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Jane Taylor (23 September 1783 – 13 April 1824), was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 poet and novelist. She wrote the words for the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in 1806 at age 23, while living in Shilling Street, Lavenham
Lavenham

Lavenham is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is noted for its 15th century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walk....
, Suffolk
Suffolk

Suffolk is a Non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south....
.

The poem is now known worldwide, but its authorship is generally forgotten. It was first published under the title "The Star" in Rhymes for the Nursery, a collection of poems by Taylor and her older sister Ann
Ann Taylor (poet)

Ann Taylor , later Mrs Joseph Gilbert, was, in her youth, a writer of verse for children that achieved enormous and long-lasting popularity; she was also in the years immediately preceding her marriage an astringent literary critic of growing reputation....
 (later Mrs.






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Jane Taylor (23 September 1783 – 13 April 1824), was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 poet and novelist. She wrote the words for the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in 1806 at age 23, while living in Shilling Street, Lavenham
Lavenham

Lavenham is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is noted for its 15th century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walk....
, Suffolk
Suffolk

Suffolk is a Non-metropolitan counties of England of Historic counties of England in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south....
.

The poem is now known worldwide, but its authorship is generally forgotten. It was first published under the title "The Star" in Rhymes for the Nursery, a collection of poems by Taylor and her older sister Ann
Ann Taylor (poet)

Ann Taylor , later Mrs Joseph Gilbert, was, in her youth, a writer of verse for children that achieved enormous and long-lasting popularity; she was also in the years immediately preceding her marriage an astringent literary critic of growing reputation....
 (later Mrs. Gilbert). The sisters, and their authorship of various works, have often been confused, in part because their early works were published together.

Ann Taylor's son, Josiah Gilbert, wrote in her biography, "two little poems–'My Mother,' and 'Twinkle, twinkle, little Star,' are perhaps, more frequently quoted than any; the first, a lyric of life, was by Ann, the second, of nature, by Jane; and they illustrate this difference between the sisters."

Early life

Born in London, Jane Taylor and her family later lived in Colchester, Essex; Colchester, and Ongar. The Taylor sisters were part of an extensive literary family. Their father, Isaac Taylor, was an engraver and later a dissenting minister. Their mother, Mrs. (Anne Martin) Taylor (1757-1830) wrote seven works of moral and religious advice, two of them fictionalized. Taylor's brothers also wrote.

Works

The poem, Original Poems for Infant Minds by several young persons (i.e. Ann and Jane Taylor and others) was first issued in two volumes in 1804 and 1805. Rhymes for the Nursery followed in 1806, and Hymns for Infant Minds in 1808. In Original Poems for Infant Minds (1805) primarily written by Ann and Jane Taylor and Adelaide O'Keeffe, the authors were identified for each poem. In Rhymes for the Nursery (1806) poems were not identified by author.

Christina Duff Stewart identifies authorship of Rhymes for the Nursery, based on a copy belonging to Canon Isaac Taylor
Isaac Taylor (canon)

Isaac Taylor , son of Isaac Taylor, was a philology, toponymist, and Anglicanism canon of York ....
, which was annotated to indicate the respective authorship of Ann and Jane Taylor. Canon Isaac was Taylor's nephew, a son of her brother Isaac Taylor
Isaac Taylor

Isaac Taylor was an English philosophical and historical writer, artist, and inventor....
 of Stanford Rivers
Stanford Rivers

Stanford Rivers is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest of Essex, England. It is located North-East of Chipping Ongar, North-West of North Weald Bassett and South-East of Kelvedon Hatch....
. Stewart also confirms attributions of Original Poems based on the publisher's records.

Taylor's novel Display (1814) is reminiscent of Maria Edgeworth
Maria Edgeworth

Maria Edgeworth was an Anglo-Irish novelist....
, or perhaps even Jane Austen
Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose Literary realism, biting social commentary and masterful use of free indirect speech, Burlesque , and irony have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature....
. Her Essays in Rhyme appeared in 1816, and contained some significant poetry. In the fictional Correspondence between a mother and her daughter at school (1817) Taylor collaborated with her mother. Throughout her life, Taylor wrote many essays, plays, stories, poems, and letters which were never published.sp

Death

Jane Taylor died of breast cancer at the age of 40, her mind still "teeming with unfulfilled projects". She was buried at Ongar churchyard.

After her death, her brother Isaac collected many of her works, and included a biography of her, in The Writings of Jane Taylor, In Five Volumes (1832).

Legacy in popular culture

  • Taylor's most famous work, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," is almost always uncredited; "its opening stanza persists as if it were folklore, the name of its creator almost entirely forgotten." Alternate versions, pastiches, and parodies have abounded for centuries. See main article
    Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

    "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is one of the most popular England nursery rhymes. It combines the tune of the 1761 French melody ?Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman? with an English poem, "The Star" by Jane Taylor....
    .
  • A character named Jane Taylor, who suffered a tragic death in space at a young age, appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise
    Star Trek: Enterprise

    Enterprise, retitled Star Trek: Enterprise at the start of its third season, was a science fiction television program created by Brannon Braga and Rick Berman and set in the Star Trek universe created by Gene Roddenberry....
    . It is speculated that the character was named for Taylor.


See also

  • Ann Taylor
    Ann Taylor (poet)

    Ann Taylor , later Mrs Joseph Gilbert, was, in her youth, a writer of verse for children that achieved enormous and long-lasting popularity; she was also in the years immediately preceding her marriage an astringent literary critic of growing reputation....
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star was parodied in a poem recited by the Dormouse in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)