Witchcraft: 'I had no power to break the spell''

Joanna Baillie was born on the 11th September 1762 in Bothwell, Lanarkshire.

Her established Scottish family was both well-connected and intellectually stimulating. Her strict mother home educated her and although she was drawn to literature her first love was the surrounding Scottish countryside.

After her father’s death in 1778, the family moved to Glasgow, and later to London. It was there that Baillie began to immerse herself in the literary and theatrical circles of the time.

She first published in 1790 with ‘Poems: Wherein it is Attempted to Describe Certain Views of Nature and of Rustic Manners’ she received more attention a few years later with ‘Plays on the Passions’, an ambitious series of plays exploring human emotions with each play focussed on a single emotion. Its success was recognised by being performed at Drury Lane.

Baillie's work was characterized by its psychological depth and moral seriousness. She believed in the power of drama to reveal the complexities of human nature and aimed to combine classical traditions with contemporary themes. Unusually for the time her plays featured strong, complex characters, particularly women, and addressed issues such as social injustice and the human capacity for both good and evil.

Her later works failed to mirror her early success, although she remained a respected figure in literary circles.

Alongside her many dramatic works she wrote further volumes of poems and songs as well as essays.

Despite the waning of her audience during the long Victorian era more modern audiences are again engaging works and her then innovative approach to character and emotion.

Joanna Baillie died on the 23rd February, 1851, in Hampstead, London. She was 89.

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Rafbók: 1 juli 2024