Dead Poets Live
Stevie Smith
London
Having sold out its first two events, Dead Poets Live returned to The Print Room with Glenda Jackson as Stevie Smith.
Stevie Smith (1902–71) lived out a seemingly unremarkable life with her aunt in Palmers Green, North London, during which she produced three novels and some of the most individual and striking poetry of the twentieth century. Her unique mixture of whimsy and existential doom and her use of light-verse structures to plumb disturbing and even terrifying depths brought her great acclaim from poets such as Sylvia Plath and Seamus Heaney. She was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1969. Through her own poetry, letters and prose, the evening addressed an idiosyncratic and still undervalued talent.
Performers
Glenda Jackson CBE, who read the role of Stevie Smith, is one of Britain’s finest actors, recently returned to the London stage with her hugely celebrated King Lear at the Old Vic. The role of Stevie Smith marks another return for Ms Jackson, who played the poet in the 1978 film Stevie.
Proceeds from the evening went to the refugee charity Safe Passage.
‘Safe Passage works to ensure every person fleeing persecution can access a safe and legal route to a place where they can live a full and dignified life. We’re extremely grateful for the support of Dead Poets Live, every inch of which will go to supporting the most vulnerable unaccompanied minors to reach safety.’
Photos of the event
Poems read
‘Do Take Muriel Out’
from ‘Papa Love Baby’
‘A House of Mercy’
‘Emily Writes Such A Good Letter’
‘O Happy Dogs of England’
‘Deeply Morbid’
‘Autumn’
‘To the Tune of the Coventry Carol’
‘Happiness’
‘I Remember’
from ‘How Do You See?’
‘The Airy Christ’
‘Voice From The Tomb’
‘Our Bog Is Dood’
‘The Frog Prince’
‘Tender Only To One’
‘Black March’
‘Tom Snooks The Pundit’
‘Not Waving But Drowning’
‘God the Eater’
‘Oh Grateful Colours, Bright Looks!’
‘Come Death (ii)’
‘Away Melancholy’
Reading list
The Collected Poems and Drawings of Stevie Smith, ed. Will May (London, 2015)
Stevie Smith: A Selection, ed. Hermione Lee (London, 1983)
Me Again: The Uncollected Writings of Stevie Smith (London, 1983)
Novel on Yellow Paper (London, 1980)
Frances Spalding, Stevie Smith: A Critical Biography (London, 1990)
Banner images and photographs of the event © Tara Rowse
Glenda Jackson © Andrew Crowley