(1847-1896)
[Illustration: Mathilde Blind]
Mathilde Blind was born at Mannheim, Germany, March 21st, 1847. She was
educated principally in London, and subsequently in Zurich. Since her
early school days, with the exception of this interval of study abroad,
and numerous journeys to the south of Europe and the East, she has lived
in London. Upon her return from Zurich she was thrown much into contact
with Mazzini, in London, and her first essay in literature was a volume
of poems (which she published in 1867 under the pseudonym Claude Lake)
dedicated to him. She was also in close personal relationship with Madox
Brown, W.M. Rossetti, and Swinburne. Her first literary work to appear
under her own name was a critical essay on the poetical works of Shelley
in the Westminster Review in 1870, based upon W.M. Rossetti's edition of
the poet. In 1872 she wrote an account of the life and writings of
Shelley, to serve as an introduction to a selection of his poems in the
Tauchnitz edition. She afterwards edited a selection of the letters of
Lord Byron with an introduction, and a selection of his poems with a
memoir. A translation of Strauss's 'The Old Faith and the New' appeared
in 1873, which contained in a subsequent edition a biography of the
author. In 1883, Miss Blind wrote the initial volume, 'George Eliot,'
for the 'Eminent Women Series,' which she followed in 1886 in the same
series with 'Madame Roland.' Her first novel, 'Tarantella,' appeared in
1885. Besides these prose works, she has made frequent contributions of
literary criticism to the Athenaeum and other reviews, and of papers and
essays to the magazines; among them translations of Goethe's 'Maxims and
Reflections' in Fraser's Magazine, and 'Personal Recollections of
Mazzin' in the Fortnightly Review.
Her principal claim to literary fame is however based upon her verse.
This is from all periods of her productivity. In addition to the book of
poems already noticed, she has written 'The Prophecy of St. Oran, and
other Poems,' 1882; 'The Heather on Fire,' a protest against the wrongs
of the Highland crofters, 1886; 'The Ascent of Man,' her most ambitious
work, 1889; 'Dramas in Miniature' 1892; 'Songs and Sonnets,' 1893; and
'Birds of Passage: Songs of the Orient and Occident,' 1895.
'The Ascent of Man' is a poetical treatment of the modern idea of
evolution, and traces the progress of man from his primitive condition
in a state of savagery to his present development. Miss Blind has been
an ardent advocate of the betterment of the position of woman in society
and the State. To this end she has worked and written for an improved
education, and against a one-sided morality for the sexes. In her verse
she shows characteristically a keen appreciation of nature. Her minor
poems particularly, many of which are strong in feeling and admirable in
form, entitle her to a distinguished place among the lyric poets
of England.
She died in London near the end of November, 1896.