Elma Mitchell

Elma Mitchell
Elma Mitchell
Born	19 November 1919; Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died	23 November 2000 (aged 81); Buckland, St Mary, Somerset, England

Elma Mitchell (November 19, 1919 – November 23, 2000) was a Scottish-born poet and translator based in Somerset, who published several well-received books of poetry in the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life and education

Mitchell was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire.^[1] She attended Prior's Field School in Surrey, and won a scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford, where she gained a first in English in 1941.^[2] She went on to achieve a diploma in librarianship at the School of Librarianship, University College London.^[3]

Career

Mitchell worked as a librarian and information officer for the BBC during World War II (from 1941 to 1943).^[2]^[3] She moved to Buckland St Mary, Somerset, and worked as a freelance writer and translator; she also did some amateur archaeological work in South Cadbury.^[4] Some of her poems were published in New Statesman in the 1960s.^[4] Her "quirkily original" poem "Thoughts After Ruskin" was first published in 1967; it won awards and was included in several anthologies.^[3] She published several books of poetry in the 1970s and 1980s.^[1]

Many of Mitchell's poems have feminist themes of domestic work, body image, creative frustration, and bereavement.^[5]^[6]^[7] "Mitchell frequently alludes to the strength tapped from the life force of routine necessities and occupations, especially women's traditional occupations," noted Marilyn Hacker in 1997.^[8] "This is a woman who is very conscious of being a body with all that implies of delight and restriction," commented poet Herbert Lomas in 1988.^[9]

Mitchell died in 2000, at the age of 81, in Buckland St Mary, Somerset.^[3] Her poems continue to be included in anthologies, decades after her death.^[6]^[10]^[11]

Awards

1977 Cheltenham Festival Poetry Competition^[12]
1999 Cholmondeley Award^[13]

Works

The Poor Man In The Flesh. Manchester: Harry Chambers/Peterloo Poets. 1976. ISBN 978-0-905291-04-8.^[8]^[14]
The Human Cage. Manchester: Harry Chambers/Peterloo Poets. 1979. ISBN 978-0-905291-22-2.^[15]
Furnished Rooms. Manchester: H. Chambers, Peterloo Poets. 1983. ISBN 978-0-905291-47-5.^[16]
People Etcetera: Poems New & Selected. Manchester: Peterloo Poets. 1987. ISBN 978-0-905291-84-0.^[9]^[17]

Anthologies

Maurice Lindsay; Lesley Duncan, eds. (2006). "The Crucifixion Will Not Take Place". The Edinburgh book of twentieth-century Scottish poetry. Edinburgh University Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-7486-2015-9. Elma Mitchell.
U. A. Fanthorpe; Elma Mitchell; Charles Causley (1996). Penguin Modern Poets. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-058754-8.^[12]
Carolyn Kizer (1995). 100 Great Poems by Women. Ecco Press. ISBN 978-0-88001-422-9 ^[11]
Dorothy McMillan (2010). Modern Scottish Women Poets. Cannongate Books. ISBN 978-1-84767-507-1^[10]

References

1 2 "Elma Mitchell". Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
1 2 "Prior's Field, 1941" Prior's Field Magazine (1941): 1, 8.
1 2 3 4 Chambers, Harry (5 December 2000). "Elma Mitchell:A poet linking the great and small issues of life". The Guardian.
1 2 "News from the Branches". Prior's Field Old Girls' Magazine (79): 4. 1969.
↑ Dowson, Jane; Entwistle, Alice (19 May 2005). A History of Twentieth-Century British Women's Poetry. Cambridge University Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-521-81946-6.
1 2 Duffy, Carol Ann (15 November 1997). I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine: Poems For Young Feminists. Macmillan. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-8050-5545-0.
↑ Jeffries, Lesley (28 September 1993). The Language of Twentieth Century Poetry. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-1-349-23000-6.
1 2 Hacker, Marilyn (1989). "Unauthorized Voices: U. A. Fanthorpe and Elma Mitchell". Grand Street. 8 (4): 147–164. doi:10.2307/25007278. ISSN 0734-5496. JSTOR 25007278.
1 2 Lomas, Herbert (1988). "Review of People Etcetera". Ambit (112): 68–69. ISSN 0002-6972. JSTOR 44340195.
1 2 McMillan, Dorothy (1 July 2010). Modern Scottish Women Poets. Canongate Books. ISBN 978-1-84767-507-1.
1 2 Kizer, Carolyn (1995). 100 great poems by women : a golden Ecco anthology. Internet Archive. Hopewell, N.J. : Ecco Press. ISBN 978-0-88001-422-9.
1 2 Fanthorpe, U. A. (1996). U.A. Fanthorpe, Elma Mitchell, Charles Causley. Internet Archive. London : Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-058754-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
↑ "Cholmondeley Awards". The Society of Authors. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
↑ Curry, Neil (1977). "Review of The Poor Man in the Flesh". Ambit (72): 65. ISSN 0002-6972. JSTOR 44331996.
↑ Mitchell, Elma (1979). The human cage. Internet Archive. Liskeard : Harry Chambers/Peterloo Poets. ISBN 978-0-905291-22-2.
↑ Burns, Jim (1983). "Review of Furnished Rooms". Ambit (94): 77–78. ISSN 0002-6972. JSTOR 44334878.
↑ Mitchell, Elma (1987). People etcetera : poems new & selected. Internet Archive. Calstock, Cornwall : Peterloo Poets. ISBN 978-0-905291-84-0.

External links

Jane Dowson, Alice Entwistle (2005). A history of twentieth-century British women's poetry. Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-521-81946-6. Elma Mitchell.
Ruth Padel (6 June 1999). "THE SUNDAY POEM: No 26 Elma Mitchell". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012.

[:0-1] 1 2 "Elma Mitchell". Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved 7 April 2025.

[:8-2] 1 2 "Prior's Field, 1941" Prior's Field Magazine (1941): 1, 8.

[:1-3] 1 2 3 4 Chambers, Harry (5 December 2000). "Elma Mitchell:A poet linking the great and small issues of life". The Guardian.

[:9-4] 1 2 "News from the Branches". Prior's Field Old Girls' Magazine (79): 4. 1969.

[5] Dowson, Jane; Entwistle, Alice (19 May 2005). A History of Twentieth-Century British Women's Poetry. Cambridge University Press. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-521-81946-6.

[:2-6] 1 2 Duffy, Carol Ann (15 November 1997). I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine: Poems For Young Feminists. Macmillan. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-8050-5545-0.

[7] Jeffries, Lesley (28 September 1993). The Language of Twentieth Century Poetry. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 106–107. ISBN 978-1-349-23000-6.

[:6-8] 1 2 Hacker, Marilyn (1989). "Unauthorized Voices: U. A. Fanthorpe and Elma Mitchell". Grand Street. 8 (4): 147–164. doi:10.2307/25007278. ISSN 0734-5496. JSTOR 25007278.

[:7-9] 1 2 Lomas, Herbert (1988). "Review of People Etcetera". Ambit (112): 68–69. ISSN 0002-6972. JSTOR 44340195.

[:4-10] 1 2 McMillan, Dorothy (1 July 2010). Modern Scottish Women Poets. Canongate Books. ISBN 978-1-84767-507-1.

[:5-11] 1 2 Kizer, Carolyn (1995). 100 great poems by women : a golden Ecco anthology. Internet Archive. Hopewell, N.J. : Ecco Press. ISBN 978-0-88001-422-9.

[:3-12] 1 2 Fanthorpe, U. A. (1996). U.A. Fanthorpe, Elma Mitchell, Charles Causley. Internet Archive. London : Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-058754-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)

[13] "Cholmondeley Awards". The Society of Authors. Retrieved 7 April 2025.

[14] Curry, Neil (1977). "Review of The Poor Man in the Flesh". Ambit (72): 65. ISSN 0002-6972. JSTOR 44331996.

[15] Mitchell, Elma (1979). The human cage. Internet Archive. Liskeard : Harry Chambers/Peterloo Poets. ISBN 978-0-905291-22-2.

[16] Burns, Jim (1983). "Review of Furnished Rooms". Ambit (94): 77–78. ISSN 0002-6972. JSTOR 44334878.

[17] Mitchell, Elma (1987). People etcetera : poems new & selected. Internet Archive. Calstock, Cornwall : Peterloo Poets. ISBN 978-0-905291-84-0.

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Authority control databases
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