Jennings, Elizabeth

(1926-2001)

   Born in Boston, Lincolnshire, where her father was chief medical officer, the family moved to Oxford when she was six years old. Educated at Oxford High School, she graduated M.A. from St. Anne's College, Oxford, in 1949, after which she became a librarian at Oxford city library. She became associated with the "Movement" when her work was included in Robert Conquest's (see entry) New Lines Antholog y (1956). She won a Somerset Maugham Award for A Way of Looking (1955), which enabled her to visit Italy. Her poetry often reflects her devout Roman Catholicism and her love of Italy. She was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992. Some of her other publications: Poems, 1953. A Sense of the World, 1958. Song for a Birth or a Death, 1961. Recoveries, 1964. The Mind Has Mountains, 1966. Lucidities, 1970. Relationships, 1972. Growing-Pains, 1975. Familiar Spirits, 1994. Praises, 1988. Some of her poems: "Christ Seen by Flemish Painters," "Father to Son," "In Praise of Creation," "The Rabbit's Advice," "The Second World War," "The Sonnets of Michelangelo," "The Young Ones."

   Sources: Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Going Over to Your Place: Poems for Each Other. Paul B. Janeczko, ed. Bradbury Press, 1987. Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www. columbiagrangers.org). The Harvill Book of TwentiethCentury Poetry in English. Michael Schmidt, ed. The Harvill Press, 1999. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Tongues of Fire: An Anthology of Religious and Poetic Experience. Karen Armstrong, ed. Penguin Books, 1987.