Isabella Valancy Crawford: The Life and the Legends

Ellen Pilon is a library assistant in the Patrick Power Library at Saint
Mary’s University in Halifax.

Isabella Valancy Crawford (1850-1887) was a Canadian writer remembered more for her poetry than for her fiction. She published her poetry primarily in newspapers but did attempt one book of collected poems, which failed to sell. Although her oeuvre is not large, she managed to support herself and her mother with the proceeds of her writing after her father died. Farmiloe notes that “during her lifetime she won critical recognition for her work and a measure of fame that must have given her some satisfaction.” In 1886 The Globe printed her “The Little Bacchante” in serial form, the first time it accepted a story by a local author.

The biographical details in Farmiloe’s slim little volume are sparse. Very little is known about Crawford, since the usual biographical materials — diaries, letters, journals — are missing. Farmiloe states that early biographers suppressed or ignored information which “they assumed would tarnish the bright image they wished to foster.” Despite these drawbacks, Farmiloe attempts a biography, sifting the poems for autobiographical details and relying heavily on filler: facts about Crawford’s parents (which are remarkably plentiful) and descriptions of the life and countryside Crawford would have experienced in Paisley, Lakefield, Peterborough, and Toronto. When in Lakefield, Crawford did meet Catherine Parr Traill, but the extent of their friendship is unknown. Some of the book is repetitive, irritating in so slim a volume. A selected bibliography appears at the end, with a general list of Crawford’s works, a respectable list of 25 critical commentaries, official documents, and background material. Easy to read, the book would be especially useful for high school students but would be of interest to anyone studying Crawford or her contemporaries.