Margaret Cavendish

Margaret Cavendish, or the Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was a very influential writer and an English aristocrat. She was the youngest sister of prominent royalists Sir John Lucas and Sir Charles Lucas. She was born Margaret Lucas, which changed to Cavendish when she became the second wife of William Cavendish, the first Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Cavendish did not limit herself to writing a certain genre of pieces. She was a poet, philosopher, writer of prose romances, essayist, playwright, and some even say a self-publicist. This was interesting because most women of this time period wrote anonymously to avoid backlash from society. Her writing was not limited to certain topics but she discussed gender, power, manners, the scientific method, and animal protection. One of the earliest examples of science fiction was her romance. "The Blazing World."

In "Nature's Cook," Cavendish begins the poem with "Death is the cook of nature," implying that death is in charge of nature and can do whatever it pleases with life. Cooks essentially make their own recipes, add their own ingredients, and make food however they please. In comparing a cook to death Cavendish is saying death can come upon people in multiple different ways, just like a cook can go about a recipe in the same fashion. Her "taboo" topic of death is expressed in a humorous fashion. She applies a gender to death, an example of personification, and turns it into a cook, trying and "tasting" different methods of death and killing.