Jean Earle

Jean Earle was a prolific poet during the last two decades of her life.[1] She was born in Bristol but brought up in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales and lived as an adult in Carmarthenshire, saying in a published interview that in spite of her birthplace she felt more Welsh than English.[2] Her first collection of poems A Trial of Strength (1980) was published when she was already in her seventies, but she went on to publish five more volumes of poetry before her death at the age of 93:

The Intent Look (1984)

Visiting Light (1987)

Selected Poems -with some new poems (1990)

The Sun in the West (1995)

The Bed of Memory (2001)

Critics responded in particular to her focus on the theme of light[3] and her adoption of a deliberately naïve stance which she saw as “a way to truth”.[4] The Arts Council of Wales shortlisted The Bed of Memory for their Wales Book of the Year award in 2002. Visiting Light (1987) was a Poetry Book Society choice and Selected Poems (1990) a Poetry Book Society recommendation[5]

A reading and analysis of the poem 'Jugged Hare' appears on the Swansea University website.[6]

Her private papers deposited in the National Library of Wales also indicate that she wrote a novel which was unpublished[7]

References
  1. Stephens, Meic (1986). Oxford Companion to The Literature of Wales. Oxford: O.U.P. p. 161. ISBN 0192115863.
  2. Gramich, Katie (1996). "Interview with Jean Earle". New Welsh Review. 33: 42–44.
  3. Hooker, Jeremy (1989). "Review of The Intent Look". PN Review. 68.
  4. Hill, Greg (April 2022). "Jean Earle - a naive talent?".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. "Jean Earle | Seren Books". www.serenbooks.com. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  6. "Jean Earle, 'Jugged Hare' - Swansea University". www.swansea.ac.uk.
  7. Earle, Jean (April 2022). "Jean Earle : Private Papers". National Library of Wales.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)


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