author
Elizabeth Bridges Daryush
1887–1977
A finely crafted English poet, she wrote with formal control and a sharp awareness of class and social injustice. Though she came from a distinguished literary family, her poems often look past privilege toward the harder truths of ordinary life.
1 Audiobook
Sonnets from Hafez & Other Verses
by Elizabeth Bridges Daryush, active 14th century Ḥāfiẓ
About the author
Born Elizabeth Bridges in London in 1887, she was the daughter of Poet Laureate Robert Bridges and grew up in a strongly literary world. Some of her early work appeared under the name Elizabeth Bridges before she became known as Elizabeth Daryush.
She published several collections of poetry and was especially noted for her disciplined, traditional forms. Critics have often pointed to the tension in her work between elegance of style and a moral seriousness that led her to write about inequality, suffering, and the limits of privilege.
After marrying Ali Akbar Daryush in 1923, she spent time in Persia before returning to England, where she lived for most of the rest of her life. She died in 1977, and her work remains of interest to readers drawn to 20th-century poetry that is both technically careful and emotionally clear.