May Kendall (born Emma Goldworth Kendall; 1861 – 1943) was an English

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

, and

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-1960 ...

. She is best known as the co-author of the novel ''That Very Mab'' and the poetry collections ''Dreams to Sell'' and ''Songs from Dreamland''. She studied at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

. Kendall is attributed with abridging some of the tales in the first six of

Lang's Fairy Books ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional stories for children published between 1889 and 1913 by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. The best known books of the series are the 12 collections ...

, she also collaborated with

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...

on ''The Very Mab.'' Possibly her most anthologized poem, "Lay of the Trilobite," is a satire of the popular English response to Darwin's

evolutionary theory Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

. "Lay of the Trilobite" was originally published in Punch Magazine, to which Kendall contributed for ten years. Much of her literary output focuses on evolution and other scientific discoveries, the

New Woman The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century and had a profound influence well into the 20th century. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand (1854–1943) used the term "new woman" in an influential article, to refer to ...

, and satirical portraits of British society and its hypocrisy. In 1895 Kendall partially gave up professional writing in order to more fully devote her life to social reform. She worked predominantly with the Rowntree Family in York. Kendall died in poverty at a public assistance institution in York. The death certificate stated that she was suffering from life-long dementia. Her unmarked grave is in York Cemetery.

Works

* (with

) ''That Very Mab'' (1885) * ''Dreams to Sell'' (1887) * ''Songs from Dreamland'' (1894) * ''Turkish Bonds'' (1895) * (with

Benjamin Rowntree Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, CH (7 July 1871 – 7 October 1954) was an English sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist. He is known in particular for his three York studies of poverty conducted in 1899, 1935, and 1951. The ...

) ''How the Labourer Lives: A Study of the Rural Labour Problem'' (1913)

References

External links

* * 1861 births 1943 deaths Women satirists English women poets English women novelists Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford {{England-novelist-stub