Wendy Mulford
Encyclopedia
Wendy Mulford is a British poet
, associated with the contemporary avant garde scene, with the British Poetry Revival
, and with the development of feminist poetry in 1970s. Her poetry has been viewed as "difficult to categorise" and as "multi- and non-linear". Her early poetry had particularly strong feminist and Marxist elements, but latterly she has moved towards more personal themes.
and Valentine Ackland
(besides providing an introduction to a 1989 reprint of Townsend Warner's 1938 novel After The Death of Don Juan) and co-wrote with Sara Maitland
a book on the subject of female saint
s. Mulford also has used her experience teaching in Cambridge to write a number of critical essays about poetry, saying that women poets are still "too tied to the familiar".
' Reality Studios to form Reality Street Editions in 1993. During this period, Street Editions published such poets as John James
, Sarah Kirsch
, Tom Raworth
, John Wilkinson
, Stephen Rodefer
and Rod Mengham, and was at its peak regarded as a leading outlet for experimental literature that could not be published by mainstream presses. Mulford left the company in 1998, but her 2009 poetry collection The Land Between was published by the company.
and Suffolk
, which inspired her 1998 collection The East Anglia Sequence.
She married fellow poet John James
in the 1970s and they have one daughter.
Since 2007, Mulford has been training herself to be a Jungian analyst.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, associated with the contemporary avant garde scene, with the British Poetry Revival
British Poetry Revival
The British Poetry Revival is the general name given to a loose poetry movement in Britain that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The revival was a modernist-inspired reaction to the Movement's more conservative approach to British poetry.-Beginnings:...
, and with the development of feminist poetry in 1970s. Her poetry has been viewed as "difficult to categorise" and as "multi- and non-linear". Her early poetry had particularly strong feminist and Marxist elements, but latterly she has moved towards more personal themes.
Writing and teaching
She wrote a biography of Sylvia Townsend WarnerSylvia Townsend Warner
Sylvia Nora Townsend Warner was an English novelist and poet.-Life:Sylvia Townsend Warner was born at Harrow on the Hill, the only child of George Townsend Warner and his wife Eleanora Hudleston...
and Valentine Ackland
Valentine Ackland
Valentine Ackland was an English poet, an important figure in the emergence of modernism in twentieth-century British poetry.-Life:...
(besides providing an introduction to a 1989 reprint of Townsend Warner's 1938 novel After The Death of Don Juan) and co-wrote with Sara Maitland
Sara Maitland
Sara Maitland is a British writer and feminist. An accomplished novelist, she is also known for her short stories. Her work has a magic realist tendency.-Biography:...
a book on the subject of female saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
s. Mulford also has used her experience teaching in Cambridge to write a number of critical essays about poetry, saying that women poets are still "too tied to the familiar".
Publishing
Mulford also has been active in the publishing business, founding Street Editions in 1972 and running the company until it was merged with Ken EdwardsKen Edwards
Ken Edwards is a poet, editor, writer and musician who has lived in England since 1968. He is associated with The British Poetry Revival....
' Reality Studios to form Reality Street Editions in 1993. During this period, Street Editions published such poets as John James
John James (poet)
John James is a British poet.- Biography :John James was born 1939 in Cardiff and was educated at Saint Illtyd’s College there. He left the college in 1957 to read Philosophy and English Literature at the University of Bristol and later undertook postgraduate studies in American Literature at the...
, Sarah Kirsch
Sarah Kirsch
Sarah Kirsch is a German poet.She was born Ingrid Bernstein in Limlingerode, Prussian Saxony. She changed her first name to Sarah in order to protest against her father's anti-semitism. She studied biology in Halle and literature at the Johannes R. Becher Institute for Literature in Leipzig. In...
, Tom Raworth
Tom Raworth
Tom Raworth is a London-born poet and visual artist who has published over forty books of poetry and prose since 1966. His works has been translated and published in many countries. Raworth is a key figure in the British Poetry Revival. He lives in Brighton, England.-Early life and work:Raworth...
, John Wilkinson
John Wilkinson (poet)
John Wilkinson is a contemporary English poet.From 1972 to 1975, he studied English at Jesus College, Cambridge, United Kingdom, where he founded, with Charlie Bulbeck and Charles Lambert, the Blue Room, a society devoted to the propagation of poetry and the other fine arts.His first publication,...
, Stephen Rodefer
Stephen Rodefer
Stephen Rodefer is an American poet and painter who lives in Paris and London. Rodefer is one of the founders of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry movement...
and Rod Mengham, and was at its peak regarded as a leading outlet for experimental literature that could not be published by mainstream presses. Mulford left the company in 1998, but her 2009 poetry collection The Land Between was published by the company.
Personal life
Mulford grew up in Wales but moved to Cambridge University in the 1960s to study English. She remained at Cambridge throughout the 1970s before moving to Thames Polytechnic in the early 1980s and then returning to Cambridge. In more recent times she has lived in NorfolkNorfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
and Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, which inspired her 1998 collection The East Anglia Sequence.
She married fellow poet John James
John James (poet)
John James is a British poet.- Biography :John James was born 1939 in Cardiff and was educated at Saint Illtyd’s College there. He left the college in 1957 to read Philosophy and English Literature at the University of Bristol and later undertook postgraduate studies in American Literature at the...
in the 1970s and they have one daughter.
Since 2007, Mulford has been training herself to be a Jungian analyst.
Poetry
- In the Big Red Chair (1975)
- Bravo to Girls & Heroes (1977)
- No Fee (with Denise RileyDenise RileyDenise Riley is an English poet and philosopher who began to be published in the 1970s. Her poetry is remarkable for its paradoxical interrogation of selfhood within the lyric mode. Her critical writings on motherhood, women in history, identity, and philosophy of language, are recognised as an...
; 1979) - Reactions to Sunsets (1980)
- The Light Sleepers (1980)
- Some Poems 1968-1978 (with Denise Riley; 1982)
- The A. B. C. of Writing and Other Poems (1985)
- Late Spring Next Year: Poems 1979-1985 (1987)
- The Bay of Naples (1992)
- The East Anglia Sequence: Norfolk 1984 – Suffolk 1994 (1998)
- A Handful Of Morning: Poems 1993-1997 (1999)
- and suddenly, supposing: Selected Poems (2002)
- The Land Between (2009)
Non-fiction
- This Narrow Place: Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland 1930-1951 (1988)
- Virtuous Magic: Women Saints and Their Meanings (with Sara Maitland; 1998)
As editor
- The Virago Book of Love Poetry (with Helen Kidd, Julia Mishkin and Sandi Russell; 1991)
As translator
- The Brontes' Hats, by Sarah KirschSarah KirschSarah Kirsch is a German poet.She was born Ingrid Bernstein in Limlingerode, Prussian Saxony. She changed her first name to Sarah in order to protest against her father's anti-semitism. She studied biology in Halle and literature at the Johannes R. Becher Institute for Literature in Leipzig. In...
(1991) - T by Sarah Kirsch (1995)