Reading Stevie’s Life in Her Work.doc

Reading Stevie’s Life in Her Work Writer: Supervisor: Abstract: For most Chinese readers, the name Stevie Smith must be very unfamiliar with and they will ask “who is Stevie Smith? Is she a myth?” In this thesis, the author will first answer these questions to readers. Stevie Smith was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England in September 1902. She was christened Florence Margaret, but always called Peggy by the family. She acquired the name Stevie when she was riding in the park accidentally (Sternlicht, 1991: P4) Retaining her nickname Stevie throughout her adulthood, she shifted her poems from male to female; Conformity to unconformity, simple to complex, adult to child, but only one theme is not changed: death—always being the core of her poems and melancholy is the preponderant mood of the poem. Through her life, Stevie Smith totally published 8 volumes of poetry, three novels, and a radio play. She acquired reputation in Britain and the United States. But what a pity is that few Chinese pundits and readers research her and even just know about her. Some people say Stevie’s poems are elusive, while if we can have a thorough learning of her life, her poems will become easier alike the sentence saying “Stevie’s life can be read in her work; and, indeed, her life was her work” (Sternlicht, 1991: P3), because poems are universal. In this thesis, the author will introduce and analyze Stevie’s life and works focusing on autobiographical view and find the relationship of them. Key words: Smith’s life; Smith’s poems; melancholy mood; psychology CONTENT Introduction 1 Chapter One Is Stevie Smith a Myth? Brief Introduction to Stevie Smith 2 1.1 First Seventeenth Years Melancholy Life 2 1.2 Stevie Becomes a Secretary and Two Unsuccessful Love Relationship 4 1.3 Stevies First Novel and Collection of Poems is Published 6 1.4 Difficulties in Fifties 8 1.5 Rejuvenation Again and Deplorability in her Late Age 9 Chapter Two Why She Loves Death so Much? 11