Margaret Pollock Sherwood (1864–1955) was an American academic and author who dedicated her career to both the study and creation of literature. Born in the latter half of the nineteenth century, she lived into the mid-twentieth century, a period of significant transition in American letters and academia. Throughout her life, Sherwood balanced her professional role as a professor of English literature with her active creative pursuits.
As an educator, Sherwood was deeply engaged with the academic study of English literature, sharing her knowledge of literary history, theory, and texts with her students. Her scholarly background informed her own diverse creative output, which spanned multiple literary forms. Rather than restricting herself to a single genre, she wrote extensively across several formats, producing novels, short stories, poetry, and essays.
Sherwood's multi-faceted career reflects the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century tradition of the scholar-writer, a role that allowed her to contribute to both creative literature and academic discourse. Her work as an essayist, poet, and novelist showcases her versatile command of the English language and her dedication to literary expression throughout her long life, which concluded in 1955.
