Miller, William

(1810-1872)

   A Scottish poet, "The Laureate of the Nursery" was born and lived most of his life in Glasgow. His desire to be a doctor was thwarted by ill health, so he became a wood turner and cabinetmaker, as well as an accomplished poet and songwriter. Ill and penniless, he died in Glasgow and was buried in the family plot at the Tollcross Burial Ground. A monument to him was erected by public subscription within the Glasgow Necropolis. Much of his early work-often written in the Scots dialect-was published in periodicals and his songs from 1832 to 1853 were published in Whistle Binkie (1890) by Alexander Abernethy Ritchie. His Scottish Nursery Songs and Other Poems was published in 1863 and Willie Winkie and Other Songs and Poems in 1902. Some of his other poems: "Chuckie [hen]," "Hogmanay," "Irish Love Song," "Lady Summer," "The Poet's Last Song," "The Sleepy Laddie," "The Wonderfu' Wean," "To My Dear Friend, James Ballantine, Esq."

   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). Folk Songs. John Williamson Palmer, ed. Charles Scribner and Company, 1867. 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). The Real Mother Goose. Blanche Fisher Wright, ed. Checkerboard Press, 1944.