Stevie Smith

Mark and Seamus discuss the life and work of Stevie Smith, ‘an eccentric poet with a tenacious reputation,’ and a famous performer of her poetry, considering the despair that underlines her best work, its tonal slipperiness, her exceptional facility with rhyme and off-rhyme, and her use of faux-naif personas and perspectives. Further reading on Smith in the LRB: Penelope Fitzgerald https://lrb.me/fitzgeraldsmithpod Susannah Clapp https://lrb.me/clappsmithpod Anthony Thwaite https://lrb.me/thwaitesmithpod Matthew Bevis https://lrb.me/bevissmithpod