Dinah Maria Craik (; born Dinah Maria Mulock, often credited as Miss Mulock or Mrs. Craik; 20 April 1826 – 12 October 1887) was an English novelist and poet. She wrote the novel, John Halifax, Gentleman, which presents the mid-Victorian ideals of English middle-class life.

Life

Mulock was born on 20 April 1826, at Stoke-upon-Trent to Dinah and Thomas Mulock and raised in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, where her father was minister of a small independent nonconformist congregation. Her childhood and early youth were affected by her father's mental health and his unsettled fortunes, but she gained a good education from various quarters and felt called to be a writer. In 1839 she was in London assisting her mother and studying design and languages. Her mother died in 1845 and her father lost interest in his children.

American composer Emily Bruce Roelofson used Craik's text for her song "O Heart, My Heart".

Bibliography

A comprehensive bibliography appears in Dinah Mulock Craik by Sally Mitchell. This is reproduced more concisely in the Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Additional contributions to periodicals:

Tales and sketches

  • Source:
  • "The Man in Green". 11 January 1846, in The Mirror Vol. 1, pp. 20–23
  • "Beranger and his Poems". 1 August 1846, in The Mirror Vol. 1, pp. 79–80
  • "The Poets of the People. I. Allan Ramsay". 15 August 1846, in The Mirror Vol. 1, pp. 109–11
  • "The Poets of the People. II. Robert Burns". 19 September 1846, in The Mirror Vol. 1, pp. 189–90
  • "The Emigrant's Wives. A Passage from Real Life". 26 September 1846, in The Mirror Vol. 1, pp. 203–08
  • "The Story of Erminia". May 1847, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 26, pp. 284–86
  • "Elspeth Sutherland (A Tale)". June 1847, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 26, pp. 327–32
  • "Great and Little Heroines". September 1847, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 27, pp. 140–44
  • "A Sketch of Domestic Life. (From the German of Heinrich Zebokke.)" 11, 18 and 25 September 1847, in Sharpe's London Magazine Vol. 4, pp. 315–17, 332–34 and 342–44
  • "The Peace-Maker". February 1848, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 28, pp. 66–71
  • "Poets of the People—Robert Bloomfield". March 1848, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 28, pp. 172–73
  • "A Meditation for the Times". February 1855, in Hogg's Instructor Vol. 4, p. 129
  • "Running Away. A Schoolmaster's Story". December 1868, in Our Young Folks Vol. 4, Boston, pp. 734–43
  • "In the Happy Valley". July 1869, in Our Young Folks Vol. 5, Boston, pp. 444–49
  • "Le Boeuf Gras". December 1869, in Our Young Folks Vol. 5, Boston, pp. 825–31
  • "In Bolton Woods". January 1871, in Our Young Folks Vol. 7, Boston, pp. 42–48

The following all first appeared in periodicals before book form:

  • "Little Lizzie and the Fairies"; "Sunny Hair's Dream"; "The Young Ship-Carver"; "Arndt's Night Underground" – in The Playmate. A Pleasant Companion for Spare Hours, 1847–48.
  • "A Family in Love", as "A Family on the Wing", in Chambers's Journal, 3 May 1856
  • "A Garden Party", in Good Cheer, Christmas 1867
  • "His Little Mother", in The Graphic, 5–19 October 1878
  • "Poor Prin. A True Story", in The Graphic, 11 October 1879
  • "An Island of the Blest", in The Sunday Magazine, 1880
  • "My Sister’s Grapes", in Harper’s Young People, New York, 14 December 1880, and in Life and Work, August 1881
  • "A Ruined Palace", in The Sunday Magazine, 1881
  • "How She Told a Lie", in The Sunday Magazine, 1881
  • "A City at Play" and "The First Sunday at Lent" were incorporated in the book Fair France. Impressions of a Traveller, as Chapters 3 and 4 respectively.

Early poems

  • "Song of the Hours". October 1841, in The Dublin University Magazine Vol. 18, pp. 442–443
  • "Verses". 1844, in Friendship's Offering of Sentiment and Mirth, pp. 216–217
  • "A March Song". April 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 20, p. 245
  • Songs for Stray Airs No. I. "The Mourner's Hope of Immortality (A Funeral Hymn)". April 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 20, p. 245
  • Songs for Stray Airs No. II. "The Shepherd's Wife". May 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 20, p. 275
  • Songs for Stray Airs No. III. "Carolans War-Cry". June 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 20, p. 335
  • "Forgive One Another." June 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 20, p. 346
  • Songs for Stray Airs No. IV. "A Barcarole". July 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 21, p. 32
  • "Good Seed". 5 July 1845, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 4, p. 16
  • Songs for Stray Airs No. V. "Caoinne Over an Irish Chieftain". August 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 21, p. 76
  • "The Country Sabbath". August 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 21, p. 101
  • Songs for Stray Airs No. VI. "A Fire-Side Song". September 1844, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 21, p. 168
  • "The Six Maidens". January 1845, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 22, pp. 26–27
  • "England's Welcome to American Genius". April 1845, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 21, p. 200
  • "The Garden in the Churchyard". 20 September 1845, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 4, p. 192
  • "The Motherless Children". Addressed to the Infants left by Madame Leontine Genoude. (From the French of De Lamartine.) 18 October 1845, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 4, p. 256
  • "The Poet's Mission". 3 January 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 5, p. 16
  • "Prayers for all Men". (From "Les Feuilles d'Automne" of Victor Hugo.) 31 January 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 5, p. 80
  • "Hateful Spring!" (From the "Chansons" of Beranger.) 7 February 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 5, p. 96
  • "The Maiden and the Rose". (From the French of Chateaubriand.) 7 March 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 5, p. 160
  • "A Greek Allegory". 28 March 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 5, p. 208
  • "The Troubadour and his Swallow". (From the French.) 11 April 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 5, p. 240
  • "A Hymn". (From Lamartine's "Harmonies Poètiques.") 30 May 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 5, p. 352
  • "The Water-Lily". 18 July 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 6, p. 48
  • "A Mother's Resignation". 25 July 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 6, p. 64
  • "The Chrysanthemum". 26 December 1846, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 6, p. 416
  • "Happiness". 30 January 1847, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 7, p. 80
  • "Robert Bruce Crowned by the Countess of Buchan". 13 February 1847, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 7, p. 112
  • "The Cry of the Earth". 22 May 1847, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 7, p. 336
  • "On the Portrait of Lady Rachel Russell". July 1847, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 27, frontispiece
  • "An Answer". July 1847, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 27, p. 22
  • "The Golden Rose". 10 July 1847, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 8, p. 32
  • "Growing Old Together". 21 August 1847, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 8, p. 128
  • "Memory". 30 October 1847, in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal New Series Vol. 8, p. 288
  • "The Tax-Gatherers". (From the French of Béranger.) November 1847, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 27, p. 265
  • "The Dream of the Orphan". 1847, in Orphanhood. Free-will offerings to the Fatherless, pp. 81–82
  • "Dante's Meeting with Casello in Purgatory". (From "Il Purgatorio"—Canto II.) January 1848, in The New Monthly Belle Assemblée Vol. 28, pp. 25–26
  • "The African Slave"; "The Greek Mother"; "The Battle of Langsyde"; and three other unknown poems. December 1848, in The Drawing-Room Table-Book. An Annual for Christmas and the New Year, pp. 13, 34 and 76
  • "Militia Volunteers". March 1855, in Hogg's Instructor Vol. 4, p. 240

References

;Attribution

  • Digital edition of the Letters of Dinah Craik
  • Dinah Craik at "Literary Heritage"
  • Dinah Craik at the Literary Encyclopedia
  • Dinah Mulock Craik by Sally Mitchell, a detailed account of her life and works at The Victorian Web.
  • Works of Craik at the Victorian Women Writers Project, Indiana University
  • Selected poetry at the University of Toronto
  • Did George Eliot say this? – On quotations of Craik commonly misattributed to George Eliot
  • Various stories by Miss Mulock (full text)
  • Poems by Dinah Maria Craik at English Poetry