Joanna Belfrage Picken
Joanna Belfrage Picken | |
---|---|
Born |
8 May 1798 Edinburgh |
Died |
25 March 1859 Montreal |
Nationality | British |
Other names | poems |
"A queer kind o' lott'ry is marriage—
Ye never ken what ye may draw,
Ye may get a braw hoose an' a carriage,
Or maybe get nae hoose ava.
I say na 'tis best to be single,
But ae thing's to me unco clear:
Far better sit lane by the ingle
Than thole what some wives hae to bear."
Joanna Belfrage Picken1876[1]
Joanna Belfrage Picken (8 May 1798 – 25 March 1859) was known as the "Poet of Paisley".
Life
Picken was born in Edinburgh in 1798. Her father was Ebenezer Picken who was a minor poet.[2] She and her sister established a boarding school in Musselburgh, but their attempt was a failure, possibly due to uncomplimentary poems that Picken published about local figures. Picken wrote verses for the Glasgow Courier and other newspapers.[3]
She left for Canada in 1842 with other family members where she became a music teacher, writing poetry under the name "Alpha". She died of apoplexy in Montreal on 25 March 1859 and is buried in the Mount Royal Cemetery there.[3]
References
- ↑ Quoted in Marilyn Malina, "Picken, Joanna Belfrage [pseud. Alpha] (1798–1859)", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 4 April 2018. (subscription required)
- ↑
Picken, Ebenezer (DNB00). Wikisource. - 1 2 Marilyn Malina, "Picken, Joanna Belfrage [pseud. Alpha] (1798–1859)", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 4 April 2018. (subscription required)