DUCLAUX

duclaux, agnes mary f. (1856- ), english poet and critic, who first became known in england under her maiden name of mary f. robinson, was born at leamington on the 27th of february 1856. she was educated at university college, london, devoting herself chiefly to the study of greek literature. her first volume of poetry, _a handful of honeysuckle_, was published in 1879. her next work was a translation from euripides, _the crowned hippolytus_ (1881). monographs on emily bronte (1883) and on marguerite of angouleme (1886) followed; and _the new arcadia and other poems_ (1884) and _an italian garden_ (1886) contain some of her best verses. her poems attracted the attention of the orientalist, james darmesteter (q.v.), then in peshawur, and he made an admirable translation of them in french. the acquaintance led to their marriage in 1888, and from that time a large part of her work was done in french. madame darmesteter translated her husband's _etudes anglaises_ into english (1896). her most considerable prose work is the _life of ernest renan_ (1897). she also wrote the _end of the middle ages_ (1888); the volume on _froissart_ (1894) in the _grands ecrivains francais_; essays on the brontes, the brownings and others, entitled _grands ecrivains d'outre-manche_ (1901). after darmesteter's death, she married in 1901 emile duclaux, the associate of pasteur, and director of the pasteur institute. he died in 1904. she published _retrospect and other poems_ in 1893, and in 1904 appeared the _return to nature, songs and symbols_. the qualities of mary robinson's work, its conciseness and purity of expression, were only gradually recognized. her _collected poems, lyrical and narrative_ were published in 1902.