Daniela Perez, Elon Shore, MaryAnne Guzman
Wheels is a poetry journal that served as a modernist counterblast to Georgian poetry that showcases the talents of the Sitwells, an English aristocratic family. Wheels, edited by Edith Sitwell, was published annually from 1916 to 1921. Most of the work belonged to the Sitwell siblings: Edith, Osbert, and Sachervell. It also featured work by other poets such as Aldous Huxley, Nancy Cunard, and Iris Tree. Their unique yet cohesive poetic styles represented the “wheel” the Sitwells were trying to illustrate. The journal contains radical poems that used imagery, freestyle verse, and political views that are represented through the poetry, illustrations, layouts, and journal reviews.
The imagery used captured the essence of the objects described, which were connected to other parts of life. In the beginning, the imagery was tragic. The poets conveyed grave and dark emotions. Other imagery used described nature and how people worked. Upon its initial publication, Wheels concentrated on introducing this imaginative style of poetry to the world by the title they were giving the journal.
The essence of how they were trying to exemplify imagery is best illustrated in the name of the journal. Wheels is chosen as a symbol of their ideology that demonstrates how everything in the world is connected through the circular image. By it, the journal ultimately creates a poetry genre described as “Sitwells” that contain imagery as an icon. It did not however, have the impact of other poetry movements like the Imagists or other more well-known, Modern movements. It was successful, however, in connecting every part of society together in a representation of the wheel. To ensure the readers did not miss what was trying to be created, the representation of the wheel image is in the beginning page of each issue.
The poems in the first issue lay the foundation for the entire genre. The first poem, “Wheels” by Nancy Cunard, uses images to bring many different parts of society together with the free-verse style. The poem begins,
“I sometimes think that all our thoughts are wheels
Rolling forever through the painted world,
Moved by the cunning of a thousand clowns
Dressed paper-wise, with blatant rounded masks,
That take their multi-coloured caravans
From place to place, and act and leap and sing,
Catching the spinning hoops when cymbals clash.” (pg 1)
Cunard emphasizes the circular aspects of the world. She brings in many types of thoughts that go in many different directions. This free-verse style is seen throughout the many Wheels journals. The poem emphasizes how the wheel is wrapped together by the fate of “act”, “leap”, and “sing.” The wheel symbol here introduces the world to a connecting wheel as seen in the forthcoming issue.
The theme in volume one, free-verse style, demonstrates how the poets were fighting against the rigid style of Georgian/Victorian poetry. For supporting, writing, and publishing this style, Edith Sitwell has been referred to by critics as the “Mother of the Free Verse;” poetry that creates its own format. In the free-style Wheels publishes, nouns are free and stand alone in a sentence or are set with other words to form a complete idea. This open-ended style of poetry radiates radicalism and creativity.
The first two issues of Wheels have covers that express the cyclical aesthetic of the time, while the third and fourth issues deal with the political climate, particularly the economy and warfare.
“Optimism,” a poem by Iris Tree for example, discusses the economic woes of the time, “What will happen to the starving, and the rebel run from drilling,/ Cowardly, afraid of fighting, and the child who stole a shilling ?/ They shall go to prison black/ With a striped shirt on the back” (pg 61). The images used in this line are filled with political implications. The boy stealing shows the reader that the poet wants them to look at the poverty and social class structure of the past.
The third issue of Wheels is adorned with the Sky Pilot by Vorticist Lawerence Atkinson. This picture features bold lines and colors that can be considered reflective of the warring climate in 1918. In the fourth issue, Sitwell’s dedication to fallen soldier and celebrated war poet, Wilfred Owen, reflects the somber mood of this period. The poems found in the issues are as dramatic and bold as the cover illustrations. The bibliographic code of the journals at this time was relative to the atmosphere in England. For example, the poetry that appears in the fourth issue coincides with the illustrations regarding the war provided by William Moore. Osbert Sitwell’s poem featured Moore’s Corpse Day July 19, 1919 illustration. Ironically, the date is highly relevant to the poem because on this date London was holding peace celebrations to acknowledge the end of the war. The poem describes the actual violent state of England through metaphorical visions of Christ from heaven. This issue also features William Moore’s radical illustration Gun Drill, dark and militant images that demonstrate violence and war.
The consistent layout of Wheels has it that the table of contents lists each author and the title of his/her poems. The entire font remains consistent throughout each issue and poem. This appearance promotes the issues as a whole anthology rather than poems viewed in isolation. Another consistent trend of the anthology is that the Sitwell family is featured in every issue. Their writings consisted of their perspectives on war, and a satirical view of English society, namely rejecting the Georgian poetry that presided during this time and their childhood. Lastly, Sitwell prints reviews by different presses, such as The New Age, the Observer, and the Times that critique the works in the journal. According to one review by the Observer, the anthology is “defiant and gloomy, yet clever and stimulating.” In the same issue, Sitwell publishes the harsh criticism of the Pioneer where they describe the young writers’ work as boring and how they should not be taken seriously by anyone.
Due to its radical style of poetry, Wheels had an important role in this time even though it was short lived. While hard to find, original digitized copies can be found at the University of Toronto mainly St. Michaels College, University of California at Berkley, and the Scarborough Mansion in Yorkshire England (the former residence of the Sitwells). Wheels was an avenue for many poets to express their ideas and their new style of writing.
