Sharp, William

(1855-1905)

   Scottish poet born at Paisley, Strathclyde, he was educated at Glasgow University and spent a great deal of his life touring Australia, America, Germany, Italy, France and North Africa. Working in London, his poetry attracted the attention and encouragement of Gabriel Rossetti (see entry). In 1882 he published a short life of Rossetti, and in the same year he published "The Human Inheritance" which led to an invitation from the editor of Harper's Magazine for other poems. In 1884 he became editor of the Canterbury Poets, to which he contributed editions on sonnets and odes. From around 1890 he began writing mystical prose and verse under the pseudonym of "Fiona Macleod." He married his cousin Elizabeth Sharp in 1884, and they edited the 1896 edition of Lyra Celtica. He died at Castle Maniace, Sicily, and was buried in a woodland cemetery on the hillside. Some of his other publications: Poems, 1884. Romantic Ballads, 1889. From the Hills of Dream, 1897. Poems and Dramas, 1910. Some of his poems: "An Orange Grove," "Moonrise on the Antarctic," "Song of the Cornfields," "The Field Mouse," "The Wild Mare."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Favorite Poems of Childhood. Philip Smith, ed. Dover Publications, 1992. Poems of William Sharp. Mrs. William Sharp, ed. Duffield and Company, 1912. Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).