At Senior House Assembly, pupils continued a school tradition of learning about famous Hampstead residents, with Head of English Claudia Sciumbata speaking about 20th-century poet Edith Sitwell, who lived in a flat near the school in the early 1960s at the end of her life.
Difficult childhood and eccentric family
Pupils learned about Sitwell's difficult childhood, as her parents regarded her as physically abnormal and subjected her to ineffective and degrading medical treatments. She inherited her eccentricity from her father, who invented a musical toothbrush and a revolver for shooting wasps.
In later life, Sitwell justified her exotic attire by saying she would look more unusual if she wore 'normal clothes'. She moved to London, escaping her parents' influence, and associated with literary and artistic figures, establishing a reputation as a literary figure in her own right.
Poetry technique and legacy
Claudia emphasized that Sitwell's poems sought to stimulate the senses rather than convey information. Pupils learned about synaesthesia, where a writer uses phrases associated with one sense to describe another, with the example 'the morning light creaks down again' from Sitwell's poem Aubade.
Pupils also learned that David Silverman, the famous animator of The Simpsons, had earlier animated her poem Mariner Man. Sitwell's poetry was not universally appreciated in her lifetime, with public performances sometimes greeted with hostility because her work broke with convention.
Convention and artistic evolution
The article reflects on how literature is constantly evolving, and the heterodox productions of one era are soon absorbed into the mainstream, drawing a parallel with J.S. Bach not limiting his compositional activities based on Telemann's counterpoint.
The author recounts attending a Proms concert where a contemporary composer conducted his symphony, and after each movement, audience members walked out, though the composer received a standing ovation from those who remained after the challenging work concluded.
