Page 23 - April 2024 Newsletter

It is, I think, surprising to learn that Smith, although considered as
a candidate for Poet Laureate in 1967, on the death of John
Masefield, was turned down after comments from esteemed
poetry critics that she “wrote ‘little girl poetry’ about herself
mostly”. “Not waving but drowning” certainly is about herself but
is hardly the writing of a little girl!

Stevie Smith was definitely a melancholy person - her poems can
never be described as ’happy’ - yet she rarely lapses into real
depression. I suspect it was her sheer love of language which kept
her from that. As an example, read “The Face”, where she is
deliberately self-deprecating, but shows her joy in a well-turned
phrase.

The Face

There is a face I know too well,
A face I dread to see,
So vain it is, so eloquent
Of all futility.

It is a human face that hides
A monkey soul within,
That bangs about, that beats a gong,
That makes a horrid din.

Sometimes the monkey soul will sprawl
Athwart the human eyes,
And peering forth, will flesh its pads,
And utter social lies.

So wretched is this face, so vain,
So empty and forlorn,
You well may say that better far
This face had not been born.

I, for one, am VERY glad that Stevie Smith was born, and left us
such approachable and thought-provoking poetry.

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