author
Anne Killigrew
1660–1685
A gifted poet and painter of Restoration England, she left behind a small body of work that impressed readers far beyond her short life. Her name is still often remembered through John Dryden’s famous ode in her honor.
1 Audiobook
Poems (1686)
by Anne Killigrew
About the author
Born in London in 1660, Anne Killigrew grew up in a family closely connected to the Stuart court and literary life. She served as a maid of honor to Mary of Modena, Duchess of York, and was known in her own time for talent in both poetry and painting.
Only a limited amount is known for certain about her life, but the surviving record shows a remarkably accomplished young writer and artist. Her poems were published after her death in the 1686 collection Poems by Mrs. Anne Killigrew, and her reputation was strengthened when John Dryden praised her as exceptional in “the two sister-arts” of poetry and painting.
Killigrew died of smallpox in 1685, still in her twenties. Even with a brief life and a small surviving body of work, she remains an intriguing figure of the Restoration period because she moved so confidently between court culture, visual art, and verse.