Early Life

Abstract

Iris Murdoch’s literary life began publicly in 1932 when, at 13 years old, she won one of the first two open scholarships to the liberal and high-minded Badminton School in Bristol. Her fledgling literary works soon began to appear in the school magazine and their remarkable range demanded a sophisticated understanding of a variety of disciplines, genres and writing conventions. She composed a 13-stanza poem, ‘The Fate of the Daisy Lee’, and others, including ‘Come Pale Feet’, followed.¹ Essays began appearing in 1934, ‘To Lowbrows’ and ‘To Highbrows’ in the Spring Term and ‘Unimportant Persons’ in the Summer Term.² Her political acumen is notable. In 1935, she wrote ‘How I would Govern the Country’, an essay that defends constitutional monarchy and condemns imperialism and totalitarianism. Reviews on speakers, reports on school expeditions and the activities of the League of Nations Junior Branch and the Literary Club also appeared. She made translations of Horace’s Odes and Oedipus at Colonus. Her lifelong interest in music and art is evident: in a solo performance in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, an essay on ‘Community Singing’ and linocuts entitled ‘The Prisoner’ and ‘The Piper’, also for the school magazine. Her intellectual versatility and an already impressive range of abilities were clearly evident.