Isabella Valancy Crawford (1850-1887)
A 1989 Toronto Historical Board plaque, located here on the south side of Front Street West at the entrance to Isabella Valancy Crawford park, tells us about this poet.
Considered among our finest poets, Isabella Crawford was born in Ireland and came to Canada with her parents about 1858. After settling first in Paisley, Ontario, the family lived later in Lakefield and Peterborough. As a young woman Isabella became fascinated by backwoods life and Indian legends. Following her father's death, she and her mother moved to Toronto. There they subsisted on her meagre earnings from light verse and 'formula fiction' that appeared in Canadian and American newspapers. One privately-printed book of serious poetry, 'Old Spookeses Pass, Malcom's Katie and Other Poems' appeared before her untimely death at 57 John Street. Full recognition came later, however, with the publication of her collected poems, which were admired for their evocative images of the lush and sparkling wilderness.
'Darkness built its wigwam walls close around the camp'
Location Co-ordinates: 43.643785 -79.388816
Photo by Alan L Brown - September 2006
Related page from my 'Ontario's Historical Plaques' website:
Isabella Valancy Crawford
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