Anne Ridler

Anne Ridler (1912-2001). Courtesy PoemHunter.

Anne Barbara Ridler OBE (née Bradby) (30 July 1912 - 15 October 2001) was an English poet, who worked as an editor for Faber & Faber,

Life

Family, youth, education

Ridler was born Anne Barbara Bradby, daughter of H.C. Bradby, a housemaster at Rugby School (where she was born). Her mother, Violet (Milford), wrote popular children's stories and was the sister of Humphrey S. Milford, Publisher to the University of Oxford. A great-grandfathers of hers was Charles Richard Sumner, Bishop of Winchester, a brother of John Bird Sumner, Archbishop of Canterbury. Her uncle, G.F. Bradby, was the author of The Lanchester Tradition (1919), while her aunt Barbara Bradby was the joint author of The Village Labourer (1911). Her cousins included composer Robin Milford and Rev. Dick Milford, vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford.

Anne Bradby was educated at Downe House School and later published a biography of her headmistress, Olive Willis. After 6 months in Florence and Rome, she enrolled at King's College London, where she earned a diploma in journalism.

Career

In 1938, she married Vivian Ridler, the future Printer to Oxford University (1958-1978), but then the manager of the Bunhill Press, London. They had 2 daughters and 2 sons.

She selected the Faber anthology A Little Book of Modern Verse (1941) together with T.S. Eliot.

She edited Charles Williams: The image of the city, and other essays (1958) and Charles Williams: Selected writings (1961). A Christian and friend and correspondent of C.S. Lewis, she was on the edge of the Inklings group.

Also closely associated with Eliot, she wrote a short but powerful poem, "I Who am Here Dissembled" full of allusions to images in Eliot's own poems, for the anthology T.S. Eliot: A Symposium in honour of his 60th birthday.

For a short time in the 1940s, Ridler was also a successful verse dramatist, with such plays as Cain (1943) and Shadow Factory: A Nativity play (1945).

Her Collected Poems (Carcanet Press) were published in 1994.

Recognition

Her poetry was included in the New Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1950.

Ridler was awarded the Cholmondeley Award in 1999.

She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2001.

Publications

Poetry

• Poems. London: Oxford University Press / Humphrey Milford, 1939.
• A Dream Observed, and other poeems. London: Poetry London, 1941.
• The Nine Bright Shiners. London: Faber, 1943.
• The Golden Bird, and other poems. London: Faber, 1951.
• A Matter of Life and Death. London: Faber, 1959.
• Who is My Neighbour; and, How Bitter the Bread. London: Faber, 1963.
• Some Time After, and other poems. London: Faber, 1972.
• Italian Prospect: Six poems. Oxford, UK: Perpetua, 1976.
• Dies Natalis: Poems of birth and infancy. Oxford, UK: Perpetua, 1980.
• Ten Poems. Leamington Spa, UK: Other Branch Readings, 1984.
• The Phoenix Answered. Amsterdam: Phoenix Productions, 1988.
• New and Selected Poems. London & Boston: Faber, 1988.
• Collected Poems. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1994.

Plays

• Cain: A play in two acts. London: Nicholson & Watson, 1943.
• The Shadow Factory: A Nativity play. London: Faber, 1946.
• Henry Bly, and other plays. London: Faber, 1950.
• The Trial of Thomas Cranmer. London: Faber, 1956.
• The Jesse Tree: A church opera or masque (illustrated by John Piper). London: Lyrebird, 1972.

Non-fiction

• Shakespeare Criticism, 1919-1935 (as Anne Bradby). London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1936; (as Anne Ridler), London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1962.
• Shakespeare Criticism, 1935-1960. London & New York: Oxford University Press, 1963.
• Olive Willis and Downe House: An adventure in education. London: John Murray, 1967.
• A Victorian Family Postbag. Oxford, UK: Perpetua, 1988.
• Working with T.S. Eliot: A personal reminiscence. London: Enitharmon, 2000.
• A Taste for Truth: A conversation with Carole Satyamuri (with Carole Satyamuri). London: Enitharmon, 2001.
• A Measure of English Poetry (lectures). Oxford, UK: Perpetua Press, 1991.
• Memoirs. Oxford, UK: Perpetua, 2004.

Edited

• The Little Book of Modern Verse. London: Faber, 1941.
• Best Ghost Stories. London: Faber, 1945.
• Charles Williams, The Image of the City, and other essays. London: Oxford University Press, 1958.
• James Thomson, Poems, and some letters. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1963; London: Centaur, 1963.
• Thomas Traherne, Poems, Centuries, and three Thanksgivings. London: Oxford University Press, 1966.
• George Darley, Selected Poems. London: Merrion Press, 1979.
• William Austin, The Poems of William Austin. Oxford, UK: Perpetua, 1983.
• Charles Williams, Charles Williams, 1886-1945: A selection of his poems made by Anne Ridler to mark the centenary of his birth. Oxford, UK: Charles Williams Society, 1986.
• Claudio Monteverdi, The Operas of Monteverdi. London: Calder / New York: Riverrun, 1992.
• The Poetry of Praise: A selection of hymns chosen for their poetry. Warwick, UK: Greville Press, 2007.
• Charles Williams, The Taliessin Poems of Charles Williams. Berkeley, CA: Apocryphile Press, 2010.

Collected Poems (1994) (Anne Barbara Ridler Poem)

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

Audio / video

• Anne Ridler: Reading from her poems. London: Poetry Archive, 2005.

See also

• List of British poets

External links

Poems

• "Autumn Day"
• "Choosing a Name": Poem of the Week at the Times Literary Supplement
• Anne Ridler at AllPoetry (9 poems)
• Anne Barbara Ridler at PoemHunter (14 poems)

Audio / video

• Anne Ridler (1912-2001) at The Poetry Archive

Books

• Anne Ridler at Amazon.com

About

• Poet Anne Ridler dies, BBC.
• Anne Ridler obituary, The Guardian
• Anne Ridler obituary, The Telegraph.
• "In memoriam Anne Ridler, The Guardian
• Anne Ridler in Women's Poetry of the 1930's: A critical anthology