Park, Andrew

(1807-1863)

   Scottish poet born in Renfrew, he was educated at Glasgow University, and after several fruitless attempts at setting himself up in business in Scotland and in London, he devoted himself to literature. Following a tour of the East he published Egypt and the East (1856). He died in Glasgow and was buried in the Paisley Cemetery, where a monument, consisting of a bronze bust on a granite pedestal, was erected to his memory in 1867. In addition to the sonnet sequence The Vision of Mankind, published by John Hamilton in 1833, he published Bridegroom and the Bride (1834) and Silent Love (under the pseudonym "James Wilson") (1843). The poem was translated into French by the Chevalier de Chatelain and was very popular in America. His final poem, Veritas, which appeared in 1849, is autobiographical in character. Several of Park's lyrics have been set to music by various composers.

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997.