 The difficulty in determining concrete details about Collins is made even more difficult due to the style of her writing, as any definite facts about her life are either not present, or brief and cryptic.Convention has led to referring to Collins as a woman, due to the ease of relating the name "An" to the more common, in the mid-17th century, "Anne".Additionally, though there is evidence within the verses that indicate that Collins is a female, there is, like much else of Collins, no firm evidence.