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Papers relating to Elizabeth Daryush

 Single Item
MS. 6980
Held in our offsite storage facility

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Comprises 4 folders:

  1. Four black and white photographic prints [modern copies] of Elizabeth Daryush. Three portrait, one standing outside house in Persia with dog [c.1920s-50s].
  2. Photocopies of correspondence between Elizabeth Daryush and Donald E. Stanford, 1970-1979. Letters from 1977 dictated and written by Ali Akbar Daryush. Also includes: photocopies of eight letters from Ali Akbar Daryush after Elizabeth's death, 1977-1979; and list of works by Elizabeth Daryush by publication date.
  3. Autograph draft and fair copy manuscripts of poems by Elizabeth Daryush, including 'Song of a Pentecostal Summer' [c.1970-1976]. With annotation by Donald E. Stanford suggesting some drafts may be in the hand of Ali Akbar Daryush due to Elizabeth's increasing blindness [1986].
  4. Working papers of Donald E. Stanford, mainly photocopies, c.1972-1978. Includes: biographical information; obituaries; reviews; lists of work; typescript manuscript of 'Two Poems', corrected by Elizabeth Daryush; letters between Michael Schmidt, Carcanet Press Ltd and Donald E. Stanford regarding proof corrections, including galley proof and photocopy of typescript corrected by Daryush [1972-1973]; and photocopy of autograph manuscript fair copy of 'Song of a Pentecostal Summer' [1976].

Dates

  • Creation: 1920s-1986

Extent

1 box

Language of Materials

  • English

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MS. 6980].

Please see our help page for further guidance on citing archives and manuscripts.

Shelfmark:

MS. 6980

Former reference:

Box 5 : Daryush 5/1-4

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 6980

Abstract

Papers of Donald E. Stanford (1913-1998), writer and teacher, relating to the poet Elizabeth Daryush (1887-1977).

Biographical / Historical

Elizabeth Daryush (née Bridges) was born in December 1887, the daughter of the poet Robert Seymour Bridges (Poet Laureate 1913 to 1930) and Mary Monica Waterhouse. She grew up in the family home, Chilswell House, Boars Hill near Oxford.

Elizabeth published a translation of Persian poetry, Sonnets from Hafiz and Other Poems in 1921. She married Ali Akbar Daryush in 1923, a Persian government official (the couple met when he was a student in Oxford in 1915). The Daryushes lived in Persia until 1927, before returning to Oxfordshire and settling at Stockwell, Boars Hill.

Experimental in syllabic meter, over the years her poems reflected her increasing awareness of social injustice. Her first collection of poems was published in 1911 and titled in Greek script (translated as Charitessi). This was followed by Verses in 1916, a series which was resumed in 1932 with Verses II and continued on to Verses VII in 1971. A self Selected Poems of all the poems she wished 'to preserve' was published in 1972 (suppressing her three books published before 1922); her Collected Poems was published in 1976. Her work was championed by Yvor Winters, Roy Fuller, Donald Davie, Donald E. Stanford and, in later years, Michael Schmidt of the Carcanet Press.

Elizabeth Daryush died in April 1977 and is buried in St Peter's Church, Wootten near Oxford. Her estate was bequeathed to the Oxford Preservation Trust.

Donald Elwin Stanford (1913-1998), writer and teacher, was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. He studied English at Stanford and Harvard before embarking on a free-lance writing career, becoming associated with the literary group centred around Yvor Winters known as 'Winters circle'. Stanford married Maryanna Peterson in August 1953.

Stanford became Professor of English at Louisiana State University in 1953 and editor of the Southern Review in 1963. He published a selection of Robert Bridges' poems in 1974, followed by a biographical study of Bridges's life and work, In the Classic Mode: The Achievement of Robert Bridges which was published in 1983.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Given to the Bodleian Library by Donald E. Stanford, 29 March 1990.

Related Materials

Bodleian Libraries

  1. MS. 6941 - Papers of Elizabeth Daryush

Stanford University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives

  1. M0466 - the Donald E. Stanford Papers, 1933-1985
Title
Catalogue of papers relating to Elizabeth Daryush, 1920s-1986
Status
Published
Author
Finding aid prepared by Rachael Marsay
Date
2019
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
Catalogued with the generous support of the Roy Davids bequest

Repository Details

Part of the Bodleian Libraries Repository

Contact:
Weston Library
Broad Street
Oxford OX1 3BG United Kingdom