Alice Meynell was a late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century poet, as well as the author of criticism, journalism, essays, art reviews, introductions, and translations. Her output amounted to ten essay collections and six poetry volumes during her lifetime (not including those selected or anthologised). Alice Meynell's poetry and journalism were both guided by her 'voluntary obedience' to the Catholic Church. Stylistically innovative, her essays pay close attention to form on the one hand and empirical truth on the other. Her reputation during her lifetime was astonishingly high. Male contemporaries like George Meredith and Coventry Patmore ranked her poetry and prose with the greatest writers of the English tradition.