JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for POETRYETC Archives


POETRYETC Archives

POETRYETC Archives


POETRYETC@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

POETRYETC Home

POETRYETC Home

POETRYETC  February 2015

POETRYETC February 2015

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

Rosemary Sumner

From:

Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Poetryetc: poetry and poetics

Date:

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 14:03:57 +0000

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (61 lines)

Few will know of whom I speak.; but it is a moment I wis to mark..

Dr Rosemary Sumner has died.

Rosemary was a senior lecturer at Goldsmiths until her retirement in 1989.
I believe she first joined the staff of Goldsmiths in the late 50s.

I met her first in the early 90s when he son's VOICES FOR 9 was presented
at Royal Court in London

She wrote on Hardy, Golding, Beckett, Lawrence and others; and was for many
years, I believe, a stalwart of the Hardy Soc

She wore her learning lightly; but she had been adept in many languages;
and told that, on leaving school, she was recruited to Bletchley Park where
they gave her three months intense tuition in Japanese before letting her
loose on Japanese signals.

I asked her how many she decoded or how may discoveries she made - it was
never clear what she did and it may have been quite humdrum -- and she said
none; but she would have said that whatever the truth.

After the war, she married and emigrated to South Africa; but, after the
birth of her only child, Stephen known to the world by his fifth name,
Alaric, she separated from her husband - he left her when the baby arrived
- and returned to UK.

She taught for a while at Neill's Summerhill. She described teaching with
the baby in a pram beside her.

At some point she spent some months in Sweden on an educational project.

She was mother, as I say, to Alaric Sumner, artist and writer (remembered
now mainly for Waves on Porthmeor Beach with the late Sandra Blow R A) who
died in March 2000 aged 52, a loss from which Rosemary never really
recovered.

Alaric bought a house with her in St Ives in Cornwall and she moved there
in 1990. Then, within a few years, he spent a year away in Leeds studying
at the university; and a few years later he had taken accommodation in
Totnes, Devon while he taught at Dartington College, some years before its
move to Falmouth; and he tended to spend much of his time in Devon
returning for weekends and holidays.

Throughout the 1990s, Rosemary punctuated her days and weeks by walks,
especially along the cliffs to Zennor.

Her last years were quite sad and probably lonely. She was increasingly
unwell from the early years of this century; and her last professional work
was a book review in 2004.

I am not sure that she had adjusted to her move from London, seeming quite
isolated; it had been Alaric's idea. She read much of the time until the
concentration was beyond her; and then she relied upon Radio 3. Put in care
by those to whom she entrusted her well-being, she was often left to
Classics FM or silence. Few visited.
She died in her sleep on Monday 9 February 2015. A date has yet to be fixed
for her funeral.

L

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager