N. K. Sandars has written that Anne Beresford's poems "have a certain sad nobleness and speak a real language," words that suggest both this poet's tone and her sense of responsibility for her works.

The daughter of Richmond Beresford, a film representative, and Margaret Kent Beresford, a musician, Anne Beresford was born in Redhill, Surrey, and educated at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art (1944-1946) in London, where she studied acting and music, eventually becoming an actress. She often gives poetry readings and, unlike many poets, is an excellent and moving reader of her own work. She married poet Michael Hamburger in 1951. Divorced in 1970, they remarried in 1974 and have three children. She has lived in Suffolk for some time now, and the wild, desolate landscape of that county permeates her later poetry.

Much of the quiet subtlety of Anne Beresford's poetry stems from her attempts...