Constance Naden

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CN was a poet, atheist, scientific theorist, and philosopher. Her verse, published early in her short, late-nineteenth-century career, reflects her interests in the biological sciences, the question of evolution, issues of religious faith and doubt, and the position of women. In both dramatic monologues and third-person narrative poems, she presents dilemmas of the head and heart in contemporary and historical settings with vivid perception and often with humour or even satire. After publishing two collections of poetry she abandoned writing verse. An accomplished student of science, she produced a number of speeches on scientific and political subjects, and later turned to philosophical writing, most of which remained unpublished till after her death.
  • BirthName: Constance Caroline Woodhill Naden
    CN signed her name Constance C. W. Naden.
    Hughes, William Richard et al. Constance Naden: A Memoir. Bickers and Son, 1890.
    6

  • Pseudonyms: C. N.; Constance Arden
    Scholar Marion Thain argues that she often used pseudonyms for her publications on Hylo-Idealism in such a way as to oscure her gender, most often signing herself as C. Arden. For her poetry she usually used her birth name or some variant, so Thain interprets these as two writerly personas.
    Thain, Marion. “‘Scientific Wooing’: Constance Naden’s Marriage of Science and Poetry”. Victorian Poetry, Vol.
    41
    , 2003, pp. 151-69.
    153 and passim
    ; C. A.

Milestones

24 January 1858

CN was born at 15 Francis Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, the only child of her parents.
Hughes, William Richard et al. Constance Naden: A Memoir. Bickers and Son, 1890.
6
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

22 October 1889

CN made a visit back to Mason College in Birmingham to deliver an address on Herbert Spencer 's The Principles of Sociology to the sociological section of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society .
Hughes, William Richard et al. Constance Naden: A Memoir. Bickers and Son, 1890.
26, 51-2
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2025, 22 vols. plus supplements.

23 December 1889

CN died following an operation for severe internal illness,
Hughes, William Richard et al. Constance Naden: A Memoir. Bickers and Son, 1890.
56
probably ovarian cysts, at her home, 114 Park Street in Mayfair, London.
Hughes, William Richard et al. Constance Naden: A Memoir. Bickers and Son, 1890.
56-7
Thain, Marion. “‘Scientific Wooing’: Constance Naden’s Marriage of Science and Poetry”. Victorian Poetry, Vol.
41
, 2003, pp. 151-69.
152
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Biography

Birth and Family

24 January 1858

CN was born at 15 Francis Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, the only child of her parents.
Hughes, William Richard et al. Constance Naden: A Memoir. Bickers and Son, 1890.
6
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.