May Kendall is remembered as a poet because of her contribution to social commentary and late-nineteenth-century cultural debates, especially those surrounding issues of science and evolutionary theory. Little is known about Kendall's life. She was born Emma Goldworth Kendall in 1861 in Bridlington, Yorkshire, the daughter of Eliza Goldworth Level Kendall and James Kendall, a Wesleyan minister. She lived in the north of England, in Liverpool and Birmingham, finally settling for most of her life in York.

Kendall's first publication was That Very Mab, written with Andrew Lang in 1885. A prose story, the tale concerns the visit of Mab, queen of the fairies, to England. The story is a thinly veiled piece of social criticism, as the fairy, being a visitor, provides a mouthpiece for commenting on some of the absurdities of English society. Fairies had become a suitable topic at the time, for painting in particular and poetry...