Portrait of John Barr in Otago Punch, 1867. Courtesy Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
John Barr of Craigilee (October 24, 1809 - September 18, 1889) was a Scottish-New Zealand poet.
Life[]
Barr was born at Paisley, Scotland in 1809, the son of Rebecca and James Barr.[1]
Trained as an engineer, he founded the shipbuilding company of Barr & McNab.[1]
On April 11, 1844, he married Mary Jamieson (Lamb) of Paisley, who bore him at least 2 sons and 2 daughters. [1]
When Barr's business failed in 1852, the family emigrated to New Zealand, arriving that September 28.[1] They moved to Otago, and farmed a property at Halfway Bush.[2]
In 1857 they moved to Kaihiku, establishing a farm they named Craigielee. Barr retired in 1861 and moved to Dunedin.[1]
The Encyclopedia of New Zealand notes that: "From the time of his arrival in the colony Barr enjoyed a successful career as a poet." He published verse in the Otago Witness and the Sunday Advertister, and was a popular performer at public occasions.[1] He was the founder of the New Zealand Robert Burns Society.[3] In his time, he was considered the Laureate of Otago province, of which he wrote, in Lowland Scots:
- There's nae place like Otago yet,
- There's nae wee beggar weans,
- Or auld men shivering at our doors
- To beg for scraps or banez[4]
In 1861 Barr printed a collection of poems, Poems and Songs: Descriptive and satirical, published in Edinburgh. The book was popular, and was reprinted in 1874.[1]
Barr died on September 18, 1889 at Dunedin.[5]
Writing[]
The 'Otago Daily Times' wrote of Poems and Songs that, "quite irrespective of their local character, which endows them with a peculiar attraction, the Poems possess intrinsic merits in themselves which entitle them to rank high as literary productions".[1]
Allen Curnow described his writing as "this Scots-colonial parritch (porridge) ... watery gruel at the best."[6]
Recognition[]
The Caledonian Society made Barr its poet laureate, and presented him with a gold medal in 1868.[1]
Publications[]
- Poems and Songs: Descriptive and satirical. Edinburgh: W.P. Nimmo, 1861; Edinburgh: J. Grieg, 1861.
- Poems. Dunedin, NZ: F. Humffray, 1874.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[7]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Barr, John (1809-1889), Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Web, June 19, 2013.
- ↑ Writers in Residence, by Jenny Robin Jones, Auckland University Press, 2004
- ↑ Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English, Oxford University Press, 1997.
- ↑ John Barr (poet), Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, June 19, 2013.
- ↑ Cooper, Ronda. "Barr, John - Biography". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1b7. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
- ↑ The Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse (edited by Allen Curnow). Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1960.
- ↑ Search results = au: John Barr 1809-1889, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 19, 2014.
External links[]
- Poems
- John Barr at PoemHunter (1 poem, "A Song of Light").
- About
- John Barr at Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
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