Una Marson: Selected Poems (Caribbean Modern Classics)

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Una Marson continued to advocate for the people of Jamaica. In a talk at Dartford in 1941 she explains how war and disruption to trade has affected the people of Jamaica after England, known to those in Jamaica as ‘Home’, had stopped importing bananas. Jarrett-Macauley, Delia. The Life of Una Marson 1905-1965, Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 1998. The connection between the Fund and other foreign organisations of its kind which aided in the cause. At this juncture, Miss Marson’s literary output was high even though her career was at a young stage. She wrote and had published several articles and two volumes of poems Heights and Depths, 1931 and Tropic Reveries, 1930, and also wrote and staged a play, At What Price, which was the first to be written and staged in Jamaica by a female. Such works articulated her thoughts on various subjects; primarily nature, love and the empowerment of women. In Heights and Depths for instance, poems such as ‘Ecstasy’, ‘A Dream’ and ‘Ethereal’ predominantly speak to love. In Tropic Reveries poems such as ‘Running Water’, ‘Summer Days’ and ‘Beside the Sea’, concerns nature. Experiences regarding the struggles and survival of women in a male dominated society are identifiable in At What Price. It was Marson’s decision to move to London in 1932 that galvanised her politics and changed the tenor of her poetry. While her first collection, Tropic Reveries, which was published two years earlier, focused on questions of identity and love, the racism and discrimination she felt in the metropole changed not only the themes she engaged with, but also how she wrote about them.

Taught myself law from books borrowed from the public library. I achieved my bachelor’s degree in 1967 and can proudly say I became the first clerk of courts, then chief clerk of the court at Clarkenwell.Lonsdale, Sarah (25 October 2020). "The pioneering women who took on Hitler … and Fleet Street". The Observer . Retrieved 25 October 2020. She joined the nascent League of Coloured Peoples, eventually becoming its magazine’s editor. To the surprise of some of the “old codgers” in the movement, she proved that a woman could hold her own in matters of Marxism and colonialism. She met foreign dignitaries and gave speeches on equality that made the news. She wrote a hit play, At What a Price. “A storming success, even if I do say so myself,” she noted. West Indies Calling,” a 1943 newsreel featuring Una Marson introducing other West Indian public figures on the BBC In a small, sparsely furnished office in Kingston in the spring of 1928 Jamaica’s feisty first woman editor-publisher Una Marson proudly proclaimed, ‘This is the age of woman: what man has done women may do’. Born in 1905 in the county parish of St Elizabeth, Marson, the headstrong daughter of a Baptist parson rose to become an internationally famous feminist, poet, playwright, journalist, social activist and BBC broadcaster. In word and deed, Marson was a progressive intellectual with an incandescent intelligence whose ideas centred on women’s liberation, racial equality and cultural nationalism. Though her work has been relatively under recognized, Una Maud Marson can be considered as one of the most versatile and creative female intellectuals in Jamaica’s literary heritage. A much- travelled woman, but spending most of her years in Jamaica, England and the United States, she was born on the 6th day of February, 1905 in Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth to a Baptist pastor, Reverend Solomon Isaac Marson and his wife Ada Wilhelmina Mullings- Marson. She was the youngest daughter of her parents and attended Hampton High School, a traditional boarding school for girls in Malvern, St. Elizabeth.

The Jamaica Save the Children Fund was a fundamental organ through which Marson undertook social work. In spite of being out of Jamaica for extended periods, she remained involved in the fulfillment of the Fund’s objective, the welfare of deprived children. While on one of her stays in England, she wrote to the organization committee: “Other work has delayed my stay here longer than I anticipated and I have not as yet sent in my resignation as organising secretary as while I am here some possibility for getting a good sum might turn up. . . ” (Marson, Letter to Jamaica Save the Children Fund Committee). As a result of her efforts and dedication to the Fund, notable benefits were derived. These included: Donnell, Alison, and Sarah Lawson Welsh. The Routledge Reader in Caribbean Literature. New York, NY: Routledge, 1996. The child using books which upheld the glory of Empire grew to manhood and womanhood knowing nothing and caring less for the land of his forefathers, Africa and the race to which he belonged. Duty to one’s own country and people should be taught before duty to an Empire that took little interest in their children. They grew up with identity complex…” 1 The United States was Miss Marson’s final residence out of Jamaica. She lived in Washington for almost a decade and continued to write; there she developed a new interest, that is, writing for children. In an effort to improve her writing of children’s as well as theatrical literature, she attended the George Washington University Workshop which specialized in a course of writing for children, and the Catholic University Drama School. All upcoming public events are going ahead as planned and you can find more information on our events blogToday, Marson is recognised as the first major woman poet of the Caribbean and an outstanding feminist. Marson was a vulnerable yet worldly-woman who dedicated her life to the great causes of her day including gender equality and racial solidarity which she most poignantly portrayed in her poem ‘There will come a time’ (1931) where she looked forward to the day when peoples of the world …will look to each other’s hearts And souls, and not upon their skin … while I live, ‘Tis mine to share in this gigantic task Of oneness for the world’s humanity. Marson started her journalist career at the Critic in Kingston and then later started her own magazine, Cosmopolitan. The magazine was filled with feminism, radical politics, fashion, housekeeping, and poetry. It was the first Jamaican magazine owned and edited by a woman. The magazine only lasted a few years, but Una had gained significant experience. After the closure of the magazine, Una continued to publish poetry including a collection of poems in Tropic Reveries in 1930. Arrival in London We also know that clinical depression was a major, life-long problem, and although sometimes embarrassed about it, Marson never hid the truth. In fact, when I neglected to mention her depression in an early article in Jamaica Journal—perhaps out of a misguided desire to shield her reputation—one of her fellow-poets rebuked me. Una would have wanted me to tell the truth, he insisted. I think her poetry is relevant throughout any age. Her poems are so rich in descriptive language, all of those things that we study in English, metaphors, metaphoric language - and paradox.

Marson, Una. “The America I Have Discovered – Miami and Washington.” MS1944C, National Library of Jamaica.BBC 100: Lenny Henry on Una Marson's faded legacy". BBC News. BBC. 18 October 2022 . Retrieved 18 October 2022.