Scottish poet, dramatist and philanthropist Joanna Baillie was born precisely 256 years ago.
Celebrated in the latest Google Doodle, Baillie is best known for her theatrical sequence Plays on the Passions, an incredibly ambitious ten-work project dedicated to “unveiling the human mind under the dominion of those strong and fixed passions” through a series of astute female-led comedies and tragedies.
Joanna, the youngest of three siblings, was born in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, on 11 September 1762, daughter of the Reverend James Baillie, a Presbyterian minister whose family traced its roots back to the legendary Scottish warrior William Wallace, victor over the English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.
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International Woman's Day on 8 March 86/102 St David's Day 2016 Google marks St David's Day Google 87/102 Leap Year 2016 Google celebrates Leap Day on 28 February 2 Google 88/102 Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google 89/102 Stethoscope Inventor, René Laennec Google celebrate's René Laennec's 235th birthday 90/102 Valentine's Day 2016 Google celebrates Valentine's Day with a romantic Doodle 91/102 Dmitri Mendeleev Google celebrate Dmitri Mendeleev's 182nd birthday 92/102 "The televisor" demonstartion Google Doodle celebrates 90 years since the first demonstration of television or "the televisor" to the public 93/102 Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scoville’s 151st birthday 94/102 Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday 95/102 Charles Perrault Google celebrates author Charles Perrault's 388th birthday 96/102 Mountain of Butterflies discovery Google celebrates the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies 97/102 Winter Solstice 2015 Google celebrate the Winter Solstice 98/102 St Andrew's Day 2015 Google marks St Andrew's Day with doodle featuring Scotland's flag and Loch Ness monster 99/102 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago 100/102 George Boole Google marks George Boole's 200th birthday 101/102 Halloween 2015 Google celebrates Halloween using an interactive doodle game "Global Candy Cup" 102/102 Prague Astronomical Clock Google celebrates the 605th anniversary of the Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest functioning timepieces in the world 1/102 Joanna Baillie Google Doodle celebrating Joanna Baillie Google 2/102 Labor Day 2018 Google Doodle celebrating Labor Day 2018 Google 3/102 Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google Doodle celebrating Ebenezer Cobb Morley Google 4/102 Mary G Ross Google Doodle celebrating Mary G Ross Google 5/102 Octavia E Butler Google Doodle celebrating Octavia E Butler Google 6/102 Dame Cicely Saunders Google Doodle celebrating Dame Cicely Saunders Google 7/102 Virginia Apgar Google Doodle celebrating Virginia Apgar Google 8/102 Tamara de Lempicka Google Doodle celebrating Tamara de Lempicka Google 9/102 Maria Reiche Google Doodle celebrating Maria Reiche Google 10/102 Georges Melies Google Doodle celebrating Georges Melies Google 11/102 Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google Doodle celebrating Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss Google 12/102 Fanny Blankers-Koen Google Doodle celebrating Fanny Blankers-Koen Google 13/102 Omar Sharif Google Doodle celebrating Omar Sharif Google 14/102 Maya Angelou Google Doodle celebrating Maya Angelou Google 15/102 John Harrison Google Doodle celebrating John Harrison Google 16/102 Hannah Glasse Google Doodle celebrating Hannah Glasse Google 17/102 Katsuko Saruhashi Google Doodle celebrating Katsuko Saruhashi Google 18/102 Guillermo Haro Google Doodle celebrating Guillermo Haro Google 19/102 Sir William Henry Perkin Google Doodle celebrating Sir William Henry Perkin Google 20/102 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google Doodle celebrating Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google 21/102 Holi Google Doodle celebrating Holi Google 22/102 St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google 23/102 Carter G Woodson Google Doodle celebrating Carter G Woodson Google 24/102 Wilder Penfield Google Doodle celebrating Wilder Penfield Google 25/102 Virginia Woolf Google Doodle celebrating Virginia Woolf Google 26/102 Sergei Eisenstein Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Eisenstein Google 27/102 Winter Solstice Google Doodle celebrating Winter Solstice Google 28/102 St Andrew's Day Google Doodle celebrating St Andrew's Day Google 29/102 Gertrude Jekyll Google Doodle celebrating Gertrude Jekyll Google 30/102 Children's Day 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Children's Day 2017 Google 31/102 Cornelia Sorabji Google Doodle celebrating Cornelia Sorabji Google 32/102 Pad Thai Google Doodle celebrating Pad Thai Google 33/102 Jackie Forster Google Doodle celebrating Jackie Forster Google 34/102 Halloween 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Halloween 2017 Google 35/102 Studio for Electronic Music Google Doodle celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music Google 36/102 Selena Quintanilla Google Doodle celebrating Selena Quintanilla Google 37/102 Olaudah Equiano Google Doodle celebrating Olaudah Equiano Google 38/102 Fridtjof Nansen Google Doodle celebrating Fridtjof Nansen Google 39/102 Amalia Hernandez Google Doodle celebrating Amalia Hernandez Google 40/102 Dr Samuel Johnson Google Doodle celebrating Dr Samuel Johnson Google 41/102 Sir John Cornforth Google Doodle celebrating Sir John Cornforth Google 42/102 British Sign Language Google Doodle celebrating British Sign Language Google 43/102 Eduard Khil Google Doodle celebrating Eduard Khil Google 44/102 James Wong Howe Google Doodle celebrating James Wong Howe Google 45/102 Eiko Ishioka Google Doodle celebrating Eiko Ishioka Google 46/102 Eva Ekeblad Google Doodle celebrating Eva Ekeblad Google 47/102 Fourth of July Google Doodle celebrating Fourth of July Google 48/102 Wimbledon Championship Google Doodle celebrating Wimbledon Google 49/102 Victor Hugo Google Doodle celebrating Victor Hugo Google 50/102 Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google 51/102 UK General Election 2017 Google celebrates the UK General Election Google 52/102 Zaha Hadid Google celebrates the acclaimed architect for becoming the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize on this day in 2004 Google 53/102 Richard Oakes Google Doodle celebrating Richard Oakes' 75 birthday Google 54/102 Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google 55/102 Ferdinand Monoyer The famous French ophthalmologist, who invented the eye test, would have celebrated his 181st birthday today Google 56/102 Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google 57/102 Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google 58/102 Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google 59/102 Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google 60/102 Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google 61/102 Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google 62/102 Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google 63/102 Abdul Sattar Edhi Google Doodle of Abdul Sattar Edhi on February 28 2017 Google 64/102 Seven earth-sized exoplanets discovered Google Doodle celebrates Nasa's discovery of seven earth-sized exoplanets in new solar system Google 65/102 Bessie Coleman Google Doodle honours the first African American woman to get an international pilot licence on her 125th birthday Google 66/102 Caroling Google Doodle celebrates Christmas caroling Google 67/102 Today's Google Doodle features activist Steve Biko Google 68/102 Walter Cronkite Google celebrates Walter Cronkite's 100th birthday 69/102 Ladislao José Biro Google celebrates Ladislao José Biro 117th birthday 70/102 Google Google celebrates its 18th birthday 71/102 The history of tea in Britain Google celebrates the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK 72/102 Autumnal equinox 2016 Google marks the start of fall 73/102 Paralympics 2016 Google marks the start of the Paralympic Games 2016 74/102 Nettie Stevens Google celebrates Nettie Stevens 155th birthday 75/102 Father's Day 2016 Google celebrates Father's Day 76/102 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Google celebrates Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 180th birthday 77/102 Earth Day 2016 Google celebrates Earth Day 78/102 Ravi Shankar Google marks Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday 79/102 Olympic Games in 1896 Google are celebrates the 120th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 80/102 World Twenty20 final Google celebrates the 2016 World Twenty20 cricket final between the West Indies and England with a doodle Google 81/102 William Morris Google celebrates William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google 82/102 St Patrick's Day 2016 Googlle celebrates St Patrick's Day on 17 March 83/102 Caroline Herschel Google marks Caroline Herschel's 266th birthday Google 84/102 Clara Rockmore Google celebrates Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday 85/102 International Women's Day 2016 #OneDayIWill video marks International Woman's Day on 8 March 86/102 St David's Day 2016 Google marks St David's Day Google 87/102 Leap Year 2016 Google celebrates Leap Day on 28 February 2 Google 88/102 Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google 89/102 Stethoscope Inventor, René Laennec Google celebrate's René Laennec's 235th birthday 90/102 Valentine's Day 2016 Google celebrates Valentine's Day with a romantic Doodle 91/102 Dmitri Mendeleev Google celebrate Dmitri Mendeleev's 182nd birthday 92/102 "The televisor" demonstartion Google Doodle celebrates 90 years since the first demonstration of television or "the televisor" to the public 93/102 Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scoville’s 151st birthday 94/102 Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday 95/102 Charles Perrault Google celebrates author Charles Perrault's 388th birthday 96/102 Mountain of Butterflies discovery Google celebrates the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies 97/102 Winter Solstice 2015 Google celebrate the Winter Solstice 98/102 St Andrew's Day 2015 Google marks St Andrew's Day with doodle featuring Scotland's flag and Loch Ness monster 99/102 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago 100/102 George Boole Google marks George Boole's 200th birthday 101/102 Halloween 2015 Google celebrates Halloween using an interactive doodle game "Global Candy Cup" 102/102 Prague Astronomical Clock Google celebrates the 605th anniversary of the Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest functioning timepieces in the world
Joanna would later immortalise her ancestor in verse, alongside Christopher Columbus and others, in her Metrical Legends of Exalted Characters (1821).
As a child, Baillie staged theatrical productions with her classmates, a practice she continued at boarding school in Glasgow.
Relocating to Windmill Street in Fitzrovia, London, with her mother in 1784 - where Joanna’s late uncle had left the family a property - she gained access to the literary circle of the English capital, meeting the novelist Fanny Burney and finding the encouragement to write her first poem, “Winter Day”.
She began to make a serious study of drama, reading Shakespeare, Racine, Moliere and Voltaire.
When the family relocated to Colchester in 1791, she conceived the idea for what would become Plays on the Passions and spent the decade writing Basil, The Tryal and De Monfort, which would comprise the first published volume of the work in 1798.
With no name on the title page but a lengthy introductory discourse outlining her intentions, the author’s identity was a subject of no little speculation at the turn of the 19th century.
A lavish Drury Lane production of De Monfort appeared in 1800 starring leading actors of the day Sarah Siddons and John Kemple but was not a success despite an 11-night run. A revival of 1821, starring Edmund Kean, fared a little better.
Joanne Baillie was acknowledged as the author of the second volume of Plays when it arrived in 1802, this instalment comprised of The Election, Ethwald and The Second Marriage. A third, consisting of Orra, The Dream, The Siege and The Beacon, would appear, following some delay, in 1814.
In the interim, she relocated to Hampstead, where she would live the remainder of her life with her sister Agnes following the death of their mother in 1806.
Her play The Family Legend was produced in Edinburgh thanks to the patronage of Sir Walter Scott, with whom she had a long friendship – the pair hosting each other on visits north and south of the border and engaging in a prolific correspondence.
Her final collection of poetry, Fugitive Verses, appeared in 1840, revisiting her earliest compositions of 1790 at the advice of friend and fellow poet Samuel Rogers.
Admired throughout her life for intelligence, wit and eye for human frailty, Joanna Bailey was one of the most respected writers of her period, hailed as the finest female poet since Sappho by everyone from William Wordsworth and Lord Byron to John Stuart Mill to Maria Edgeworth. Her philanthropic work on behalf of the poor was also widely admired.
She died at home in Hampstead on 23 February 1851, aged 88.
GOOGLE is today paying tribute to Scottish playwright, poet and philanthropist Joanna Baillie with one of its famous Google Doodles.
But who is she? And who is her famous relative?
The Mitchell Library 4 Google Doodle is celebrating the birthday of Scottish poet Joanna Baillie
Who is Joanna Baillie?
Born in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, on September 11, 1762, Joanna Baillie was a Scottish poet and playwright, known for Plays on the Passions and Fugitive Verses.
She was the youngest of three siblings and the daughter of a Presbyterian minister whose family could trace its roots back to the legendary Scottish warrior Sir William Wallace.
As a child, she enjoyed staging theatrical productions with her fellow classmates and continued this during her days at a Glasgow boarding school.
She claims she was unable to read until she was at least nine years old, but instead displayed a talent for drawing, considerable musical ability and a love of mathematics.
As she got older, her facility in the writing and acting of plays shone through and it was in Glasgow that she visited the theatre for the first time, kindling a lifelong passion for the stage.
In 1784, she moved to Fitzrovia, London, with her mother - a move which gave her access to the capital’s literary circle.
She soon met novelist Fanny Burney who encouraged her to follow her dreams, and soon after, Baillie penned her first poem Winter Day.
She decided to pursue an education in drama and began reading Shakespeare, Racine, Voltaire and Moliere.
After the family moved to Colchester in 1791, Baillie came up with the concept of Plays on the Passion and spent the following decade writing Basil, The Tryal and De Monfort, which would comprise the first published volume of Passions in 1798.
She relocated to Hamsptead and remained there with her sister Agnes following their mother’s death in 1806.
Baillie was admired throughout her lifetime for her intelligence, wit and her eye for human frailty.
Known as one of the most respected writers of her period, Baillie was also hailed as the finest female poet since Sappho and was celebrated by everyone from William Wordsworth and Lord Byron to John Stuart Mill and Maria Edgeworth.
She was also known for her generous philanthropic work on behalf of the poor.
Joanna Baillie died at her Hampstead home on February 23, 1851, at the age of 88.
Google 4 The Scottish playwright, poet and philanthropist was born in Lanarkshire on September 11, 1762
What was her most famous work?
Baillie was best knwon for her three volumes of Plays on the Passions and Fugitive Verses.
Baillie’s work explored moral philosophy and gothic fiction, which combines fiction, horror, death and sometimes romance.
Plays on the Passions “unveiled the human mind under the dominion of those strong and fixed passions” through a series of astute female-led comedies and tragedies.
The first volume of Passions was anonymously published in 1798, under the title of A Series of Plays.
Volume One consisted of Count Basil, a tragedy on love, The Tryal, a comedy on love, and De Monfort, a tragedy on hatred.
In a long introductory discourse, the author defended and explained her ambitious design to illustrate each of the deepest and strongest passions of the human mind.
The author explained that the plays were part of a larger design and were a completely original concept which arose from a particular view of human nature in which sympathetic curiosity and observation of the movement of feeling in others were paramount.
Baillie explained that real passion, “genuine and true to nature” was to be the subject of each instalment, with each play focusing on the growth of one master passion.
London’s citizens in their entirety excitedly tried to figure out who the author could be.
In fact, the authorship was attributed to a male author for some time until someone pointed out that all of the protagonists were middle-aged women, rarely the muses of male authors.
Baillie finally revealed herself as the author in 1800 in the title-page of the third edition.
Google 4 Google celebrated the Autumn Equinox with an appropriately themed doodle
What is a Google Doodle?
In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.
The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.
In that same year, a turkey was added to Thanksgiving and two pumpkins appeared as the 'o's for Halloween the following year.
Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.
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Among the Doodles published in 2018 were ones commemorating cartographer Abraham Ortelius, Egyptian actor Omar Sharif and St Patrick's Day.
And of course there was a whole series for the football World Cup in Russia.
Earlier in the year, the search giant celebrated the Paralympics in 2018 in Pyeongchang with an animated design celebrating each of the sports the winter Paralympians competes in.
Joanna Baillie is remembered by today’s Google Doodle (Picture: Getty Images)
Tuesday, 11 September 2018 would have been Joanne Baillie’s 256th birthday, and Google have chosen this occasion to produce a Doodle to remember the Scottish poet.
Baillie was born in 1762 and lived to the age of 88, an impressive feat at the time, although not as impressive as her sister Agnes who lived to 100-years-old.
Given her longevity, it is no surprise that Joanna was a prolific poet with the majority of her work coming between 1790 and 1836.
Her most famous work was the three-volume Plays on the Passions, the first of which was published in 1798, the last coming in 1812.
Joanna Baillie’s Google Doodle (Picture: Google)
Baillie was born in Bothwell in Lanarkshire, moving to Hamilton in 1769 and then to Glasgow to attend boarding school.
However, it was when she moved to London in 1784 to live with her brother that her poetic work began as her aunt Anne Hunter was active in those circles.
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Further moves to Colchester and then to Hampstead were in store for Joanna, but the latter is where she settled and is where she is buried following her death in 1851.
Here are some of Joanna Baillie’s shorter poems and memorable quotes…
Joanna Baillie engraving by H. Robinson after Masquerier (Picture: Getty Images)
To Cupid
Child, with many a childish wile,
Timid look, and blushing smile,
Downy wings to steal thy way,
Gilded bow, and quiver gay,
Who in thy simple mien would trace
The tyrant of the human race?
Who is he whose flinty heart
Hath not felt the flying dart?
Who is he that from the wound
Hath not pain and pleasure found?
Who is he that hath not shed
Curse and blessing on thy head?
Song
What voice is this, thou evening gale!
That mingles with thy rising wail;
And, as it passes, sadly seems
The faint return of youthful dreams?
Though now its strain is wild and drear,
Blithe was it once as sky-lark’s cheer —
Sweet as the night-bird’s sweetest song, —
Dear as the lisp of infant’s tongue.
It was the voice, at whose sweet flow
The heart did beat, and cheek did glow,
And lip did smile, and eye did weep,
And motioned love the measure keep.
Oft be thy sound, soft gale of even,
Thus to my wistful fancy given;
And, as I list the swelling strain,
The dead shall seem to live again!
Joanna Baillie circa 1800 (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Pampered vanity is a better thing perhaps than starved pride.’
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‘I wish I were with some of the wild people that run in the woods, and know nothing about accomplishments!’
‘I have seen the day, when, if a man made himself ridiculous, the world would laugh at him. But now, everything that is mean, disgusting, and absurd, pleases them but so much the better!’
Joanna Baillie, 1762-1851, Scottish Poet And Dramatist. One Of The Most Eminent Female Writers And Poets That These Countries Have Produced, 1851 Engraving. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)
Song For An Irish Melody
The harper who sat on his green mossy seat,
And harped to the youngsters so loud and so sweet,
The far distant hum of the children at play,
And the maiden’s soft carol at close of the day,–
Ah! this was the music delighted my ear,
And to think of it now is so sad and so dear!
Ah! to listen again, by mine own cottage door,
To the sound of mine own native village once more!
I knew every dame in her holy-day airs;
I knew every maiden that danced at our fairs;
I knew every farmer to market who came,
And the dog that ran after him called by its name.
And who know I now in this far distant land,
But the stiff collared sergeant, and red-coated band?
No kinsman to comfort his own flesh and blood;
No merry eyed damsel to do my heart good!
To mine eye or mine ear no gay cheering e’er comes,
But the flare of our colours, the tuck of our drums;
The fierce flashing steel of our long mustered file,
And the sharp shrilly fifers a-playing the while.
At night, as I keep on the wearisome watch,
The sound of the west wind I greedily catch,
Then the shores of dear Ireland will rise to my sight,
And mine own native valley, that spot of delight!
Divided so far by a wide stormy main
Shall I ever return to our valley again?
Ah! to listen at ease by mine own cottage door,
To the sound of mine own native village once more!
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On Leaving Greece
Hellas ! farewell!-with anxious gaze I view,
Lovely in tears, and injur’d as thou art,
Thy summits melting in the distant blue,
Fade from my eyes, but linger in my heart.
Submissive, silent victim! dost thou feel
The chains which gall thee? or has lengthen’d grief
Numb’d hate and shame alike with hope and zeal,
And brought insensibility’s relief?
Awake! adjur’d by ev’ry chief and sage
Thou once could’st boast in many a meaner cause,
And let the tame submission of an age,
Like Nature’s hush’d and scarcely rustling pause,
Ere winds burst forth, foretell the approaching storm,
When thou shalt grasp the spear, and raise thy prostrate form.
A Melancholy Lover’s Farewell To His Mistress
Dear Phillis, all my hopes are o’er
And I shall see thy face no more.
Since every secret wish is vain,
I will not stay to give thee pain.
Then do not drop thy lowering brow,
But let me bless thee ere I go:
Oh! do not scorn my last adieu!
I’ve loved thee long, and loved thee true.
The prospects of my youth are crost,
My health is flown, my vigour lost;
My soothing friends augment my pain,
And cheerless is my native plain;
Dark o’er my spirits hangs the gloom,
And thy disdain has fixed my doom.
But light waves ripple o’er the sea
That soon shall bear me far from thee;
And, wheresoe’er our course is cast,
I know will bear me to my rest.
Full deep beneath the briny wave,
Where lie the venturous and brave,
A place may be for me decreed;
But, should the winds my passage speed,
Far hence upon a foreign land,
Whose sons perhaps with friendly hand
The stranger’s lowly tomb may raise,
A broken heart will end my days.
But Heaven’s blessing on thee rest!
And may no troubles vex thy breast!
Perhaps, when pensive and alone,
You’ll think of me when I am gone,
And gentle tears of pity shed,
When I am in my narrow bed.
But softly will thy sorrows flow
And greater mayest thou never know!
Free from all worldly care and strife,
Long mayest thou live a happy life!
And every earthly blessing find,
Thou loveliest of woman kind:
Yea, blest thy secret wishes be,
Though cruel thou hast proved to me!
And dost thou then thine arm extend?
And may I take thy lovely hand?
And do thine eyes thus gently look,
As though some kindly wish they spoke?
My gentle Phillis, though severe,
I do not grudge the ills I bear;
But still my greatest grief will be
To think my love has troubled thee.
Oh do not scorn this swelling grief!
The laden bosom seeks relief;
Nor yet this infant weakness blame,
For thou hast made me what I am.
Hark now! the sailors call away,
No longer may I lingering stay.
May peace within thy mansion dwell!
O gentle Phillis, fare thee well!
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Joanna Baillie, a Scottish writer who was once compared to Shakespeare, was born 256 years ago today.
The poet and playwright is being celebrated in today's Google Doodle and is often hailed as one of the greatest female poets of all time.
Baillie, born today in Bothwell, Lankarshire in 1762, was a descendant of Scottish warrior Sir William Wallace and became notable in her own right through her literary works - which led friend and fellow writer Sir Walter Scott to brand her a "female Shakespeare".
She is best known for Plays on the Passions, an ambitious three volume project published between 1798 and 1812.
She came up with the idea for the sequence of comedies and tragedies about love, hatred and jealousy after moving to Colchester with her mother and sister in 1791 after the death of her father.
She hoped the series would unveil "the human mind under the dominion of those strong and fixed passions".
The first volume, made up of Count Basil: A Tragedy, The Tryal: A Comedy and De Monfort: A Tragedy, was originally published anonymously. The work became the talk of London as readers tried to guess the author's identity.
Baillie was revealed as the writer when the second volume was released in 1802. The third volume was published in 1814, by which time she had moved to Hampstead in London, where she spent the rest of her life with her sister Agnes.
Baillie showed her own brand of feminist literary criticism and set the tone for what would come to be known as English Romanticism in the works' Introductory Discourse.
She set out "the chief object" of her plays as being "to delineate the progress of the higher passions in the human breast" - and rated tragedy as "fitted to produce stronger moral effect than upon any other".
The plays show characters struggling with different passions, with the writer expecting the audience to empathise with them and learn from their mistakes.
Baillie had first entered literary circles in London when she and her mother moved into a property on Windmill Street in Fitzrovia in 1784 following the death of an uncle.
It was at this time that she met novelist Fanny Burney and was encouraged to write, shortly after which she penned her first poem Winter Day.
(Image: Popperfoto)
Though born into a well-off Scottish family, they had fallen on hard times after the sudden death of Baillie's father in 1778.
She and her sister were later able to buy the cottage in Hampstead where she lived and worked for most of her life thanks to an inheritance from a wealthy uncle. Her brother Matthew, a doctor, had inherited the Fitzrovia house.
She was known for entertaining in her cottage, which was a hub of the literary scene of the time.
(Image: Hulton Archive)
She maintained friendly relationships with many of the important British writers of her time, including William Wordsworth, and Lady and Lord Byron.
As well as her literary prowess, Joanna was remembered for her philanthropy.
But she always remembered the needy, donating half of the earnings from her writing to charity.
She also wrote an essay in support of chimney sweeps, and advocated for women writers as well as other authors who struggled to provide for themselves.
She never married and died aged 88 in Hampstead, London, where she is buried in the parish churchyard.
(Image: Universal Images Group Editorial)
Joanna Baillie's poems
A Summer Day
A Winter Day
Song, Woo’d And Married And A’
To The Rainbow
Hay-Making
A Mother To Her Waking Infant
London
See a full list of Baillie's poems.
Joanna Baillie's plays
Plays on the Passions vol 1: Count Basil; The Tryal; De Monfort
Plays on the Passions vol 2: The Election; Ethwald; The Second Marriage
Family Legend
Plays on the Passions vol 3: Orra; The Dream; The Siege; The Beacon
Multiple volumes of Miscellaneous Plays including: Rayner; Constantine Paleologus; The Country Inn
Basil, The Tryal and De Monfort feature in today's doodle, along with Ethwald and Orra.
