Edith Sitwell

Edith Sitwell, a British poet and literary critic, was born in 1887. She had two brothers, who were also poets. They were close together and created annual poetic antologies. She didn't get on well with her excentric parents, she had never understood their behaviour. But Sitwell was also considered to be a little bit quirky, especially because of the way that she dressed: gold turbans, many rings, a lot of brocade. 

Sitwell believed that Poetry enobles the heart and the eyes, and unveils the meaning of all things upon which the heart and the eyes dwell. It discovers the secret rays of the universe, and restores to us forgotten paradises.

Answers

I kept my answers small and kept them near;

Big questions bruised my mind but still I let

Small answers be a bullwark to my fear.

The huge abstractions I kept from the light;

Small things I handled and caressed and loved.

I let the stars assume the whole of night.

But the big answers clamoured to be moved Into my life. Their great audacity

Shouted to be acknowledged and believed.

Even when all small answers build up to

Protection of my spirit, still I hear

Big answers striving for their overthrow.

And all the great conclusions coming near.

This poem seems to me very mysteroius and abstract. I think that the author is describing a state when you want to stay in your comfort zone, live in your own safe world with "small answers" (meaning maybe "the answers to the simple questions of everyday life" or "the statements that do not go beyond a certain line") but you have all these big topics in the back of your mind. The "big anwers" from the poem make us feel overwhelmed, scared. I think that the conclusion of the poem is that the fact of facing "big answers" (which can mean different things to different people) is inevitable.

Based on: Wikipedia note and link.