May Kendall

May Kendall (Born Emma Goldworth Kendall) (1861 – 1943) was an English poet, novelist, and satirist. 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.

Possibly her most anthologized poem, "Lay of the Trilobite," is a satire of the popular English response to Darwin's evolutionary theory. "Lay of the Trilobite" was originally published in Punch Magazine, to which Kendall contributed for ten years.[1]

Much of her literary output focuses on evolution and other scientific discoveries, the New Woman, and satirical portraits of British society and its hypocrisy.[2]

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.[3][4]

Kendall died in poverty at a public assistance institution in York. The death certificate stated that she was suffering from dementia. Her unmarked grave is in York Cemetery.[5]

Works

  • (with Andrew Lang) That Very Mab (1885)[6]
  • Dreams to Sell (1887)
  • Songs from Dreamland (1894)
  • Turkish Bonds (1895)
  • (with Benjamin Rowntree) How the Labourer Lives: A Study of the Rural Labour Problem (1913)

References

  1. ↑ Katy Birch, "May Kendall (writer) (1861-1943)", Ladies Who Punch, https://ladieswhopunchbiogs.wordpress.com/may-kendall/
  2. ↑ Brown, Susan. "May Kenall". Orlando Project. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Maltz, Diana. "Sympathy, Humor, and the Abject Poor in the Word of May Kendall." English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920. 50. 3 (2007), 313-332.
  4. ↑ "Project MUSE - English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920 - Sympathy, Humor, and the Abject Poor in the Work of May Kendall". muse.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  5. ↑ Birch, Catherine. "'Evolutionary Feminism in Late-Victorian Women's Poetry: Mathilde Blind, Constance Naden and May Kendall' (Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2011) pp. 64-5" (PDF). Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "'That Very Mab' by May Kendall and Andrew Lang - Project Gutenberg". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2008-10-08.


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