A weapon, a game, a kiss

Two newly discovered poems by Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf with her niece Angelica Bell, 1932|© Ramsey and Muspratt via Peter Lofts Photography

This week’s TLS features two newly discovered poems by Virginia Woolf. Perhaps it’s generous to call them poems. Sophie Oliver, the UK academic who found them in a folder of letters to Woolf’s niece, Angelica Garnett (née Bell) describes them as ‘doggerel’. It’s probably fair to say that they are not likely to be included in any poetry anthologies, that doesn’t mean that these scribbled verses are not significant. Oliver argues that the point of such verse for Woolf was ‘to play, poke and charm, and to help with what Angelica thought was one of her aunt’s greatest gifts, creating intimacy with people.’¹

It’s evidence that Woolf wanted to enchant her niece and nephews by using her special powers: words and humour. As I wrote in my previous post on Julian Bell, shared jokes provided a way of lessening the tensions that emerged from their rivalry for Vanessa Bell’s love. ‘It was a relationshi…