Pauline Stainer
Encyclopedia
Pauline Stainer is an acclaimed English
poet. She was born in the industrial district
of Burslem
, Stoke-on-Trent
. She later left the city to attend St Anne's College, Oxford, where she took a degree in English. After Oxford she completed an M.Phil degree at the University of Southampton
.
poetry explores sacred myth, legend, history-in-landscape, and human feeling—and their connections to the 'inner landscapes' of the imaginative mind. Her choice of subject matter is perhaps partly a reaction to her growing up in the industrial city of Stoke-on-Trent. The compact vividness of her visual imagery is akin to that of the Anglo Saxon riddles, Symbolist poetry, or the work of García Lorca
. Reviewers have also detected the influence of Ted Hughes
in her work.
She was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship in 1987. She came to public notice with her first volume, The Honeycomb (1989). Her later volumes, Sighting the Slave Ship (1992) and The Ice-Pilot Speaks (1994) led up to her nomination and shortlisting in the Whitbread Poetry Award for her fourth collection The Wound-Dresser's Dream (1996).
Her poetry has won numerous prizes. In 2003 Bloodaxe Books published a summation of her work to date, The Lady and the Hare: New and Selected Poems (ISBN 1-85224-632-4), although this did not reproduce the illustrations that have accompanied some of her poems in book form.
After completing her education she moved to Essex
, raising four children. She spent several years on the Orkney island of Rousay
, from which came a new book collection Parable Island (1999). She now lives in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England.
She has collaborated with, and been published by, the Brotherhood of Ruralists, but is now published by the major poetry book publisher Bloodaxe Books.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
poet. She was born in the industrial district
Industrial district
Industrial district was initially introduced as a term to describe an area where workers of a monolithic heavy industry live within walking-distance of their places of work...
of Burslem
Burslem
The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...
, Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
. She later left the city to attend St Anne's College, Oxford, where she took a degree in English. After Oxford she completed an M.Phil degree at the University of Southampton
University of Southampton
The University of Southampton is a British public university located in the city of Southampton, England, a member of the Russell Group. The origins of the university can be dated back to the founding of the Hartley Institution in 1862 by Henry Robertson Hartley. In 1902, the Institution developed...
.
Biography
Her determinedly neo-romanticNeo-romanticism
The term neo-romanticism is used to cover a variety of movements in music, painting and architecture. It has been used with reference to very late 19th century and early 20th century composers such as Gustav Mahler particularly by Carl Dahlhaus who uses it as synonymous with late Romanticism...
poetry explores sacred myth, legend, history-in-landscape, and human feeling—and their connections to the 'inner landscapes' of the imaginative mind. Her choice of subject matter is perhaps partly a reaction to her growing up in the industrial city of Stoke-on-Trent. The compact vividness of her visual imagery is akin to that of the Anglo Saxon riddles, Symbolist poetry, or the work of García Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
. Reviewers have also detected the influence of Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes
Edward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...
in her work.
She was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship in 1987. She came to public notice with her first volume, The Honeycomb (1989). Her later volumes, Sighting the Slave Ship (1992) and The Ice-Pilot Speaks (1994) led up to her nomination and shortlisting in the Whitbread Poetry Award for her fourth collection The Wound-Dresser's Dream (1996).
Her poetry has won numerous prizes. In 2003 Bloodaxe Books published a summation of her work to date, The Lady and the Hare: New and Selected Poems (ISBN 1-85224-632-4), although this did not reproduce the illustrations that have accompanied some of her poems in book form.
After completing her education she moved to Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, raising four children. She spent several years on the Orkney island of Rousay
Rousay
Rousay is a small, hilly island about north of Orkney's Mainland, off the north coast of Scotland, and has been nicknamed "the Egypt of the north", due to its tremendous archaeological diversity and importance....
, from which came a new book collection Parable Island (1999). She now lives in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England.
She has collaborated with, and been published by, the Brotherhood of Ruralists, but is now published by the major poetry book publisher Bloodaxe Books.
External links
- Derrick Woolf. The Art of Pauline Stainer.
- Pauline Stainer. Pauline Stainer reviews Pauline Stainer.
- The Guardian newspaper review of The Lady and the Hare.