Description

Jane Taylor (1783-1824), was an English poet and novelist. She wrote the words for the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in 1806 at age 23. 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. The sisters, and their authorship of various works, have often been confused, in part because their early works were published together. The collection, 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. Ann Taylor (1782-1866), later Mrs. Joseph Gilbert, was, in her youth, a writer of verse for children who achieved enormous and long-lasting popularity; she was also in the years immediately preceding her marriage an astringent literary critic of growing reputation. She is, however, now best known as the elder sister and collaborator of Jane Taylor.