author
Rachel Annand Taylor
1876–1960
A Scottish poet of the Celtic Revival who later turned to biography and literary criticism, she wrote with a strong sense of history and culture. Her career ranged from early lyric poetry to lively studies of major figures from Scotland and beyond.
1 Audiobook
The Hours of Fiammetta A Sonnet Sequence
by Rachel Annand Taylor
About the author
Born in Aberdeen on 3 April 1876, Rachel Annand Taylor was among the first women to study at the University of Aberdeen. She taught at Aberdeen High School for Girls before building a wider literary career, and her early writing was closely linked with the Celtic Revival.
She first became known as a poet, publishing books such as Poems and Rose and Vine. Over time she moved more strongly into prose, writing biographies and critical studies that helped bring historical and literary figures to life for general readers. Her subjects included Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Carlyle, the Scottish poet William Dunbar, and the Renaissance thinker Erasmus.
Taylor spent much of her life writing across genres, from poetry and criticism to biography and journalism. She died on 15 August 1960, and she is still remembered as a distinctive Scottish literary voice whose work connected modern readers with older traditions, writers, and ideas.