author
Anne (Anne Burrows) Gilchrist
1828–1885
A thoughtful Victorian writer and biographer, she is remembered for her lively mind, her literary friendships, and her important role in bringing Walt Whitman to readers in Britain. Her life joined family, grief, criticism, and fearless reading into a story that still feels vivid today.
2 Audiobooks
Mary Lamb
by Anne (Anne Burrows) Gilchrist
The Letters of Anne Gilchrist and Walt Whitman
by Anne (Anne Burrows) Gilchrist, Walt Whitman
About the author
Born Anne Burrows in London on February 25, 1828, she grew up intellectually curious and continued much of her education through wide independent reading. In 1851 she married writer and critic Alexander Gilchrist, and after his death in 1861 she supported her family while continuing her own literary work.
She became known as an essayist and biographer, and helped prepare and publish Alexander Gilchrist's important life of William Blake. She is now especially remembered for her deep admiration for Walt Whitman and for writing warmly and perceptively about his poetry, which helped introduce his work to more readers in England.
Anne Gilchrist died on November 29, 1885. Her reputation endures through her essays, letters, and the record of a serious reader who brought intelligence, feeling, and independence to the literary world around her.