Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Journal

Studies in Scottish Literature

English Language and Literature

Scottish poetry

2020

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

'Compylit In Latin': Allan Ramsay And Scoto-Latinity In The Eighteenth Century, Ralph Mclean Dec 2020

'Compylit In Latin': Allan Ramsay And Scoto-Latinity In The Eighteenth Century, Ralph Mclean

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the importance and pervasiveness of Latin, including original Latin verse, in early 18th century Scotland, among Jacobites and in Ramsay's Edinburgh circle, with attention to the work of Archibald Pitcairne, Thomas Ruddiman, and later Robert Fergusson; examines Ramsay's own Scots translations of Horace and his use of the Horatian tradition, and looks also at translations from Ramsay into Latin by Alexander Fraser Tytler; and concludes that Ramsay's Scots poetry "helped to maintain" a Scottish link "to the classical past, by presenting the works of classical authors to new and growing audiences in Scotland in a language which was accessible …


'Some Pastoral Improvement' In The Gentle Shepherd: Mediation, Remediation, And Minority, Steve Newman Dec 2020

'Some Pastoral Improvement' In The Gentle Shepherd: Mediation, Remediation, And Minority, Steve Newman

Studies in Scottish Literature

This essay shows how in The Gentle Shepherd Allan Ramsay engages in the complex work of "pastoral improvement" on an individual and national scale and foresees--to a point--how his work will be received in the decades and even centuries to come. After situating his work within the uprising of the Galloway Levellers, pastoral, and the early work of agricultural improvement, I consider how the concept of improvement shapes the reception of his work in the Linley-Tickell production of the 1780s--including a surprising appearance from the Shakespearean forger, William Henry Ireland--and the key role The Gentle Shepherd plays in "The Young …


Allan Ramsay: Romanticism And Reception, Murray Pittock Dec 2020

Allan Ramsay: Romanticism And Reception, Murray Pittock

Studies in Scottish Literature

Provides a review and interpretation of Allan Ramsay's career and reputation, and of scholarly and critical response to his work, exploring "the foundational nature of his contribution to the language of Scottish literature," reaching a wider audience, for Scots, his dominant role in the history of Scottish song, and the pivotal role of his writing, especially his ballad-opera The Gentle Shepherd, in the formation of Scottish romanticism, and of the wider romantic movement.


Networks Of Sociability In Allan Ramsay's The Fair Assembly, Rhona Brown Dec 2020

Networks Of Sociability In Allan Ramsay's The Fair Assembly, Rhona Brown

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses the background, publication history, and significance of Allan Ramsay's poem The Fair Assembly (1723), about an elite dance gathering in Edinburgh, the social connections of its aristocratic patrons ("Directresses"), and its political and cultural implications, especially in connection with the continuing role of Jacobite and other anti-Whig and anti-Presbyterian sentiment in the nation's capital.


Introduction: Allan Ramsay's Future, Murray Pittock, Craig Lamont Dec 2020

Introduction: Allan Ramsay's Future, Murray Pittock, Craig Lamont

Studies in Scottish Literature

Presents an overview of the new AHRC-funded edition of the Collected Works of Allan Ramsay, and of related recent scholarly and community activity in relation to Ramsay's public recognition and heritage, both in the Pentlands area south of Edinburgh, near Penicuik and Carlops, and more broadly in Scottish literary history, specifically in relation to the origins of Scottish Romanticism.


“Black Coat” Scottish Spies: Clerical Informers In 1820, John Gardner Aug 2020

“Black Coat” Scottish Spies: Clerical Informers In 1820, John Gardner

Studies in Scottish Literature

This essay reviews modern debate about the use of government spies during the Scottish risings of 1819-1820; discusses the reliability of contemporary sources identifying Scottish clergy as government agents (notably Peter Mackenzie's An Exposure of the Spy System Pursued in Glasgow, 1835); turns to poetry from the period by Janet Hamilton and Alexander Rodger that insists that spies were used, including clergymen; and examines evidence of clerical espionage from the National Archives at Kew.


Paper Monuments: The Latin Elegies Of Thomas Chambers, Almoner To Cardinal Richelieu, Kelsey Jackson Williams Aug 2020

Paper Monuments: The Latin Elegies Of Thomas Chambers, Almoner To Cardinal Richelieu, Kelsey Jackson Williams

Studies in Scottish Literature

Examines the Latin poems by Thomas Chambers (or Chalmers), the younger, a well-connected mid-17th century Catholic priest who spent time in Rome and Scotland as well as in France, where he was almoner to Cardinal Richelieu, based on a manuscript collection of elegies Chalmers copied into George Strachan’s manuscript album amicorum, and on other elegies known from their use on monuments or tombs.


‘Yon High Mossy Mountains’: A Burns Song Manuscript From The Roy Collection, Patrick Scott Aug 2020

‘Yon High Mossy Mountains’: A Burns Song Manuscript From The Roy Collection, Patrick Scott

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses and collates variants from a second autograph manuscript of Burns's song "Yon High..." or "Yon Wild Mossy Mountains," in the Roy Collection, University of South Carolina, reviewing the evidence on provenance, and assessing the purpose of the variants in the Roy manuscript.


The Reputation Of David Gray, David Mcvey Aug 2020

The Reputation Of David Gray, David Mcvey

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses responses to the poetry, including the death, of the Scottish poet David Gray (1838-1861), primarily with reference to his longer poem The Luggie and his sonnet sequence In The Shadows, exploring the extent to which Gray himself consciously constructed a reputation around his own imminent death from TB, through reference to the career and death of earlier sufferers, including Michael Bruce, Robert Pollock, and John Keats.