Muriel Stuart (1) (1885–1967)

Muriel Stuart, née Muriel Stuart Irwin, was born in London, England, the daughter of a Scottish barrister, and began writing poetry at an early age. Her first works were published in 1916 in the English Review. She was particularly concerned with the topic of sexual politics, though she originally wrote poems about World War I.
Her first collections of poetry appeared in 1916 and 1918, and three more were published in the early 1920s.
After this, she had two children, gave up writing poetry, and became an enthusiastic and dedicated gardener. For 30 years, she also was a well-known columnist for gardening magazines. Stuart lived all her life in England, but was hailed by writer Hugh MacDiarmid as the best woman poet of the Scottish Renaissance. This led to her poems being included in many Scottish anthologies. Her most famous poem, "In the Orchard," is presented entirely in dialogues and in no kind of verse form, which made it innovative for its time. She wrote two books on gardening, both bestsellers: Fool’s Garden (1936) and Gardener's Nightcap (1938); the latter was reprinted in 2006 by Persephone Books.