Sylvia Townsend Warner

I'd never heard of her until she was mentioned in an essay by Ursula le Guin, who quoted this short, but astonishing, poem:

The Sleeping Beauty woke:
The spit began to turn,
The woodmen cleared the brake,
The gardener mowed the lawn.
Woe's me! And must one kiss
Revoke the silent house, the birdsong wilderness?

I'll be reading one of her novels next. Anticipating something wonderful already.