by Poppy Matt

Created on: September 22, 2011   Last Updated: September 23, 2011

Stevie Smith was a British novelist and poet. She was born as Florence Margaret Smith on the 20th of September 1902 and died on the 7th of March 1971 aged 68. The name “Stevie” was given to her by a friend who thought that she looked like Steve Donaghue the jockey. Stevie’s father left them when she was three years old and developed tuberculosis at age five. She came close to death several times and this was the basis for most of her poems.  She also wrote about her childhood in the poem “A House of Mercy”. After graduating from Palmers Green High School and North London Collegiate School, Smith worked in a publishing company as a secretary and it was during this time that she wrote most of her novels and poems. Although she lived a secluded life, she frequently communicated with her fellow writers such as Anna Kallin and Inez Holden. She was also very popular for her work.

Looking at Stevie Smith’s poems, one can notice a certain trend of negative things such as death which was earlier stated as the main basis of most of her poems as she faced it several times; also grief and sadness were some of the main themes in her poems.  Based on these poems, one could rightly assume that Smith was an embittered woman who was solely disappointed in the way her life turned out. As a child Smith refused to admit the fact that her father had abandoned them and this might have also been one of the main sources of her emotional instability. The reader can definitely see that Stevie thought that death was really the main solution to the problems one faces in life today.

Another major theme in her poems is religion. She also notes that although man is regarded as the highest being, God is in fact higher than all men. She also thanks God for not making life be forever which also can be linked to the theme of sadness.   In the poem “Mother, among the dustbins” the concept of God is expressed in his presence everywhere from the dustbins to the brooms and cats. From most of her poems it can be assumed that Smith was religious but looking at “Sunt Leones” it clearly looks like Smith was mocking God, so it is not really clear if she was religious or nor.

Friendship was another theme spoken about in the minority of her poems such as “Conviction IV” and “The Pleasures of Friendship”. She talks about the fun things in life in the “Conviction IV” and in “The Pleasures of Friendship”; it talks about friendship as a whole.

The Absence of Love is another major theme in her poems. In the poem “Pad, Pad” Smith talks about a broke Japanese family and in another poem “Autumn”, she tells the story of an elderly couple who agree to marry although they don’t love each other.

In conclusion, Stevie Smith is a versatile author; her poems include range from the theme of happiness to sadness. Her poems her also very enjoyable and one will find them very interesting indeed.

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