July 31, 1861 in Pa.). Their other children were:
Elinor was educated at Miss Baldwin's School (1893 to 1897), Mrs. Flint's School (1897 to 1901), and finally Holton-Arms School
(1901 to 1904). She was "trained for the life of a debutante and a society wife."
"As a girl she was already bookish—not in the languid or inactive sense but girded, embraced by books, between whose covers lay the word-perfect world she sought. She grew into a tall, dark beauty in the classic 1920s style. Some who knew her claimed she was the most striking woman they ever met."
The future Elinor Wylie "became notorious, in her time, for her multiple marriages and affairs." On the rebound from an earlier romance she met her first husband, Harvard graduate Philip Simmons Hichborn (1882–1912), the son of a rear-admiral. She eloped with him and they were married on December 13, 1906. She had a son by him, Philip Simmons Hichborn, Jr., born September 22, 1907 in Washington, D.C.
However, "Hichborn, a would-be poet, was emotionally unstable," and Elinor found herself in an unhappy marriage.
She also found herself being stalked by Horace Wiley, "a Washington lawyer with a wife and three children," who "was 17 years older than Elinor. He stalked her for years, appearing wherever she was."
Following the November 1910 death of Elinor's father, she left her husband and son, and began living with Wylie. "After being ostracized by their families and friends and mistreated in the press, the couple moved to England
" where they lived "under the assumed name of Waring; this event caused a scandal
in the Washington, D.C.
, social circles Elinor Wylie had frequented." Philip Simmons Hitchborn Sr. committed suicide
in 1912.
With Horace Wylie's encouragement, in 1912 Elinor anonymously published Incidental Number, a small book of poems she had written in the previous decade.
Between 1914 and 1916, Elinor tried to have a second child, but "suffered several miscarriage
s ... as well as a stillbirth
and ... a premature child
who died after one week."
After Wylie's wife agreed to a divorce, the couple returned to the United States. Elinor and Horace Wylie married in 1916; "By that time, however, the couple were drawing apart."
Elinor began spending time in literary circles in New York City
—"her friends there numbered John Peale Bishop
, Edmund Wilson
, John Dos Passos
, Sinclair Lewis
, Carl Van Vechten
, and ... William Rose Benét
."
magazine. Poetry published four of her poems, including what became "her most widely anthologized poem, 'Velvet Shoes,'" in May 1920. With Benét now acting as her informal literary agent, "Wylie left her second husband and moved to New York in 1921." The Dictionary of Literary Biography
(DLB) says: "She captivated the literary world with her slender, tawny-haired beauty, personal elegance, acid wit, and technical virtuosity."
In 1921, Wylie's first commercial book of poetry, Nets to Catch the Wind, was published. The book, "which many critics still consider to contain her best poems," was an immediate success. Edna St. Vincent Millay
and Louis Untermeyer
praised the work. The Poetry Society awarded her its Julia Ellsworth Ford Prize.
In 1923 she published Black Armor, which was "another successful volume of verse." The New York Times enthused: "There is not a misplaced word or cadence in it. There is not an extra syllable."
1923 also saw the publication of Wylie's first novel, Jennifer Lorn, to considerable fanfare. Van Vechten "organized a torchlight parade through Manhattan
to celebrate its publication." She would write "four historical novels widely admired when first published, although interest in them diminished in the masculine era of the 1940s and 50s."
She worked as the poetry editor of Vanity Fair
magazine between 1923 and 1925. She was an editor of Literary Guild, and a contributing editor of The New Republic
, from 1926 through 1928.
Her last marriage (in 1923) was to William Rose Benét
(February 2, 1886 - May 4, 1950), who was part of her literary circle and brother of Stephen Vincent Benét
.
Wylie was an "admirer of the British Romantic poets
, and particularly of Shelley, to a degree that some critics have seen as abnormal." "A friend claimed she was 'positively dotty' about Shelley, not just making him her model in art and life but on occasion actually 'seeing' the dead poet." She wrote a 1926 novel, The Orphan Angel, in which "the great young poet is rescued from drowning off an Italian
cape and travels to America, where he encounters the dangers of the frontier."
By the time of Wylie's third book of poetry, Trivial Breath in 1928, her marriage with Benét was also in trouble, and they had agreed to live apart. She moved to England and fell in love with the husband of a friend, Henry de Clifford Woodhouse, to whom she wrote a series of 19 sonnets which she published privately in 1928 as Angels and Earthly Creatures (also included in her 1929 book of the same name).
Elinor Wylie died of a stroke
at Benét's New York apartment, while working with him preparing the 1929 Angels and Earthly Creatures for publication.
," such as John Donne
, George Herbert
, and Andrew Marvell
. If her poetry is derivative of anyone, though, that would be "of the British Romantic poets, and particularly of Shelley," whom she admired "to a degree that some critics have seen as abnormal."
In her first book, Nets to Catch the Wind, "Stanzas and lines were quite short, and the effect of her images was of a highly detailed, polished surface. Often, her poems expressed a dissatisfaction with the realities of life on the part of a speaker who aspired to a more gratifying world of art and beauty." Louis Untermeyer
wrote that the book "impresses immediately because of its brilliance ... which, at first, seems to sparkle without burning.... It is the brilliance of moon-light corruscating on a plain of ice. But if Mis. Wylie seldom allows her verses to grow agitated, she never permits them to remain dull.... in 'August' the sense of heat is conveyed by tropic luxuriance and contrast; in 'The Eagle and the Mole' she lifts didacticism to a proud level ... never has snow-silence been more unerringly communicated than in 'Velvet Shoes.'" Other notable poems include "Wild Peaches," "A Proud Lady," "Sanctuary," "Winter Sleep," "Madman's Song," "The Church-Bell," and "A Crowded Trolley Car."
In Black Armor (1923), "the intellect has grown more fiery, the mood has grown warmer, and the craftsmanship is more dazzling than ever.... she varies the perfect modulation with rhymes that are delightfully acrid and unique departures which never fail of success ... from the nimble dexterity of a rondo like 'Peregrine' to the introspective poignance of 'Self Portrait,' from the fanciful 'Escape' to the grave mockery of 'Let No Charitable Hope.'"
Trivial Breath (1928) "is the work of a poet in transition. At times the craftsman is uppermost; at times the creative genius."
Wylie's biographer Stanley Olson called the sonnets that begin 1929's Angels and Earthly Creatures "perhaps, her finest achievement.... The love in these lyrics is not a private love, not a variety of confession, but an abstracted one.... The nineteen sonnets are paced with strength, energy and undeniable feeling, sustained as a group by shifting through the complexities and vicissitudes of love." Untermeyer also praised the sonnets, but added: "The other poems share this intensity. 'This Corruptible' is both visionary and philosophic; 'O Virtuous Light' deals with that piercing clarity, the intuition ... The other poems are scarcely less uplifted, finding their summit in 'Hymn to Earth, which is one of her deeper poems and one which is certain to endure."
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s. "She was famous during her life almost as much for her ethereal beauty and personality as for her melodious, sensuous poetry."
Family and Childhood
Elinor Wylie was born Elinor Morton Hoyt in Somerville, New JerseySomerville, New Jersey
Somerville is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 12,098. It is the county seat of Somerset County....
, into a socially prominent family. Her grandfather, Henry M. Hoyt
Henry M. Hoyt
Henry Martyn Hoyt, Sr. was the 18th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1879 to 1883, as well as a general in the Union army during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
, was a governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Her aunt was Helen Hoyt
Helen Hoyt
Helen Lyman commonly known as Helen Hoyt or Helen Hoyt Lyman was an American poet.-Life and work:...
, a minor poet. Her parents were Henry Martyn Hoyt, Jr., who would be United States Solicitor General
United States Solicitor General
The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 6, 2011 and sworn in on June...
from 1903 to 1909; and Anne Morton McMichael (born July 31, 1861 in Pa.). Their other children were:
- Henry Martyn Hoyt (May 8, 1887 in Pa. - 1920 in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) who married Alice Gordon Parker (January 27, 1885 in Newark, New JerseyNewark, New JerseyNewark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
- 1951) - Constance A. Hoyt (May 20, 1889 in Pa. - 1923 in BavariaBavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) who married Ferdinand von Stumm-Halberg on March 30, 1910 in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution.... - Morton McMichael Hoyt (born April 4, 1899 in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
), three times married and divorced Eugenia Bankhead, known as "Sister" and sister of Tallulah BankheadTallulah BankheadTallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante... - Nancy McMichael Hoyt (born October 1, 1902 in Washington, D.C) romance novelRomance novelThe romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late...
ist who wrote Elinor Wylie: The Portrait of an Unknown Woman (1935). She married Edward Davison Curtis, they divorced in 1932.
Elinor was educated at Miss Baldwin's School (1893 to 1897), Mrs. Flint's School (1897 to 1901), and finally Holton-Arms School
Holton-Arms School
Holton-Arms is an independent college-preparatory school for girls in grades 3–12, located in Bethesda, Maryland. The School's mission is to cultivate the unique potential of young women through the “education not only of the mind, but of the soul and spirit.” Holton-Arms is an independent...
(1901 to 1904). She was "trained for the life of a debutante and a society wife."
"As a girl she was already bookish—not in the languid or inactive sense but girded, embraced by books, between whose covers lay the word-perfect world she sought. She grew into a tall, dark beauty in the classic 1920s style. Some who knew her claimed she was the most striking woman they ever met."
Marriages and Scandal
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
However, "Hichborn, a would-be poet, was emotionally unstable," and Elinor found herself in an unhappy marriage.
She also found herself being stalked by Horace Wiley, "a Washington lawyer with a wife and three children," who "was 17 years older than Elinor. He stalked her for years, appearing wherever she was."
Following the November 1910 death of Elinor's father, she left her husband and son, and began living with Wylie. "After being ostracized by their families and friends and mistreated in the press, the couple moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
" where they lived "under the assumed name of Waring; this event caused a scandal
Scandal
A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages the reputation of an institution, individual or creed...
in the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, social circles Elinor Wylie had frequented." Philip Simmons Hitchborn Sr. committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in 1912.
With Horace Wylie's encouragement, in 1912 Elinor anonymously published Incidental Number, a small book of poems she had written in the previous decade.
Between 1914 and 1916, Elinor tried to have a second child, but "suffered several miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
s ... as well as a stillbirth
Stillbirth
A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...
and ... a premature child
Premature birth
In humans preterm birth refers to the birth of a baby of less than 37 weeks gestational age. The cause for preterm birth is in many situations elusive and unknown; many factors appear to be associated with the development of preterm birth, making the reduction of preterm birth a challenging...
who died after one week."
After Wylie's wife agreed to a divorce, the couple returned to the United States. Elinor and Horace Wylie married in 1916; "By that time, however, the couple were drawing apart."
Elinor began spending time in literary circles in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
—"her friends there numbered John Peale Bishop
John Peale Bishop
John Peale Bishop was an American poet and man of letters.Bishop was born in Charles Town, West Virginia, to a family from New England, and attended school in Hagerstown, Maryland. When 18, Bishop fell victim to a severe illness and lost his sight for some time...
, Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
, John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
, Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...
, Carl Van Vechten
Carl van Vechten
Carl Van Vechten was an American writer and photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein.-Biography:...
, and ... William Rose Benét
William Rose Benét
William Rose Benét was an American poet, writer, and editor.He was the older brother of Stephen Vincent Benét....
."
Career
Elinor Wylie's literary friends encouraged her to submit her verse to PoetryPoetry (magazine)
Poetry , published in Chicago, Illinois since 1912, is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Published by the Poetry Foundation and currently edited by Christian Wiman, the magazine has a circulation of 30,000 and prints 300 poems per year out of approximately...
magazine. Poetry published four of her poems, including what became "her most widely anthologized poem, 'Velvet Shoes,'" in May 1920. With Benét now acting as her informal literary agent, "Wylie left her second husband and moved to New York in 1921." The Dictionary of Literary Biography
Dictionary of Literary Biography
The Dictionary of Literary Biography is a specialist encyclopedia dedicated to literature. Published by Gale, the 375-volumes set covers a wide variety of literary topics, periods, and genres, with a focus on American and British literature....
(DLB) says: "She captivated the literary world with her slender, tawny-haired beauty, personal elegance, acid wit, and technical virtuosity."
In 1921, Wylie's first commercial book of poetry, Nets to Catch the Wind, was published. The book, "which many critics still consider to contain her best poems," was an immediate success. Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American lyrical poet, playwright and feminist. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and was known for her activism and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work...
and Louis Untermeyer
Louis Untermeyer
Louis Untermeyer was an American poet, anthologist, critic, and editor. He was appointed the fourteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1961.-Life and career:...
praised the work. The Poetry Society awarded her its Julia Ellsworth Ford Prize.
In 1923 she published Black Armor, which was "another successful volume of verse." The New York Times enthused: "There is not a misplaced word or cadence in it. There is not an extra syllable."
1923 also saw the publication of Wylie's first novel, Jennifer Lorn, to considerable fanfare. Van Vechten "organized a torchlight parade through Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
to celebrate its publication." She would write "four historical novels widely admired when first published, although interest in them diminished in the masculine era of the 1940s and 50s."
She worked as the poetry editor of Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
magazine between 1923 and 1925. She was an editor of Literary Guild, and a contributing editor of The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, from 1926 through 1928.
Her last marriage (in 1923) was to William Rose Benét
William Rose Benét
William Rose Benét was an American poet, writer, and editor.He was the older brother of Stephen Vincent Benét....
(February 2, 1886 - May 4, 1950), who was part of her literary circle and brother of Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét was an American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist. Benét is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body , for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "By...
.
Wylie was an "admirer of the British Romantic poets
Romantic poetry
Romanticism, a philosophical, literary, artistic and cultural era which began in the mid/late-1700s as a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment ideals of the day , also influenced poetry...
, and particularly of Shelley, to a degree that some critics have seen as abnormal." "A friend claimed she was 'positively dotty' about Shelley, not just making him her model in art and life but on occasion actually 'seeing' the dead poet." She wrote a 1926 novel, The Orphan Angel, in which "the great young poet is rescued from drowning off an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
cape and travels to America, where he encounters the dangers of the frontier."
By the time of Wylie's third book of poetry, Trivial Breath in 1928, her marriage with Benét was also in trouble, and they had agreed to live apart. She moved to England and fell in love with the husband of a friend, Henry de Clifford Woodhouse, to whom she wrote a series of 19 sonnets which she published privately in 1928 as Angels and Earthly Creatures (also included in her 1929 book of the same name).
Elinor Wylie died of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
at Benét's New York apartment, while working with him preparing the 1929 Angels and Earthly Creatures for publication.
Poetry
Wylie's "highly polished, articulate, and deeply emotional verse shows the influence of the metaphysical poetsMetaphysical poets
The metaphysical poets is a term coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them, and whose work was characterized by inventiveness of metaphor...
," such as John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
, George Herbert
George Herbert
George Herbert was a Welsh born English poet, orator and Anglican priest.Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education that led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, Herbert excelled in...
, and Andrew Marvell
Andrew Marvell
Andrew Marvell was an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman . As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert...
. If her poetry is derivative of anyone, though, that would be "of the British Romantic poets, and particularly of Shelley," whom she admired "to a degree that some critics have seen as abnormal."
In her first book, Nets to Catch the Wind, "Stanzas and lines were quite short, and the effect of her images was of a highly detailed, polished surface. Often, her poems expressed a dissatisfaction with the realities of life on the part of a speaker who aspired to a more gratifying world of art and beauty." Louis Untermeyer
Louis Untermeyer
Louis Untermeyer was an American poet, anthologist, critic, and editor. He was appointed the fourteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1961.-Life and career:...
wrote that the book "impresses immediately because of its brilliance ... which, at first, seems to sparkle without burning.... It is the brilliance of moon-light corruscating on a plain of ice. But if Mis. Wylie seldom allows her verses to grow agitated, she never permits them to remain dull.... in 'August' the sense of heat is conveyed by tropic luxuriance and contrast; in 'The Eagle and the Mole' she lifts didacticism to a proud level ... never has snow-silence been more unerringly communicated than in 'Velvet Shoes.'" Other notable poems include "Wild Peaches," "A Proud Lady," "Sanctuary," "Winter Sleep," "Madman's Song," "The Church-Bell," and "A Crowded Trolley Car."
In Black Armor (1923), "the intellect has grown more fiery, the mood has grown warmer, and the craftsmanship is more dazzling than ever.... she varies the perfect modulation with rhymes that are delightfully acrid and unique departures which never fail of success ... from the nimble dexterity of a rondo like 'Peregrine' to the introspective poignance of 'Self Portrait,' from the fanciful 'Escape' to the grave mockery of 'Let No Charitable Hope.'"
Trivial Breath (1928) "is the work of a poet in transition. At times the craftsman is uppermost; at times the creative genius."
Wylie's biographer Stanley Olson called the sonnets that begin 1929's Angels and Earthly Creatures "perhaps, her finest achievement.... The love in these lyrics is not a private love, not a variety of confession, but an abstracted one.... The nineteen sonnets are paced with strength, energy and undeniable feeling, sustained as a group by shifting through the complexities and vicissitudes of love." Untermeyer also praised the sonnets, but added: "The other poems share this intensity. 'This Corruptible' is both visionary and philosophic; 'O Virtuous Light' deals with that piercing clarity, the intuition ... The other poems are scarcely less uplifted, finding their summit in 'Hymn to Earth, which is one of her deeper poems and one which is certain to endure."
Fiction
Wylie's four novels "are delicately wrought and filled with ironic fancy." They were "widely admired when first published, although interest in them diminished in the masculine era of the 1940s and 50s."Poetry
- [Anonymous], Incidental Numbers. London: private, 1912.
- Nets to Catch the Wind. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1921.
- Black Armour. New York: Doran, 1923.
- Trivial Breath. New York, London: Knopf , 1928.
- Angels and Earthly Creatures: A Sequence of Sonnets Henley on Thames, UK: Borough Press, 1928. (also known as One Person).
- Angels and Earthly Creatures. New York, London: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. (includes Angels and Earthly Creatures: A Sequence of Sonnets).
- Birthday Sonnet. New York: Random House, 1929.
- Collected Poems of Elinor Wylie. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1932.
- Last Poems of Elinor Wylie, transcribed by Jane D. Wise, foreword by William Rose Benet, tribute by Edith Olivier. New York: Knopf , 1943. Chicago: Academy, 1982.
- Selected Works of Elinor Wylie. Evelyn Helmick Hively ed. Kent State U Press, 2005.
Novels
- Jennifer Lorn: A Sedate Extravaganza. New York: Doran, 1923. London: Richards, 1924.
- The Venetian Glass Nephew. New York: Doran, 1925. Chicago: Academy, 1984.
- The Orphan Angel. New York: Knopf, 1926. Also published as Mortal Image. London: Heinemann, 1927.
- Mr. Hodge & Mr. Hazard. New York. Knopf , 1928. London: Heinemann, 1928. Chicago: Academy, 1984.
- Collected Prose of Elinor Wylie. New York: Knopf, 1933.
Fonds
- Papers reside in the Elinor Wylie Archive, Beinecke Rare Book Room and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT, and in the Berg Collection, New York Public Library.
External links
- Elinor Wylie at the Poetry Foundation - Biography and 8 poems (A Crowded Trolley Car, Cold Blooded Creatures, Epitaph, Full Moon, Little Elegy, Speed the Parting, Valentine, Wild Peaches) Nets to Catch the Wind
- Poems of Elinor Wylie at Poemtree.com
- Poems of Elinor Wylie at Poet's Corner