Rosamund Stanhope

Rosamund Stanhope
Black-and-white photograph of Stanhope smiling and standing, resting her right hand on a sign that reads in all-caps "THIS SPACE RESERVED FOR BATHERS ONLY"
c. 1947
Born Rosamund Sternberg
(1919-03-04)4 March 1919
Northampton, East Midlands, United Kingdom
Died 7 December 2005(2005-12-07) (aged 86)
Occupation
  • Poet
  • actress
  • teacher
  • radio mechanic
  • secretary
Language English
Nationality England
Citizenship United Kingdom
Education
Period 1962–2001
Children 1

Rosamund Stanhope (4 March 1919 – 7 December 2005) was a British poet and teacher known for her prolific use of esoteric and unusual words.

Biography

Rosamund Stanhope was born on 4 March 1919 in Northampton as the daughter of a Latvian (German by adoption) leather merchant who changed his name after her birth from Sternberg to Stanhope. She grew up in a classically wealthy and distant British family setting, boarding at two independent schools. She trained as an actress at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, where she was taught by Elsie Fogerty, and embarked on her career at the Northgate Theatre, Exeter, but was diverted by the outbreak of the Second World War. She joined the Women's Royal Naval Service and spent the war working as a radio mechanic in Crail, Scotland. She also worked as secretary for Miron Grindea and his literary magazine ADAM International Review.[1] After her daughter was born, she returned in 1952 to the Central School, where she retrained as a teacher.

As well as the three collections published between 1962 and 1992, Stanhope regularly had poems published in various literary and other magazines, such as in the New Statesman. Her first collection was published in March 1962 by John Rolfe at the Scorpion Press. The following year, in 1963, she completed an external degree in English from the University of London. She also broke her spine in an accident at her home.[2] Partially paralysed and psychologically traumatised from the event, she was hospitalised for a string of related problems over 30 times between 1963 and 1969, and thereafter suffered chronic and intense pain. Additionally, she underwent a colostomy after an operation to remove colon cancer, during which her bladder was injured, resulting in further complications.

She maintained her teaching position for nearly two decades, finally retiring in 1987 at the age of 68, and continued writing, producing seven unpublished novels and numerous poems. Two collections of her poems were published by Peterloo Press; she also featured as the Poetry Review′s Poet of the Month. After decades of increasing debilitation, she died peacefully at her home on 7 December 2005.

Published works

  • So I looked down to Camelot - 1962
  • Lapidary (1991)
  • No Place for the Maudlin Heart (2001)

References

  1. ↑ Alan Brownjohn, "Rosamund Stanhope: Poet with a fresh view of familiar territory" (obituary), The Guardian, 3 February 2006.
  2. ↑ "Rosamund Stanhope". The Times. 2006.

Sources

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