Elinor Wylie

[titania7]

Elinor Wylie, if she is known at all these days, is perhaps given more attention for her colorful personal life than she is given for her literary accomplishments. Born Elinor Morton Hoyt on September 7, 1885, in Sommerville, New Jersey, she came from a prominent Philadelphia family that boasted a number of dignitaries in its family tree. Though not a prolific novelist, she did turn out four novels that are worth reading--and remembering. Among these is The Venetian-Glass Nephew, a highly fanciful tale set in 1782 about Cardinal Peter Innocent Bon, who is so ardent in his pursuit of a nephew, that he approaches a glassblower and conjurer to "create" one for him. This book, which is my favorite of all Wylie's novels, is written with much brilliance and a creativity that I find to be matchless. Her other novels include Mr. Hodge and Mr. Hazard, The Orphan Angel, and Jennifer Lorn: A Sedate Extravaganza.

Of course, aside from her controversial life, it is for her poetry that Elinor Wylie has received the most acclaim. Several collections are quite noteworthy, especially Angels and Earthly Creatures, which is generally considered to be the best of her oeuvre of poetry. It has been said that her poem, "Velvet Shoes," suggests the "white silence" of snow more exquisitely than any poem ever written. Let us take a look at this poem and decide for ourselves:

"Let us walk in the white snow
In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet and slow
At a tranquil pace,
Under veils of white lace

I shall go shod in silk,
And you in wool,
White as white cow's milk,
More beautiful
Than the breast of a gull.

We shall walk through the town
In a windless peace;
We shall step upon white down,
Upon silver fleece,
Upon softer than these.

We shall walk in velvet shoes
Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews
On white silence below
We shall walk in the snow.


If Elinor beguiles the reader with her poetry, the details of her personal life remind one of a play script or a film screenplay. She was beautiful yet cold, with looks that resembled those of the classic 1920s film star, Louise Brooks. She left her first husband, Philip Hichborn, along with her only child, in 1910. The man she left her family for was none other than Horace Wylie, a married attorney with four children who was nearly twenty years older than herself. The scandal created by this set of circumstances left both Horace and Elinor in a state of social disgrace. They lived in England until World War I, and it was during this time that Elinor begin finding her voice as a poet and novelist. By the time the couple returned to America, Elinor already had her eye on William Rose Benet, brother of Stephen Benet, who was an admirer of Elinor, her poems, and Elinor's younger brother, Henry. Elinor divorced Horace Wylie and married William Rose
Benet--or Bill, as he was called among his friends--in 1923. Bill is credited with helping Elinor finally achieve success and notoriety as a fixture of the literary scene. Her first book of poetry, Nets to Catch the Wind, was published in 1923, as was her first novel,
Jennifer Lorn.

Women were very wary of letting their husbands get anywhere near Elinor. She tended to bring about destruction wherever she went (like Lord Byron, she was thought of as "mad, bad, and dangerous"). Her first husband, Phil Hichborn, committed suicide, and, before her death, she was in the midst of leaving Bill Benet for yet another married man. She has often been portrayed as a fatal influence on the lives of those who knew her. Her sister, Nancy Hoyt, wrote a biography of Elinor, entitled Elinor Wylie: The Portrait of an Unknown Lady.

Although Elinor's work is regarded of less consequence than the poetry of such luminaries as T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, and W.S. Auden, she has nonetheless had a considerable
influence on other poets, among them Elizabeth Bishop, Theodore Roethke, and Louise Bogan. Much of Elinor's poetry has been spoken of deprecatingly, as being "romantic," "sentimental," and "unoriginal." However, I suspect that those who judge her poems objectively will perceive that she had a unique voice, and a bright, vivacious brilliance that is all her own. Many of the passages in her poems are like sparkling jewels--clear, dazzling, and infinitely luminescent. To this date, she is probably my favorite poet, and certainly one of the most imaginative novelists I have ever read.

For a bit more information on her, check out these links:

ELINOR WYLIE


http://www.magiclink.com/web/lostheroines/webdoc4.html


Elinor Wylie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elinor, who never enjoyed good health and often spoke of
herself as having "the blood pressure of a parrot," died of a
stroke in New York on December 16, 1928. She was 43.

You can read some of Elinor's poetry here:

Poet: Elinor Morton Wylie - All poems of Elinor Morton Wylie

Another site:

Poets' Corner - Elinor Wylie - Nets to Catch the Wind


~Titania

"I am better able to imagine hell than heaven;
it is my inheritance, I suppose."
~Elinor Wylie

[titania7]

Browsing the internet today for more information on Elinor Wylie,
I came across the following site, which includes an informative bio, as well as an extensive bibliography:

Poetry Foundation: The online home of the Poetry Foundation



~Titania

"In masks outrageous and austere, The years go by
in single file; But none has merited my fear, And
none has quite escaped my smile."
~Elinor Wylie

[Irene Wilde]

Titania,

Because you are a lover of poetry, I thought I'd share this with you. Some dear friends and me having a little favorite poems "throw down."

[Mirabell]

Originally Posted by Irene Wilde

Titania,

Because you are a lover of poetry, I thought I'd share this with you. Some dear friends and me having a little favorite poems "throw down."

More of that sort of stuff here. Indeed, as that thread progresses it stops being a real discussion and turns into a quotefest. onefatman and Canox are both me.

[Irene Wilde]

Originally Posted by Mirabell

More of that sort of stuff here. Indeed, as that thread progresses it stops being a real discussion and turns into a quotefest. onefatman and Canox are both me.

Wow! It will take me some time to read through that link, but I think it's fun when share their favorites, it rounds out the personality behind the screen name.

[titania7]

Irene & Mirabell,
Thanks for the links! How did you know how much I adore e.e. cummings, Irene? I was just browsing through a link to all his poetry last night, trying to decide which of his poems is my second favorite (1st choice has long been decided--"since feeling is first").
And, Mirabell, I'll have to check out some your favorite German poets. I already know and love Rilke.

On an Elinor-Wylie related note, I came across Amy Lowell's thoughts on Wylie's Nets to Catch the Winds. In a letter written to Elinor on May 29, 1923, Lowell says:

"It is appealing....I repeat with very sincere words of my first reaction, 'My, that girl can write!'....Your work gives me more pleasure than almost any that is written to-day."

Vanity Fair had the following praise:

"Even when her (Wylie's) poems are not suffused with beauty, they are alive with intelligence; at worse, she can charm us with her distinguished manner and fascinate us with her literary dexterity."

Critics compared Wylie's work to that of Blake, Donne, Keats, Amy Lowell, and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Irene, you might find it interesting to note that Dorothy Parker was one of Wylie's "reluctant" friends. I don't think women were terribly eager to be close friends with Wylie, considering her penchant for taking married men away from their wives. What an incorrigible little minx!!

~Titania

[titania7]

Here is Elinor Wylie's own "verse portrait," printed in The New Yorker:

"She gives the false impression that she's pretty
Because she has a soft, deceptive skin
Saved from her childhood; yet it seems a pity
That she should be as vain of this as sin;
Her might might bloom, she might reform the world
In those lost hours while her hair is curled."

These are remarks made about Wylie's appearance by the American author and poet, Louis Untermeyer*. In this description, he compares Wylie's features to those of Queen Nefertiti:

"Here were the same imperious brows; the high cheekbones and the scooped-out cheeks; the proud and narrow nose; the small taut mouth; the carved and resolute chin; the long smooth column of the throat.....The eyes were bright and hypnotic hazel--witch hazel, it seemed to me. To offset the stare and the general effect of stiffness, her hair was loose and lively."

Wylie described her hair as "lion-colored." She was known to be vain, and wasn't altogether certain whether she preferred her intellect or her beauty to be admired more. Shortly after recovering from a 1924 hospital visit, Louis Untermeyer said to her, "You look particularly lovely tonight." Wylie, notorious for misinterpreting compliments, shot back, "Have you ever seen me looking any other way?"

~Titania



* Louis Untermeyer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[lionel]

Originally Posted by titania7

She tended to bring about destruction wherever she went (like Lord Byron, she was thought of as "mad, bad, and dangerous").

And yet, titania, you obviously have a great respect for her, and your only (although surely affectionate?) criticism of her is: 'What an incorrigible little minx!! '

The 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' quotation of course comes from Lady Caroline Lamb, and I think it was made more out of romantic interest than criticism. On Byron's death, he had the status of, say, a rock star today, and the story of the return of his pillaged body returning through England to its final destination in Hucknall parish church here in Nottinghamshire (we have more than D. H. Lawrence, Samuel Butler and Robin Hood) is well documented. And last month, the Greeks made 19 April – the date of Byron's death – a national holiday. Byron has long been a hero in that country.

And oddly enough, Carl Van Doren's comment on Elinor Wylie (reproduced in Edmiston and Cirino's Literary New York is relevant here:

'What in Washington had seemed shocking, in New York seemed dramatic. Almost nobody knew exactly what her story was, but everyone knew she had a story and thought of her as some kind of heroine.'

Yes, it appears that being 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' can sometimes confer a hell of a lot of respect.

[titania7]

Why, Lionel, who says I'm not a bit of a vixen myself? Indeed, that remark was made with a certain amount of affection. I do assure you I haven't ever taken a married man away from his wife, however. That's simply not my style....

But, Wylie was clearly more incorrigible than I am.

~Titania

[lionel]

Originally Posted by titania7

But, Wylie was clearly more incorrigible than I am.

I'm pleased to hear that. But I can't put this book down – it's the sort you can't read from cover to cover, but just take huge plunges into now and then. It's probably long been out of print, but I picked it up in a garden sale in Alphabet City for a dollar, and it's a literary trainspotter's delight. Wylie (a few years before her third marriage), Benét, Dos Passos and others used to have a favourite restaurant in the Village, Marta's, which is now re-named Blue Hill Restaurant.

Untermeyer said she looked like Nefertiti: 'the same imperious brows; the high cheekbones and the scooped-out cheeks; the proud and narrow nose; the small taut mouth; the carved and resolute chin; the long smooth column of the throat'. She liked Van Doren's description of her: like 'ice chalk', and 'She had no colour but in her lustrous eyes and her bronze hair'. Hmmm.... smell the danger.

[lionel]

I've just noticed you already said most of that! Take no notice, I'll get back to the book! Can't follow two things at a time.

[titania7]

Lionel,
I've searched your messages again and again....and cannot find
the name of the book you mention. I want to get a copy of it myself, if you would be a dear and tell me its title. It isn't the Elinor Wylie bio by Stanley Olson, is it?

Incidentally, the color of my hair is somewhere between amber and bronze, my eyes are hazel, and I haven't much color in my complexion, either. Now I'm waiting for the moment when I can write poetry like Ms. Wylie's! Oh, when will this day come???

~Titania

[lionel]

Originally Posted by titania7

Lionel,
I've searched your messages again and again....and cannot find
the name of the book you mention. I want to get a copy of it myself, if you would be a dear and tell me its title. It isn't the Elinor Wylie bio by Stanley Olson, is it?

No, it's a far more general book called Literary New York. There's not much about Wylie in it, but there's a wealth of detail, with maps and photos, on a large number of writers. It's over 400 pages.

[lionel]

And the full details fo the book would help:

Amazon.com: Literary New York: A History and Guide: Susan Edmiston, Linda D. Cirino: Books

[titania7]

Originally Posted by lionel

No, it's a far more general book called Literary New York. There's not much about Wylie in it, but there's a wealth of detail, with maps and photos, on a large number of writers. It's over 400 pages.

Lionel,
Thanks so much! For some reason, I thought Literary New York was a magazine. Hmmm....maybe I should go fix myself another cup of black tea. I've already had two cups of coffee and four cups of tea. I might just be addicted to caffeine! But a girl's got to have a vice or two, doesn't she?

~Titania

[lionel]

Ross Wetzsteon's Republic of Dreams: Greenwich Village: The American Bohemia, 1910–1960 was published four years after the author's death. Perhaps he hadn't completely checked his manuscript over before he died, but certainly one obvious error is his assumption – no doubt fed by the bisexual Edna St Vincent Millay's fierce defence of her – that Wylie was excluded from the League of American Penwomen because she was a lesbian.

[titania7]

Oh, Lionel, in addition to those pesky lesbian rumors, let's not forget Ms. Wylie's obession with Percy Shelley. In the words of Rebecca West:

"Elinor was quite dotty, not just crazy, but dotty about Shelley. I remember her telling me that she had heard Shelley come into the next room that afternoon and then saw him press his face to the door. She was quite serious!"

Elinor was fixated on the similarities between her own life and Shelley's--both shared ill health, a disregard for obligations, cruelty with their first spouses, a string of dead children, and a passion for water and for the country. Apparently, Elinor loved Shelley a great deal more than she did any of her husbands. Sarah Teasdale even made this witty remark: "Elinor Wylie, Elinor Wylie, What do I hear you say? I wish it were Shelley astride my belly instead of poor Bill Benet."

Elinor herself "painted" an interesting portrait of Shelley (though she titled this piece of writing "Shiloh," a name borrowed from Shelley):

"He (Shelley, obviously) looked very tall....very slim....with preposterous elegance, his romantic grace, and the aristocratic attenuation of his frame. At the same time, he wore the indubitable air of an athlete....His face was bronzed, save where the exceeding whiteness of the forehead betrayed itself under the tumbled hair, whose dark eccentric exuberance was flecked with silver."

Shelley also inspired much of Elinor's work in regard to her novel, The Orphan Angel.
Lest anyone wonder, Elinor's obsession with Shelley began at the age of eleven.

~Titania

[lionel]

Originally Posted by titania7

Oh, Lionel, in addition to those pesky lesbian rumors, let's not forget Ms. Wylie's obession with Percy Shelley.

No, indeed.

Originally Posted by titania7

"Elinor Wylie, Elinor Wylie, What do I hear you say? I wish it were Shelley astride my belly instead of poor Bill Benet."

It's just Sarah Teasdale's expression 'Astride my belly'. Surely that suggests the missionary position, and why should there be such an assumption? Wouldn't Wylie have chosen to be astride the belly of the man she was with?

[lionel]

And yes,I'm aware that 'Shelley' rhymes with 'belly', but that's not the point.

[titania7]

Having just procured three books on Ms. Wylie from the library today, I thought it was time to re-visit my Elinor Wylie thread. Until now, I hadn't any idea that Thomas Wolfe considered Elinor to be "horrible." In spite of this, though, he was intrigued enough by her to use her as a character in The Web and the Rock, one of his novels. In this incarnation, Elinor is the poetess, Rosalind Bailey, a woman Wolfe describes as "an object of idolatry." Here is an excerpt from The Web in the Rock, in which an encounter between Elinor and Carl Van Vechten (as novelist Paul Van Vleeck) is depicted:

"At this moment Rosalind Bailey entered the room...There was no doubt
at all who she was. Her cold beauty was celebrated, her picture was well
known, and, in justice to her, it must be said that she....fully lived up to
her photographs...The impression that she gave was virginal and girlish,
and it was not contrived. She had the long, straight, lovely legs of a young girl, she was tall, and carried herself proudly...Anyone who ever saw her would always retain the memory of her....quality of passion and
ice.

Immediately, however, she began to behave in a strange manner.
Taking no notice of....newcomers, she swept through the doorway
and then stood there....with a proud and outraged look.

'Frank,' she said, in a cold, decisive voice, 'I will not--' her voice rose strongly on the word--'stay here in this room as long as Paul remains'....

'Now Rosalind,' said Van Vleeck.....speaking petulantly, 'I'm not going to talk to you'....

'I am not going to be insulted [she cried]...he said that Eleanora Duse
was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen!'....

She burst into tears, and, turning, fell into the comforting arms of
her husband....sobbing convulsively like a child."

Having just been given a copy of Wolfe's The Web and The Rock by a friend, I'm especially intrigued by the idea that one of the characters was
inspired by Ms. Wylie.

~Titania

"'Oh, she (Elinor Wylie) was lovely! There was nobody like her at all.'"
~Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay