Michael Field

Simon Avery (University of Westminster)
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“Michael Field” was the shared pseudonym of English writers Katharine Harris Bradley (1846-1914) and Edith Emma Cooper (1862-1913), aunt and niece who collaborated in the writing of thirty plays, eleven books of poetry and a thirty-volume journal of their life. They lived together for forty-eight years and evidence indicates that they were lovers for much of that time (see in particular Emma Donoghue's excellent study,

We Are Michael Field

, 1998). As they wrote in one of their most famous poems entitled “It was deep April and the morn” (1893), “My Love and I took hands and swore,/ Against the world, to be/ Poets and lovers ever more”.

Katharine was born in Birmingham, the daughter of Charles Bradley, a tobacco manufacturer who died when she was just two years old, and his

1662 words

Citation: Avery, Simon. "Michael Field". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1521, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1521 Michael Field 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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