Marguerite (Margot) Ruddock (1907–1951), who used the stage name Margot Collis, was an English actress, poet and singer. She had a relationship with

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

starting in 1934. Their correspondence was published as ''Ah, Sweet Dancer'' (1970). Yeats edited her poems for publication, but it is not clear how much change he made to them. He included some of them in the ''

Oxford Book of Modern Verse Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

'', which he edited. Some of her poems have been set as songs by the composer

Robert Erickson Robert Erickson (March 7, 1917 – April 24, 1997) was an American composer. Education Erickson was born in Marquette, Michigan. He studied with Ernst Krenek from 1936 to 1947: "I had already studied—and abandoned—the twelve tone sy ...

. She was married twice: first to John Collis, with whom she had a son, Michael, and secondly to

Raymond Lovell Raymond Lovell (13 April 1900 – 1 October 1953) was a Canadian-born actor who performed in British films. He mainly played supporting roles, often somewhat pompous characters. Lovell initially trained as a physician at Cambridge University ...

, with whom she had a daughter,

Simone Lovell Simone Lovell (born 19 February 1934) is a British actress known for her television appearances of the 1950s and 60s. She is the daughter of the Canadian-born actor Raymond Lovell and Margot Ruddock, whose relationship broke down when Ruddock be ...

. She died in 1951, when she was 44. During her marriage to Raymond Lovell she had an affair with Yeats. When they met in 1934, Yeats was 69 and Ruddock`was 27. Their affair was conducted fitfully over the next few years. The affair broke down and Ruddock became mentally unstable. Some months later she followed Yeats (uninvited) out to the island of Majorca, where he was working with the Indian monk

Shri Purohit Swami Shri Purohit Swami ( – 1941) was a Hindu teacher from Maharashtra, India. Purohit was born in Badnera, Vidarbha, India to a wealthy Maharashtran Brahmin family. His parents gave him the name Shankar Gajannan Purohit. As a child he became prof ...

. Ruddock ended up in an asylum in Madrid from where she was rescued by Yeats and his friends, but later died in another institution, St. Ebba's Hospital in Epsom. Yeats' poem "A Crazed Girl" is believed to be inspired by Ruddock.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruddock, Margot 1907 births 1951 deaths British women poets 20th-century British women writers