The Poetry of Alice Meynell

Alice Christiana Gertrude Thompson was born on 22nd September 1847 in Barnes, London. Her family travelled widely meaning that Alice’s early years were spent around England, Switzerland, and France before finally settling in Italy. Her dedicated interest in religion brought a conversion to the Catholic faith. Much of that viewpoint is seen in her first published volume in 1875, ‘Preludes’. In 1876 she married Wilfred Meynell, the newspaper publisher and editor, and together they set up and published a number of magazines as well as publishing the initial works of several poets including Francis Thompson. Despite a hectic lifestyle of her own poetry and essays, together with the family business, she gave birth to eight children. Her health though was erratic, and she was frequently incapacitated by illness, including migraines and depressions. As the new century dawned, she along with many other artists began to question the colonial needs of Empire with its segregation and oppression.