Joanna Baillie (1762–1851)
Author of Plays on the Passions
About the Author
Joanna Baillie was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1762, into a serious and religious family. She was educated in a girls' boarding school. Baillie moved to London in 1783, when her brother inherited the school of anatomy and museum founded earlier by their uncle, William Hunter. Although only five show more of her plays were produced during her lifetime, Joanna Baillie's 22 plays on the passions were published between 1798 and 1812, supposedly initiated a revival of the drama during the romantic period. Baillie's home in Hampstead, which she shared with her mother and unmarried sister, attracted the most famous writers in England, including Coleridge, Byron, Southey, Landor, and her staunchest advocate, Sir Walter Scott. According to the introduction that she wrote to the plays, each play was written to demonstrate the inner struggle of an individual with a dominating passion. Although actors may have found the opportunity in her plays to present emotions such as boundless anger, jealousy, pride, and revenge, plays about single passions were too monotonous, subtle, introspective, and philosophical for contemporary taste. While the plays were written in unfashionable blank verse, the psychology was interesting-to see how people with dominant passions respond to crises, the way in which they reveal or fail to reveal intense feelings in intimate situations. Baillie contributed to the development of a secular morality suited to a stage from which religion and religious texts had been banished. In addition, she translated contemporary theories of human behavior into drama. The mystery of Joanna Baillie was how anyone from such a sheltered environment and with such limited experience could conceive of the vast range of material from which she created her dramas. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Joanna Baillie, engraving by H. Robinson after a portrait by Sir William Newton. Wikimedia Commons.
Works by Joanna Baillie
Associated Works
The Evergreen : or gems of literature — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1762-09-11
- Date of death
- 1851-02-23
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- poet
playwright
songwriter
salonniere - Short biography
- Joanna Baillie was born of an ancient Scottish family that claimed descent from the nationalist hero Sir William Wallace. During her youth, she moved to Hampstead in London with her sister Agnes, and the two lived there for the rest of their lives. She became a cornerstone of literary society in that part of London. Her first literary work Fugitive Verses, appeared anonymously in 1790. This book was followed by numerous plays. Her play De Montfort (1809) was produced on the London stage with John Kemble and Sarah Siddons performing the main roles. Despite this dramatic output, Joanna Baillie was better remembered for her Scottish songs, such as Woo’d and Married an’a, of which there are many adaptations.
- Nationality
- Scotland
UK - Birthplace
- Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- Places of residence
- Hampstead, London, England, UK
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
Colchester, Essex, England, UK - Place of death
- Hampstead, London, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Reviews
Six Gothic Dramas (De Monfort, Orra, The Dream, The Family Legend, The Phantom, Witchcraft) by Joanna Baillie
"There is a joy in fear." Finally, some of Baillie's plays (besides her best-known work, "De Monfort") back in print. Their tone is clearly more serious and psychological, befitting her frequent subtitle, "A Tragedy," than much of the Gothic melodrama of the time. I have no idea how these plays would work on the stage, and I think it would be really fun to find out, but for now I'm just happy to have access to the texts.
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 23
- Also by
- 4
- Members
- 85
- Popularity
- #214,930
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 1
- ISBNs
- 21
