Iris Tree

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Twentieth-century poet IT published three volumes of poetry in her twenties and thirties and a long poem in her old age. Her poems also appeared in verse anthologies, most notably Edith Sitwell 's Wheels, and in various journals. As an actress and daughter of a theatrical family, she also wrote three plays, including one for children. Her early poems often deal with war's destruction of humanity and society, while her later poems consider themes such as God, nature, and sensual love. IT wrote many letters, vivacious and hyperbolic in tone.

Milestones

27 January 1897

IT was born in London, the third and youngest daughter of parents who had hoped for a son.
Fielding, Daphne. The Rainbow Picnic. Eyre Methuen.
29

1966

IT 's long poem The Marsh Picnic was published just two years before her death, with the Rampant Lions Press in a limited edition of 300 copies.
Tree, Iris, and John Betjeman. The Marsh Picnic. Rampant Lions Press.
prelims and end pages

13 April 1968

IT died not long after burglars had broken into her London home while she was there, and robbed her. Her death (aged seventy-one) was said to be connected with the nervous shock of this event.
Daphne Fielding 's biography, the source of the information about the burglary (which it dates on 28 April), places her death a couple of weeks later than this, but the Times obituary was printed on 15 April.
Fielding, Daphne. The Rainbow Picnic. Eyre Methuen.
145-6, 154
“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.
(15 April 1968): 8

Biography

Birth

27 January 1897

IT was born in London, the third and youngest daughter of parents who had hoped for a son.
Fielding, Daphne. The Rainbow Picnic. Eyre Methuen.
29