Muriel Stuart

Who was Muriel Stuart?

Muriel Stuart She was born Muriel Stuart Irwin, the daughter of a Scottish barrister. She was a poet, particularly concerned with the topic of sexual politics, though she first wrote poems about World War I. She later gave up poetry writing; her last work was published in the 1930s.

She was hailed by Hugh MacDiarmid as the best woman poet of the Scottish Renaissance although she was not Scottish, but English. Despite this, his comment led to her inclusion in many Scottish anthologies. Thomas Hardy described her poetry as "Superlatively good". Her most famous poem "In the Orchard" is entirely dialogs and in no kind of verse form, which makes it innovative for its time. She does use rhyme: a mixture of half-rhyme and rhyming couplets. Other famous poems of hers are "The Seed Shop", "The Fools" and "Man and his Makers". She wrote a gardening book called Gardener's Nightcap which was later reprinted by Persephone Books.