Jean Glover
Encyclopedia
Jean Glover was a Scottish poet.
Glover was born in Kilmarnock
, Ayrshire, 31 October 1758. Her father was a hand-loom weaver. While very young she joined a band of strolling players and married their leader. Burns describes her in unqualified terms as a person with no character to lose, but other contemporaries, who long, survived her, say that she was merely 'a roughly hardened tramp, a wilful, regardless woman.' Her husband's Christian name or surname was Richard. Burns summarily disposes of him as 'a sleight-of-hand blackguard.'
Jean Glover had the reputation of being the best singer and actor in the company, and in gaudy attire she used to play on a tambourine in the street to attract customers to her husband 'juggling in a room down a close.' In her player's finery she struck one ingenuous observer as 'the brawest woman that had ever been seen to step in leather shoon.' Her bright, melodious lyric ' Ower the muir among the Heather' is a genuine addition to Scottish pastoral poetry. She may have composed others, but they are not preserved; this one, happily, was written down by Burns from the singing of Jean Glover herself. Stewart Lewis used the same air for a ballad of his, with which it is important not to confound this typical Scottish song. Jean Glover died at Letterkenny
, co. Donegal, in 1801.
Glover was born in Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock is a large burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland, with a population of 44,734. It is the second largest town in Ayrshire. The River Irvine runs through its eastern section, and the Kilmarnock Water passes through it, giving rise to the name 'Bank Street'...
, Ayrshire, 31 October 1758. Her father was a hand-loom weaver. While very young she joined a band of strolling players and married their leader. Burns describes her in unqualified terms as a person with no character to lose, but other contemporaries, who long, survived her, say that she was merely 'a roughly hardened tramp, a wilful, regardless woman.' Her husband's Christian name or surname was Richard. Burns summarily disposes of him as 'a sleight-of-hand blackguard.'
Jean Glover had the reputation of being the best singer and actor in the company, and in gaudy attire she used to play on a tambourine in the street to attract customers to her husband 'juggling in a room down a close.' In her player's finery she struck one ingenuous observer as 'the brawest woman that had ever been seen to step in leather shoon.' Her bright, melodious lyric ' Ower the muir among the Heather' is a genuine addition to Scottish pastoral poetry. She may have composed others, but they are not preserved; this one, happily, was written down by Burns from the singing of Jean Glover herself. Stewart Lewis used the same air for a ballad of his, with which it is important not to confound this typical Scottish song. Jean Glover died at Letterkenny
Letterkenny
Letterkenny , with a population of 17,568, is the largest town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. The town is located on the River Swilly...
, co. Donegal, in 1801.