Mary Matilda Betham

MMB , writing during the Romantic period, had a vocation as a poet which she took very seriously and which was recognised during her lifetime by positive reviews and the respect of more famous poets. Yet a large part of her output seems to be untraceable: she often published anonymously in magazines, or sent work to friends that never reached print. A strong interest in women's literary history informs her biographical dictionary of women (which provides rich coverage of writers) and her adaptations and fictionalisation of the twelfth-century poet Marie de France and her poetry.