William Sharp (12 September 1855 – 12 December 1905) was a Scottish writer, of poetry and literary biography in particular, who from 1893 wrote also as Fiona Macleod, a pseudonym kept almost secret during his lifetime. He was also an editor of the poetry of

Ossian Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined unde ...

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...

Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as '' Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

and

Eugene Lee-Hamilton Eugene Lee-Hamilton (6 January 1845 – 9 September 1907) was a late Victorian English poet. His work includes some notable sonnets in the style of Petrarch. He endowed a literary prize administered by Oriel College in Oxford University, wher ...

Biography

Sharp was born in Paisley and educated at Glasgow Academy and the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, which he attended 1871–1872 without completing a degree. In 1872 he contracted

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...

. During 1874–5 he worked in a Glasgow law office. His health broke down in 1876 and he was sent on a voyage to Australia. In 1878 he took a position in a bank in London. He was introduced to

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

by Sir Noel Paton, and joined the Rossetti literary group; which included

Hall Caine Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (14 May 1853 – 31 August 1931), usually known as Hall Caine, was a British novelist, dramatist, short story writer, poet and critic of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Caine's popularity during ...

, Philip Bourke Marston and Swinburne. He married his cousin Elizabeth Sharp in 1884, and devoted himself to writing full-time from 1891, travelling widely. Also about this time, he developed an intensely romantic but perhaps asexual attachment to

Edith Wingate Rinder Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and va ...

, another writer of the consciously Celtic Edinburgh circle surrounding

Patrick Geddes Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a British biologist, sociologist, Comtean positivist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning ...

and "The Evergreen". It was to Rinder ("EWR") he attributed the inspiration for his writings as Fiona Macleod thereafter, and to whom he dedicated his first Macleod novel ("Pharais") in 1894. Sharp had a complex and ambivalent relationship with

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

during the 1890s, as a central tension in the

Celtic Revival The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight) is a variety of movements and trends in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries that see a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture. Artists and writers drew on the traditions of Gae ...

. Yeats initially found Macleod acceptable and Sharp not, and later fathomed their identity. Sharp found the dual personality an increasing strain. William Sharp (writer) - Project Gutenberg eText 19028

William Sharp (writer) - Project Gutenberg eText 19028

On occasions when it was necessary for "Fiona Macleod" to write to someone unaware of the dual identity, Sharp would dictate the text to his sister (Mary Beatrice Sharp), whose handwriting would then be passed off as Fiona's manuscript. During his Macleod period, Sharp was a member of the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ...

. In August 1892, he published what became the only issue of the ''Pagan Review'', in which he, under a set of pen names, argued for the establishment of a neo-paganism which would abolish gender inequality. The review was received negatively; among other things, critics wrote that its paganism was far removed from the pagan writings of the ancient world. The '' Saturday Review'' wrote: He died at the ''

Castello di Maniace Maniace (Italian: ''Maniace''; Sicilian dialect: ''Maniaci'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about northwest of Catania. The municipality bear ...

'' near Bronte, in Sicily, where he was the guest of Sir Alexander Nelson Hood, 5th Duke of Bronté (1904–1937), and was buried there in the ducal cemetery. He described the duchy and aspects of its history in his ''Attraverso la Ducea Nelson''. In 1910, Elizabeth Sharp published a biographical memoir attempting to explain the creative necessity behind the deception, and edited a complete edition of his works.

The Belgian Revival

Sharp took an early interest in the Belgian avant-garde and disseminated knowledge of

La Jeune Belgique ''La Jeune Belgique'' (meaning ''The Young Belgium'' in English) was a Belgian literary society and movement that published a French-language literary review ''La Jeune Belgique'' between 1880 and 1897. Both the society and magazine were founded b ...

movement in a number of essays published in English-language literary periodicals, including two essays entitled ''La Jeune Belgique'', a biographical and critical essay titled ''

Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

'', a reflection on '' Ruysbroeck and Maeterlinck'' and a review of Gérard Harry's production of '' Princess Maleine'' and '' The Intruder'' (1892). He translated Auguste Jenart's ''The Barbarian'' (1891) into English. His translation of

Charles van Lerberghe Charles van Lerberghe (21 October 1861 – 26 October 1907) was a Belgian author who wrote in French and was particularly identified with the symbolist movement. The growing atheism and anticlerical stance evident in his later work made it popu ...

's ''Les Flaireurs'' was published as ''The Night-Comers'' in ''The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal: Autumn'' in 1895.

Musical Settings

The poems of Fiona Macleod attracted the attention of composers in the first half of the 20th century as part of the Celtic Twilight movement in the UK and the US. Settings include: *

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Probab ...

: ''Two Poems of the Wind'', 1924 * Arnold Bax: ''A Celtic Song Cycle'', 1904, and other songs *

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

: ''I-Brasil,'' 1913 * John Foulds: ''Five Mood Pictures'', 1917 *

Norman Fulton (Robert) Norman Fulton (23 January 1909 - 5 August 1980) was an English-born composer, broadcaster and teacher of Scottish ancestry. Life and career Fulton was born in London but educated in Scotland at Glasgow High School. From 1929 until 1933 ...

: ''Three Songs of Fiona McLeod'' (1962) * Charles T. Griffes: ''Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod'', 1918 * Fritz Hart: four volumes of ''Five Songs'', opp. 73 to 77 *

Helen Hopekirk Helen Hopekirk (20 May 1856 – 19 November 1945) was a Scottish pianist and composer who lived and worked in Boston. Life and career Helen Hopekirk was born in Portobello, Edinburgh in Scotland, a daughter of music shop owners Adam and Hele ...

: ''Six Poems by Fiona Macleod'', 1907, and other songs * Herbert Howells: ''Five Songs for Low Voice and Piano'' *

David Moule-Evans David Moule-Evans (21 November 1905 – 18 May 1988) was an English composer, conductor and academic. Moule-Evans was born in Ashford, Kent, and was educated at the Judd School in Tonbridge before studying at the Royal College of Music in London ...

: ''Two Celtic Songs'', 1945 * Philip Sainton: ''Leaves, Shadows and Dreams'' *

Caroline Holme Walker Caroline Holme Walker (June 14, 1863 – January 19, 1955) was an American composer, pianist, and teacher who transcribed bird songs into standard musical notation. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Walker studied with Anna Strothotte, James Nor ...

: ''When the Dew is Falling'' By far the best known setting was the adaptation of the verse drama '' The Immortal Hour'' as the libretto for Rutland Boughton's hugely successful opera of the same name, completed in 1914.Hurd, Michael. Notes to ''The Immortal Hour'', Hyperion CD 22040 (1983)
/ref>

Works

*''Dante Gabriel Rossetti: A Record and Study'' (1882) *''The Human Inheritance, The New Hope, Motherhood and Other Poems'' (1882) *''Sopistra and Other Poems'' (1884); *''Earth's Voices'' (1884) poems *''Sonnets of this century'' (1886) editor *''Sea-Music: An Anthology of Poems'' (1887) *''Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley'' (1887) *''Romantic Ballads and Poems of Phantasy'' (1888) *''Sport of chance'' (1888) novel *''Life of Heinrich Heine'' (1888) *''American Sonnets'' (1889) *''Life of Robert Browning'' (1889) *''The Children of Tomorrow'' (1889) *''Sospiri di Roma'' (1891) poems *''Life of Joseph Severn'' (1892) *''A Fellowe and his Wife'' (1892) *''Flower o' the Vine'' (1892) *''Pagan Review'' (1892) *''Vistas'' (1894); *''Pharais'' (1894) novel as FM *''The Gypsy Christ and Other Tales'' (1895) *''Mountain Lovers'' (1895) novel as FM *''The Laughter of Peterkin'' (1895) as FM *''The Sin-Eater and Other Tales'' (1895) as FM *''Ecce puella and Other Prose Imaginings'' (1896) *''Green Fire: A Romance'' (1896) novel as FM *''The Washer of the Ford'' (1896) novel as FM *''Fair Women in Painting and Poetry'' (1896) *''Lyra Celtica: An Anthology of Representative Celtic Poetry'' (1896) *''By Sundown Shores'' (1900) as FM *''The Divine Adventure'' (1900) as FM *''Iona'' (1900) as FM *''From the Hills of Dream, Threnodies Songs and Later Poems'' (1901) as FM; this included the poem "The Lonely Hunter", which contains perhaps MacLeod's most famous line: ''Deep in the heart of Summer, sweet is life to me still, But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a lonely hill.'' This inspired the title of Carson McCullers' debut novel '' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'' *''The Progress of Art in the Nineteenth century'' (1902) *''Wind and wave: selected tales'' (1902) *''The House of Usna'' (1903) play as FM *''Literary Geography'' (1904) *''The Winged Destiny: Studies in the Spiritual History of the Gael'' (1904) as FM and dedicated to Dr

John Goodchild John Arthur Goodchild (1851–1914) was a physician, and later author of several works of poetry and mysticism, most famously ''The Light of the West''. According to Patrick Benham, Goodchild had a private medical practice in Bordighera, Italy, ...

* ''The Immortal Hour'' (1908) play as FM *''Selected writings'' (1912) 5 Vols. *''The Hills of Ruel, and Other Stories'' (1921) as FM

References

*"William Sharp (Fiona Macleod): A Memoir" (1910, 1912) Elizabeth A. Sharp *''William Sharp: "Fiona Macleod", 1855–1905'' (1970) Flavia Alaya *''The Sexual Tensions of William Sharp: A Study of the Birth of Fiona Macleod, Incorporating Two Lost Works, 'Ariadne in Naxos' and 'Beatrice'" (1996) Terry L. Meyers '' (Sharp's sexual orientation is a question still to be resolved, but some evidence in William Halloran's edition of Sharp's letters ee belowmay corroborate the suggestions by Meyers that the creation of Fiona Macleod in some sense reflected a crisis in Sharp's sexual identity).'' * In ''Library of World's Best Literature Ancient and Modern'', Thirty Volumes, Edited by Charles Dudley Warner, R. S. Peale and J. A. Hill, publishers, 1897. In Volume 6 is a section (pp. 3403–3450), devoted to Celtic literature, written by William Sharp and Ernest Rhys.

External links

* * * *
"The Little Book of the Great Enchantment" Biography of William Sharp by Steve Blamires (RJ Stewart Publications 2008)

Guide to the William Sharp Papers
at

The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

The William Sharp "Fiona Macleod" Archive containing the Letters of William Sharp "Fiona Macleod" Edited by William F. Halloran, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Sponsored by the Institute of English Studies. University of London
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, William (Writer) 1855 births 1905 deaths People educated at the Glasgow Academy Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish poets Scottish biographers Literary forgeries Writers from Paisley, Renfrewshire 19th-century poets Scottish modern pagans Modern pagan writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers