Sylvia Townsend Warner

Sylvia Townsend Warner

Sylvia Townsend Warner 1893–1978, English novelist and poet. Her first published work was poetry, The Espalier (1925), but she became more generally known with two novels of gentle fantasy, Lolly Willowes (1926) and Mr. Fortune's Maggot (1927). In The Corner That Held Them (1948), generally regarded as her masterpiece, she told the story of a 13th-century convent with a scholar's knowledge of the period, in a style that combined a poetic sensibility with wit and irony. For many years Warner lived a retiring life in Dorset with Valentine Ackland. She wrote several volumes of short stories, including Swans on an Autumn River (1966), The Innocent and the Guilty (1971), and Kingdoms of Elfin (1977); and a highly regarded biography of T. H. White (1967). Her Collected Poems were published in 1983.

Bibliography: See her diaries, ed. by C. Harman (1994); I'll Stand by You (1999), letters to Valentine Ackland, ed. by S. Pinney, and The Element of Lavishness: Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and William Maxwell, 1938–1978 (2001), ed. by M. Steinman; partial biography by W. Mulford (1988) and biography by C. Harman (1989).

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Sylvia Townsend Warner." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Sylvia Townsend Warner." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Warner-ST.html

"Sylvia Townsend Warner." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Warner-ST.html

Learn more about citation styles

Warner, Sylvia Townsend

Warner, Sylvia Townsend (1893–1978), novelist and poet. Her first volume of verse, The Espalier (1925), was followed by several others, including Whether a Dove or a Seagull (1933), written in collaboration with her friend and companion Valentine Ackland; the posthumous Twelve Poems (1980); and Collected Poems (1982). Her original voice is heard more strongly in her novels, which include Lolly Willowes (1926), a tale of the supernatural; Mr Fortune's Maggot (1927), which describes the visit of ex-clerk missionary Timothy Fortune to the remote South Sea island of Fanua, where he makes only one doubtful convert and in the process loses his own faith through his love of the islanders; and The True Heart (1929), which retells the story of Cupid and Psyche through the medium of a Victorian orphan, Sukey Bond. Her later works include a biography of T. H. White (1967), and various collections of short stories. Her Diaries, ed. Claire Harman, were published in 1994.

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Warner, Sylvia Townsend." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Warner, Sylvia Townsend." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-WarnerSylviaTownsend.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Warner, Sylvia Townsend." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-WarnerSylviaTownsend.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

Sylvia Townsend Warner's "very cultured voice".
Magazine article from: New Criterion; 3/1/2001
Critical Essays on Sylvia Townsend Warner, English Novelist, 1893-1978.(Brief...
Magazine article from: Reference &amp; Research Book News; 5/1/2006
"An existence doled out": passive resistance as a dead end in Sylvia Townsend...
Magazine article from: Twentieth Century Literature; 9/22/1993

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

See more pictures of Warner, Sylvia Townsend