Joanna Baillie

British author
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Quick Facts
Born:
Sept. 11, 1762, Hamilton, Lanark, Scot.
Died:
Feb. 23, 1851, Hampstead, London (aged 88)

Joanna Baillie (born Sept. 11, 1762, Hamilton, Lanark, Scot.—died Feb. 23, 1851, Hampstead, London) was a poet and prolific dramatist whose plays, mainly in verse, were highly praised at a period when serious drama was in decline. Her Plays on the Passions, 3 vol. (1798–1812), brought her fame but have long been forgotten. She is remembered, rather, as the friend of her countryman Sir Walter Scott and for a handful of lyrics in Fugitive Verses (1790), her first published work, that catch the authentic note of Lowland Scots folk song.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.