active 17th century An Collins

An Collins was an English poet active in the mid-17th century, known from a single surviving book, Divine Songs and Meditacions, published in London in 1653. Beyond that volume, very little about her life can be confirmed, and much of what readers infer about her comes from the writing itself.

Her work blends poems with prose meditations and is often noted for its devotional focus, introspective tone, and distinctive voice. Scholars have also treated her as an important early woman writer in English literature, especially because so few details survive and the book itself appears to be her only extant work.

That sense of mystery is part of her appeal. Even with so little biographical record, Collins’s writing has continued to attract attention from readers and scholars interested in early modern poetry, religious writing, and women’s literary history.