Jean Lonie
BornJean Stella Andrews
(1930-08-04)4 August 1930
Whanganui, New Zealand
Died1997 (aged 66–67)
Dunedin, New Zealand
Occupation
  • Poet
  • teacher
Years active1987–1997
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1951; div. 1966)​
Children4, including Bridie Lonie

Jean Stella Lonie (née Andrews; 4 August 1930 – 1997) was a New Zealand poet and teacher. She published three volumes of poetry during her lifetime, with her poems often featuring her home and family life.

Life and career

Lonie was born in Whanganui in 1930, and studied science at the University of Otago, where she met and married poet Iain Lonie.[1][2]: 21 

Lonie and her husband had four children, and separated in 1966 after he left her for his post-graduate student Judith Black.[2]: 22  Following the split, Lonie moved to Wellington and worked at the Alexander Turnbull Library and the New Zealand Correspondence School (now known as Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu).[1]

Lonie published three volumes of poetry: Towards the League of Strong Women (1987),[3] Angle of Repose (1991),[4] and Working within Restraints (1996).[5]

Her second volume Angle of Repose (1991) was dedicated to her children and grandchildren. New Zealand writer Peter Simpson, reviewing the volume for the New Zealand Review of Books, described her poetry as "unpretentious and often vivid documentation of perceptions of house, garden and sea-shore, occasionally enlivened by quiet humour".[6]

Her third volume Working within Restraints (1996) was reviewed by poet Harvey McQueen for the Dominion Post. He said a "quiet regret runs through [her poems], but also a sense that out of effort comes beauty and sometimes survival".[7]

Death and legacy

Lonie died in 1997.[8] The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (2006) writes of Lonie: "Much of her poetry is very personal and intimate; it attends with care (and with increasing control and sureness) to the task of recording the troublesome business of daily living, in which individual relationships often occasion difficulties, but equally often provide great richness."[1]

Her oldest daughter, Bridie Lonie, is an artist and academic, and was the Head of School at the Dunedin School of Art.[9] Her younger daughter Sally is also an artist,[8][10] and illustrated Lonie's second volume of poetry Angle of Repose.[4]

As part of a project by local Dunedin artists, Lonie's poem "Dunedin Summer" decorates the concrete seating and steps in front of the South Coast Boardriders clubrooms at the St Clair Esplanade.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Whiteford, Peter (2006). "Lonie, Jean". In Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson (eds.). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1917-3519-6. OCLC 865265749. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  2. 1 2 Lonie, Iain M. (2015). Howard, David (ed.). A Place to Go On From: the collected poems of Iain Lonie. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press. ISBN 978-1-9273-2201-7.
  3. ↑ Lonie, Jean (1987). Towards the League of Strong Women. Wellington, New Zealand: Te Taa Haeretahi / The Hand-in-Hand Press. OCLC 154629334. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  4. 1 2 Lonie, Jean (1991). Angle of Repose. Wellington, New Zealand: Te Taa Haeretahi / The Hand-in-Hand Press. ISBN 978-0-9597-9181-5. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  5. ↑ Lonie, Jean (1995). Clarke, Alastair (ed.). Working within Restraints. Waikanae, New Zealand: Flaxgrove Press. ISBN 978-0-4730-3172-5. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  6. ↑ Simpson, Peter (Autumn 1992). "Poetic accomplishments". New Zealand Review of Books (4). Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  7. ↑ McQueen, Harvey (26 January 1996). "Poetry that gives pause for thought". The Dominion Post. p. 5.
  8. 1 2 Davies, Sally (8 April 2020). "An interview with Bridie Lonie: Dunedin School of Art". Down in Edin Magazine. No. 20. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  9. ↑ "Researcher profile for Bridie Lonie". Otago Polytechnic. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  10. ↑ "Lonie, Sally". Find NZ Artists. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  11. ↑ Harwood, Brenda (9 April 2017). "Taking steps to brighten city". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
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