H. Isabel Graham (May 13, 1869 — October 29, 1941) was a Canadian poet.

H. Isabel Graham, from a 1907 publication.

Early life

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Hannah Isabel Graham was born at Harpurhey, near Seaforth, Ontario. the daughter of the Rev. William G. Graham, a Presbyterian minister, and Elizabeth Gouinlock. Her parents were both from Scotland. Graham wrote a pamphlet, "Fifty Years of Presbyterianism in Egmondville" (1896), about her father's work.[1] H. Isabel Graham studied piano, pipe organ, and harmony at the Toronto College of Music.[2][3]

Career

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Graham's poetry was published in Canadian and American newspapers and magazines, and collected in the volumes A Song of December and Other Poems (1904),[4] Saint Ignace and Other Poems (1934),[5] and Be of Good Cheer (1939). She sometimes used Scottish English vocabulary, spelling, and other features of the dialect.[6] Themes were religious or patriotic, with titles including "There's Aye a Something", "Does Memory Live?" "No Country's Like Our Own Dear Land", "The Prodigal Child",[1] "The Crown",[7] "To Those Who Wait"[8] "To An Invalided Soldier", "The Christmas Ship",[2] and "Open the Door".[9]

Personal life

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Hannah Isabel Graham died in 1941, aged 72 years. Her gravesite (under the name "Hannah Isabella Graham") is with those of her parents, at Egmondville, Ontario.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b Caledonian Society of Toronto, Selections from Scottish Canadian Poets (Imrie, Graham 1900): 123.
  2. ^ a b John William Garvin, ed., Canadian Poems of the Great War (McClelland & Stewart 1918): 70-72.
  3. ^ "Hannah Isabel Graham" Simon Fraser University Digitized Collections.
  4. ^ Carole Gerson, Canadian Women in Print, 1750-1918 (Wilfrid Laurier University Press 2011): 72. ISBN 9781554582396
  5. ^ Hannah Isabel Graham, Saint Ignace and Other Poems (Ryerson Press 1934).
  6. ^ William Campbell, "Scottish-Canadian Poetry" Canadian Magazine (June 1907): 175.
  7. ^ H. Isabel Graham, "The Crown" The Westminster 8(April 1906): 223.
  8. ^ H. Isabel Graham, "To Those Who Wait" The Westminster 8(March 1906): 178.
  9. ^ H. Isabel Graham, "Open the Door" Albany Ledger (December 25, 1908): 6. via Newspapers.com 
  10. ^ About, "Egmondville United Cemetery" Archived 2017-08-13 at the Wayback Machine
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