Sylvia Townsend Warner

Maroula Joannou (Anglia Ruskin University)
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Sylvia Townsend Warner was born in Harrow on the Hill in 1893, the only daughter of a history teacher at Harrow public school, and was educated privately at home. Her plans to study under Schoenberg in Vienna were disrupted by the 1914-18 war during which she found work in a munitions factory. An accomplished musicologist, she was one of four co-editors of the voluminous

Tudor Church Music

. Townsnd Warner is an excellent stylist whose elegantly crafted fiction is remarkable for its narratological rather than its verbal experimentation, as well as a poet whose verse often follows traditional metric patterns. The heroine of Townsend Warner's first best-selling novel,

Lolly Willowes

(1926), is a middle-aged spinster who flees from a life of drudgery, dependency and respectability in her…

1015 words

Citation: Joannou, Maroula. "Sylvia Townsend Warner". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5026, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5026 Sylvia Townsend Warner 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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