The Poetry Of Radclyffe Hall - Volume 2 - 'Twixt Earth and Stars: "…we're all part of nature, some day the world will recognise this…"

By Radclyffe Hall

In Germany, Hall met Mabel Batten and fell in love despite the twenty-three year age difference. Batten gave Hall the nickname ‘John’ by which she was henceforward known in every circumstance throughout her life except in her work as an author. In 1915, Hall met and, in 1917 moved in with sculptor Una Troubridge, with whom she would remain for the rest of her life. Hall wrote poetry all throughout her twenties and thirties. She had published Dedicated to Arthur Sullivan as early as 1894, and five further volumes of collected work (including ‘Twixt Earth and Stars in 1906, A Sheaf of Verses in 1908, Poems of the Past and Present in 1910 and Songs of Three Counties and Other Poems in 1913) were released before she stopped writing poetry and published her first novel in 1924. This was The Forge. That same year also saw publication of The Unlit Lamp, the first work for which Hall was known as simply Radclyffe Hall. The Well of Loneliness, the most important novel of Hall’s career, was published in 1928 to immediate sensation and controversy. It is Hall’s most direct artistic expression of her own personal sexual orientation. After the controversy of The Well of Loneliness, Hall would publish only two more novels: The Master of the House in 1932 and The Sixth Beatitude in 1936. She also released a collection of short stories – Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself in 1934. After years spent travelling in Italy and France and a series of long lasting affairs with other women (of which Troubridge was apparently aware), Hall retired with Troubridge to Rye, a small town in East Sussex. Hall, suffering from tuberculosis, underwent surgeries on her eyes and she thereafter had difficulty reading and writing. On October 7, 1943, Radclyffe Hall died from colon cancer at the age of sixty-three. She is buried in Highgate Cemetery in London near the gravesite of Mabel Batten.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Copyright Group
• Release date: Feb 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9781785431647

Radclyffe Hall

Radclyffe Hall (1880-1943) was an English poet and novelist. Born to a wealthy English father and an American mother in Bournemouth, Hampshire, Hall was left a sizeable fortune following her parents’ separation in 1882. Raised in a troubled environment, Hall struggled to gain financial independence from her mother and stepfather. As she took control of her inheritance, Hall began dressing in men’s clothing and identifying herself as a “congenital invert.” In 1907, she began a relationship with amateur singer Mabel Batten, who encouraged Hall to pursue a career in literature. By 1917, she had fallen in love with sculptor Una Troubridge, a cousin of Batten’s. After several poetry collections, Hall’s second novel The Unlit Lamp (1924) was published, becoming a bestseller shortly thereafter. Adam’s Breed (1926), a novel about an Italian waiter who abandons modern life, earned Hall the Prix Femina and the James Tait Black Prize, two of the most prestigious awards in world literature. In 1928, Hall’s sixth novel, The Well of Loneliness, was published to widespread controversy for its depiction of lesbian romance. While an obscenity trial in the United Kingdom led to an order that all copies of the novel be destroyed, a lengthy trial in the United States eventually allowed the book’s publication. Recognized as a pioneering figure in lesbian literature, Hall lived in London with Una Troubridge until her death at the age of sixty-three.

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The Poetry of Radclyffe Hall - Volume 2

'Twixt Earth And Stars

She was born Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall in 1880 to wealthy parents who separated while she was still an infant.  Her parents thereafter paid little attention to her. Hall was educated privately, and then at King’s College London. Later she travelled to Europe, settling in Dresden, Germany.  By now she had inherited a vast fortune from her paternal grandfather and was able to live as she pleased.

In Germany, Hall met Mabel Batten and fell in love despite the twenty-three year age difference. Batten gave Hall the nickname ‘John’ by which she was henceforward known in every circumstance throughout her life except in her work as an author.

In 1915, Hall met and, in 1917 moved in with sculptor Una Troubridge, with whom she would remain for the rest of her life.

Hall wrote poetry all throughout her twenties and thirties. She had published Dedicated to Arthur Sullivan as early as 1894, and five further volumes of collected work (including ‘Twixt Earth and Stars in 1906, A Sheaf of Verses in 1908, Poems of the Past and Present in 1910 and Songs of Three Counties and Other Poems in 1913) were released before she stopped writing poetry and published her first novel in 1924. This was The Forge.

That same year also saw publication of The Unlit Lamp, the first work for which Hall was known as simply Radclyffe Hall.

The Well of Loneliness, the most important novel of Hall’s career, was published in 1928 to immediate sensation and controversy. It is Hall’s most direct artistic expression of her own personal sexual orientation.

After the controversy of The Well of Loneliness, Hall would publish only two more novels: The Master of the House in 1932 and The Sixth Beatitude in 1936. She also released a collection of short stories – Miss Ogilvy Finds Herself in 1934.

After years spent travelling in Italy and France and a series of long lasting affairs with other women (of which Troubridge was apparently aware), Hall retired with Troubridge to Rye, a small town in East Sussex. Hall, suffering from tuberculosis, underwent surgeries on her eyes and she thereafter had difficulty reading and writing.

On October 7, 1943, Radclyffe Hall died from colon cancer at the age of sixty-three. She is buried in Highgate Cemetery in London near the gravesite of Mabel Batten.

Index of Poems

DEDICATED TO MY INSPIRATION

IN A GARDEN

IF YOU WERE A ROSE AND I WERE THE SUN

DRIFTING

TO

LOVE TRIUMPHANT

MY ROSE

IF ONLY

CONFESSION

SUNLIGHT ON DISTANT HILLS

MY LOVE

A MEMORY

TO

ON THE MOUNTAIN

TO

THE PRAYER

IF

A LAMENT

TO

THOUGHTS

SHIPS

THE DREAM-CHILD

THE DAY

FROM MY SOUL

WE

TO SINGERS

THE MAY TREE

PURGATORY

TO

A SPRING POSY

AWAKENING

SHE IS DEAD

TO

THE WHOLE OF IT

A SONG

IF LIKE THE BIRD

A FRAGMENT

AN EVEN PSALM

A BUTTERFLY

DISAPPOINTMENT

TO THE SEA

AFTER ALL?

YOU

REMEMBER

AN ECHO

FLOWER LOVE

THE FOND LOVER

ROSES FALL

A FRAGMENT

DISSATISFACTION

ONE EVENING

TO

MY SOUL,