Kendall, May

Introduction

May Kendall (1861–1943) was a poet, novelist, and social investigator with a keen interest in science. Her first book was That Very Mab (1885), a social satire from the perspective of a fairy, co-written with the writer and folklore collector Andrew Lang. She wrote two volumes of poetry, Dreams to Sell (1887) and Songs from Dreamland (1894); three novels, From a Garret (1887), Such Is Life (1889), and White Poppies (1893); and one volume of short stories, Turkish Bonds (1898). She published numerous poems and short stories in publications, such as Punch, Longman’s Magazine, St James’s Gazette, Sylvia’s Journal, and Atalanta, and essays in The London Quarterly Review and Wesleyan Methodist Magazine. She later turned away from creative writing to focus on social investigation. Kendall’s work was largely forgotten for most of the twentieth century, but there has been increasing interest in her in recent years and particularly in her scientific poetry. Her work is amusing and...