Anna Wickham

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Anna Wickham was a prolific poet of the earlier twentieth century: in addition to several hundred published poems, more than a thousand remain unpublished.
Hepburn, James, Anna Wickham, and James Hepburn. “Editor’s Note and Acknowledgements”. The Writings of Anna Wickham, Free Woman and Poet, edited by Reginald Donald Smith, Virago Press, 1984, p. xxv - xxvi.
xxv
Her poems, with their unique blend of acerbity and lyricism, offer an explicitly female, often feminist, perspective on subjects ranging from marriage and motherhood to poetry itself. Louis Untermeyer has commented that [t]he very tone of her poetry reflects the disturbed music and the nervous protests of her age.
Untermeyer, Louis. “Anna Wickham”. Modern British Poetry, Mid-Century Edition, edited by Louis Untermeyer, Harcourt, Brace, 1950, pp. 276 - 7.
276
Despite his and others' efforts, her poetry has received scant critical attention over the years. In addition to poetry, AW wrote an unfinished autobiography and a handful of essays, some of which were published posthumously.
Black-and-white photo of Anna Wickham in her cluttered kitchen, originally published to accompany "Anna Wickham: A Poetess Landlady" in            Picture Post, 1946. Looking off-camera, she is seated on a chair and smoking a cigarette.
"Anna Wickham" by Kurt Hutton, 1946-04-27. Retrieved from https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/poet-anna-wickham-in-her-kitchen-where-chores-that-need-news-photo/51810058. This image is licensed under the GETTY IMAGES CONTENT LICENCE AGREEMENT.

Milestones

7 May 1883
Edith Alice May Harper (known as AW ) was born near London, at 5 The Ridgeway, Wimbledon.
Earlier sources give her a birth date of 1884.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
16 June 1938
AW , along with seven other women, drew up a manifesto for The League for the Protection of the Imagination of Women.
Hepburn, James, Anna Wickham, and James Hepburn. “Anna Wickham: A Memoir”. The Writings of Anna Wickham, Free Woman and Poet, edited by Reginald Donald Smith, Virago Press, 1984, pp. 1 - 48.
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30 April 1947
AW hanged herself at her house on Parliament Hill in Hampstead.
Hepburn, James, Anna Wickham, and James Hepburn. “Anna Wickham: A Memoir”. The Writings of Anna Wickham, Free Woman and Poet, edited by Reginald Donald Smith, Virago Press, 1984, pp. 1 - 48.
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Biography

Birth and Family

7 May 1883
Edith Alice May Harper (known as AW ) was born near London, at 5 The Ridgeway, Wimbledon.
Earlier sources give her a birth date of 1884.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.