Christian Gray (1772 – circa 1830) was a Scottish poet. Blind from a young age, Gray was known as the "blind poet" and wrote in both Scots and English. She published two volumes of poems in a variety of genres, including political, religious, and autobiographical.
Christian Gray | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1772 Aberdalgie, Perthshire |
| Died | 1830 Aberdalgie, Perthshire |
| Language | English, Scots |
| Nationality | Scottish |
Biography
editChristian Gray was born by April 1772 in Aberdalgie, Perthshire.[1] Her family had been farmers for generations;[2] she was the eldest of two children who survived to adulthood.[1]
Gray lost her eyesight in childhood after falling ill with smallpox.[3] She had passages of the Bible and poetry read to her often, and she knitted while walking in nature.[2][3] Her neighbors provided assistance after her parents died, and she lived in a cottage provided by the Earl of Kinnoull.[2]
Scottish historian Peter Robert Drummond visited Gray around 1827 and featured a chapter on her in Perthshire in Bygone Days: One Hundred Biographical Essays; he writes that she lived "a number of years" after his visit.[1]
Writing
editGray wrote in both Scots and English on a range of topics, including marriage, slavery, religion, war, and her own blindness.[3][4] Some of her poems were written in response to well-known Scots songs.[1] She composed poems in her head and recited them from memory until a visitor would write them down for her, often the schoolmaster of Aberdalgie.[3][2] Her poem "The Victims of War," published in 1811, describes a doomed pair: Julia follows her lover Alexis to war, where he is shot and killed, and Julia endures hardships in her return to England.[5] Another poem, "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, a Legendary Tale," reflects on Gray's intellectual and literary growth.[6]
Bibliography
edit- Tales, Letters, and Other Pieces in Verse, etc. Oliver & Boyd. 1808.
- A New Selection of Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse. Printed for the author, by R. Morison. 1821.
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Christian Gray". Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2006. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d Drummond, Peter Robert (1879). "Chapter XIX. Christian Gray". Perthshire in Bygone Days: One Hundred Biographical Essays. London: W.B. Whittingham & Company. pp. 404–409. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d Ewan, Elizabeth L.; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian; Pipes, Rose, eds. (2006). The biographical dictionary of Scottish women : from the earliest times to 2004. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 70. ISBN 9780748626601. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ Sheridan, Sara. "Five amazing Scottish women with disabilities whose stories you should know". The National. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ Behrendt, Stephen C. (2000). "'A few harmless Numbers': British women poets and the climate of war, 1793–1815". In Shaw, Philip (ed.). Romantic Wars : Studies in Culture and Conflict, 1793–1822. London: Routledge. pp. 13–36. ISBN 9781840142662. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- ^ Curran, Stuart (1999). "Romantic Women Poets: Inscribing the Self". In Armstrong, Isobel; Blain, Virginia (eds.). Women's Poetry in the Enlightenment: The Making of a Canon, 1730–1820. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 157–159. ISBN 9780333691519. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
External links
edit- A New Selection of Miscellaneous Pieces digitized copy of 1821 book