‘A Good Many Facts’: An Introduction to Re-Reading Stevie Smith

Noreen Masud; Frances White

doi:10.1080/09574042.2018.1531637

Ceci n'est pas un Hat: Stevie Smith and the Refashioning of Gender

South Central Review ◽

10.2307/3190326 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 16 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Julie Sims Steward

Keyword(s):

Stevie Smith

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TERENCE ALLBRIGHT (b. 1946)Two Songs (1999)

Vocal Repertoire for the Twenty-First Century, Volume 1 ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199391028.003.0003 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 7-9

Author(s):

Jane Manning

Keyword(s):

Considerable Effect ◽

Stevie Smith

This chapter describes the work of composer-pianist Terence Allbright. Two Songs is a brief but distinctive cycle that is freely atonal but meticulously worked and rhythmically inventive. These characteristics demonstrate a deep affinity with the poetry of Stevie Smith. Through this piece, Allbright conveys introspection and the finer subtleties of meaning underlying the texts’ spare lines. Nothing is overstated, but an inner turbulence is palpable. Words are set with clarity and sensitivity, and vocal phrasing is not difficult. The darker colours of the baritone voice are used to considerable effect, with dynamic nuances precisely calibrated. The singer's principal challenge is thus to negotiate the varied rhythms, so that they seem to flow without effort.

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The ‘Holding Function’ of Dynamic Psychotherapy in a Custodial Setting: A Review

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine ◽

10.1177/014107688607900310 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 79 (3) ◽

pp. 162-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Murray Cox

Keyword(s):

Forensic Psychiatry ◽

Alternative Source ◽

Dynamic Psychotherapy ◽

Dictionary Entry ◽

Stevie Smith ◽

Dynamic Psychology ◽

Source Of Information ◽

The Wanderer

The dual connotation of words such as security or identity, which both forensic psychiatry and dynamic psychology regard as their own, is nowhere more evident than in relation to the words ‘hold’ and ‘holding’. The dictionary entry under ‘hold’ includes ‘keep fast, keep possession, detain, remain unbroken, grasp, not give way, adhere to, maintain, hold out — hope — possibility’. Whereas, a group of patients at Broadmoor, an alternative source of information, offered the following associations: ‘We are held … we can't walk through the gates … we hold ourselves here by what we've done … we need to be able to hold out … we need someone to hold us … we need someone to hold on to’. Indeed, one patient felt that he had let go of the therapist ‘too soon’, thus recalling the words of Stevie Smith: ‘You have weaned me too soon, you must nurse me again’ ( The Wanderer).

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Sound Words: Hymns in Twentieth-Century Literature

The Review of English Studies ◽

10.1093/res/hgy130 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 70 (296) ◽

pp. 732-751

Author(s):

Noreen Masud

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Focal Point ◽

Solid Substance ◽

Twentieth Century Literature ◽

Modernist Literature ◽

Archival Material ◽

Religious Writing ◽

Stevie Smith ◽

Literary Writing ◽

Century Literature

Abstract Why, in the twentieth century, do atheist or agnostic authors write so many hymns into their poems and novels? This essay contends that attending to the frequent but overlooked hymn episodes in early to mid-twentieth-century literature, and to their historical contexts, can complicate our understanding of literary postures of faith, and of everyday sounds as ‘filler’ in modernist literature. Focusing on Stevie Smith and D. H. Lawrence, with reference to a range of other writers, it draws on unpublished archival material to argue that hymn-history reveals an alternative narrative to that of religious writing as conservative, and literary writing as radical. Hymn-compilers often sought modernity, while poets and novelists tended to privilege older, more dated hymns. This ideological clash led to a literary approach which defiantly accommodated ‘bad old hymns’ through nostalgic reminiscence and extensive quotation. Used in this way, hymn oscillates between a status as textual padding and as focal point: an embarrassingly excessive and solid substance which nevertheless enables embarrassment to be discharged. Ultimately, the muffling, ostensibly authoritative substance of hymn, in twentieth-century literature, fills up gaps in which too much might resound or be revealed: it offers literary writing an opportunity to accommodate and neutralize awkwardness, failure and error.

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