Hope Mirrlees: Collected Poems Paperback – October 1, 2011

The world of modernist studies has long awaited a definitive publication of Hope Mirrlees' life and work. Finally, we have it! As one modernist scholar to another, thank you Sandeep Parmar. My own research on Mirrlees would be severely lacking without the help of this book.The collection is actually much more than Mirrlees' poems, which may not be clear from the title: it includes all of her published essays, annotations on "Paris: A Poem" by Julia Briggs (formerly published in Gendered Modernisms, I believe) and further annotations by Parmar about the other poems and essays. And it also includes an important though short biography of Mirrlees and Parmar's analysis of "Paris: A Poem." We now have far greater insight into Mirrlees as a writer. It is incredible to see what themes (like the moon, fairies and nymphs) remained in her work throughout her life, pre and post Catholic conversion. Lastly, the inclusion of Jane Harrison's "To Her. A twilight poem" (which I do not believe has ever been published before) was an absolute treat to discover as I came to the end of the book. It may be wishful thinking, but I would have also liked to see a republication of Henig's "Queen of Lud" essay and even Michael Swanwick's biography of Mirrlees (two sources that are very hard to track down).Overall, I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I am so glad that Mirrlees is finally being brought to the (modernist) spotlight. She deserves to be read and taught and I hope that this handy collection will serve that end. Now I shall eagerly await new publications of her out-of-print novels and a full biography! For anyone who has tried to learn about Mirrlees life, accounts of her as an individual (and of course, her relationship with Harrison) remain rather disparate and inconclusive. As more scholars become interested in MIrrlees, I hope we can build a greater objective understanding of her and Harrison's life, as well.For readers interested in modernism, surrealism or dadaism, experimental poetics or if you just want a glimpse at the poem that rivals "The Waste Land" by Mirrlees' family friend T.S. Eliot... take a look at the incredible poem "Paris" (which was published before "The Waste Land" although Eliot conveniently never acknowledged reading it!)

I'm presently deeply involved in Peter Howarth's Cambridge Introduction to Modernist Poetry, and its first chapter focusses on Hope Mirlees' 'recently rediscovered' proto-modernist masterpiece, Paris: a Poem. Written in 1919, it anticipates the scope and mood of Eliot's Wasteland and many of the stylistic devices of Pound's Cantos. It seemed a natural enough thing to pick up a copy of Mirlees' collected poetry as an accompaniment to Howarth's book.The consequence was ultimately disappointing. The remainder of her poetry, none of which saw publication until the 60/70s, proved to be rather more regressive with none of the revolutionary ambition of Paris. The remainder of her work turned out to be the sort of poetry that I've recently realised I have no longer any time for; regularly metered and rhyming doing violence to meaning through archaisms and infelicities of syntax, crammed full of classical allusions. There is the constant sense in her later work that she is trying to convince herself that she really is as clever as her Edwardian Oxbridge education entitled her to be. The subjects of these poems are flowers, pets and conceits based obscure on obscure points of Catholic dogma, fairies and a reluctance to commit to human love. They are devoid of philosophical content or psychological acuity. They don't even have the literary, historical sweep of Paris. They say nothing that could not have been said just as well in plainer language. They are essentially linguistic wallpaper.Nonetheless, the extensive scholarly introduction by Sandeep Parmar and the annotations help to construct a vivid conception of Mirlees' literary milieu and of the outlook of her generation of privileged hyper-aesthetes. This in itself was very helpful in my own quest to understand, just what is poetry; just want kind of poetry really moves me; just what kind of poetry would I like to write.Paris, is impressive (to my sensibility). Even more so when read in conjunction with the notes in the appendix compiled by Julia Briggs. The rest were traditional and even in terms of that tradition of centuries of effort to replicate the perceived perfection of classical models, were humdrum and formulaic. However, for me at least the total contents of this book were instructive from a critical perspective.

A few notes to add to the excellent 'product description' above. Paris is a wonder poem - you wonder where it came from, brilliantly impressionistic and totally modern writing. The idea of the poem, the everyday experience of walking around and living in a great city, surely encouraged, or even suggested, the choice of London as the subject of The Waste Land (along with Dr Johnson, Spenser and all the others ...). The links with Eliot extend to the 1930's. The first of the Four Quartets, Burnt Norton, was partly written while staying with her. Mirrlees was a close friend of Eliot's first wife Vivien - see the Faber 'facsimile and transcript' edition of The Waste Land, Faber 1971  The Waste Land Facsimile: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts edited by his second wife Valerie. Mirrlees's later poems are worth reading. Their style, far from that of Paris, raises questions about the origins of the poetic impulse and the ways writers discover their own voice, or relapse into traditional forms: lessons for anyone writing verse today. The introductory material is excellent, the whole book a gem, well produced, totally recommended without reserve as a central document in early C20th poetry. The Waste Land Facsimile: A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts

Everyone should read this for 'Paris:A Poem'. Written in 1920, it's a poem about a city told in fragmented voices quoting song, poetry, religion and street voices. It's obviously an influence on 'The Waste Land' ( and Hope Mirrlees knew Eliot and was published, like him, by the Hogarth Press) yet very few teachers or readers of Modernism have heard of it. It's not as good as 'The Waste Land' (what is?) but it deserves to be widely known. The book also contains useful scholarly material, biography etc as well as her later quirky religious poems written in traditional forms. It makes you wonder how she declined from the brilliance of 'Paris' to this later stuff. Religious conversion and a desire not to upset the Catholic church seems to be the cause.But, if you like poetry, and care at all about literary history and poets receiving some recognition for their work, read 'Paris'.

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Very interesting, as expected.