Eggplant.place

235d

Walter Scott (1771–1832) was born <a href="/tags/onthisday/" rel="tag">#OnThisDay</a>, 15 August, the son of Walter Scott, Writer to the Signet, and Anne Rutherford.Scott is one of the most significant figures in Scottish, British, European and world literatures. In 2014, The Bottle Imp dedicated a special issue to celebrating Scott’s work.A 🎂 🧵 @litstudies 1/10<a href="https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/issues/issue-16/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.thebottleimp.org.uk/issues/issue-16/">https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/issues/issue-16/</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/walterscott/" rel="tag">#WalterScott</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#Romanticism</a>

A portrait head of Walter Scott, painted by Sir Henry Raeburn, c.1822–23, oil on canvas. Walter Scott is clean shaven, with thinning fair hair brushed across a high forehead. His grey-blue eyes look out past the viewer, at something we cannot see.

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234d

The Laird o’ Cockpen, he’s proud an’ he’s great, His mind is ta’en up wi’ the things o’ the State…Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766–1845) was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 16 Aug. Oliphant wrote over 100 popular songs to traditional Scottish tunes. Although she shunned publicity & never acknowledged her authorship, along with Robert Burns she is one of the most significant figures in Scottish folksong1/2<a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/song/" rel="tag">#song</a> <a href="/tags/folksong/" rel="tag">#folksong</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/womenwriters/" rel="tag">#womenwriters</a>

Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne
“The Laird o’ Cockpen”

The Laird o’ Cockpen, he’s proud an’ he’s great,
His mind is ta’en up wi’ the things o’ the State;
He wanted a wife, his braw house to keep,
But favour wi’ wooin’ was fashious to seek.

Down by the dyke-side a lady did dwell,
At his table head he thocht she’d look well,
M’Leish’s ae dochter o’ Clavers-ha’ Lea,
A penniless lass wi’ a lang pedigree.

His wig was weel pouther’d and as gude as new,
His waistcoat was white, his coat it was blue;
He put on a ring, a sword, and cock’d hat,
And wha could refuse the Laird wi’ a’ that?

He took the grey mare, and rade cannily,
And rapp’d at the yett o’ Clavers-ha’ Lea;
‘Gae tell Mistress Jean to come speedily ben, –
She’s wanted to speak to the Laird o’ Cockpen.’

Mistress Jean she was makin’ the elderflower wine;
‘An’ what brings the Laird at sic a like time?’
She put aff her apron, and on her silk goun,
Her mutch wi’ red ribbons, and gaed awa’ doun.

An’ when she cam’ ben, he bowed fu’ low,
An’ what was his errand he soon let her know;
Amazed was the Laird when the lady said ‘Na’,
And wi’ a laigh curtsie she turned awa’.

Dumfounder’d was he, nae sigh did he gie,
He mounted his mare – he rade cannily;
An’ aften he thought, as he gaed through the glen,
She’s daft to refuse the laird o’ Cockpen.

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205d

Dr Gerard McKeever – Scotch NovelsRecorded on 4 September 2025 at the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club. Dr Gerard McKeever, lecturer in modern Scottish literature at the University of Edinburgh, speaks about Walter Scott’s relationship with Scotland, particularly through the lens of his so-called “Scotch Novels”.@litstudies <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twvrXYw1Sus" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.youtube.com/watch?v=twvrXYw1Sus">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twvrXYw1Sus</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/walterscott/" rel="tag">#WalterScott</a> <a href="/tags/sirwalterscott/" rel="tag">#SirWalterScott</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a>

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212d

Susan Ferrier (1782–1854) was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 7 September. Her three novels—Marriage, The Inheritance, & Destiny—are vivid & humorous accounts of Scottish society. Often compared to her contemporary Jane Austen, Ferrier’s satires are much more vicious… A 🎂🧵@litstudies 1/8<a href="https://www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to-z/susan-ferrier" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to-z/susan-ferrier">https://www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to-z/susan-ferrier</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/regency/" rel="tag">#Regency</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thCentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/womenwriters/" rel="tag">#WomenWriters</a> <a href="/tags/susanferrier/" rel="tag">#SusanFerrier</a> <a href="/tags/janeausten/" rel="tag">#JaneAusten</a>

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198d

Call it not vain:—they do not err, Who say, that when the Poet dies, Mute Nature mourns her worshipper, And celebrates his obsequies…—from Canto V, “The Lay of the Last Minstrel” by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) – died <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 21 September<a href="https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/canto05.html" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.theotherpages.org/poems/canto05.html">https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/canto05.html</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/walterscott/" rel="tag">#WalterScott</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a>

Sir Walter Scott
The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Canto V

I.
Call it not vain;—they do not err,
Who say, that when the Poet dies,
Mute Nature mourns her worshipper,
And celebrates his obsequies:
Who say, tall cliff and cavern lone
For the departed Bard make moan;
That mountains weep in crystal rill;
That flowers in tears of balm distill;
Through his lov'd groves that breezes sigh,
And oaks, in deeper groan, reply;
And rivers teach their rushing wave
To murmur dirges round his grave

II.
Not that, in sooth, o'er mortal urn
Those things inanimate can mourn;
But that the stream, the wood, the gale
Is vocal with the plaintive wail
Of those, who, else forgotten long,
Liv'd in the poet's faithful song,
And with the poet's parting breath,
Whose memory feels a second death.
The Maid's pale shade, who wails her lot,
That love, true love, should be forgot,
From rose and hawthorn shakes the tear
Upon the gentle Minstrel's bier:
The phantom Knight, his glory fled,
Mourns o'er the field he heap'd with dead;
Mounts the wild blast that sweeps amain,
And shrieks along the battle-plain.
The Chief, whose antique crownlet long
Still sparkled in the feudal song,
Now, from the mountain's misty throne,
Sees, in the thanedom once his own,
His ashes undistinguish'd lie,
His place, his power, his memory die:
His groans the lonely caverns fill,
His tears of rage impel the rill:
All mourn the Minstrel's harp unstrung,
Their name unknown, their praise unsung.

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174d

Allan Ramsay (1684–1758) – poet, playwright, founder of modern Scots writing, & with a claim to be the father of Romanticism – was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 15 Oct A 🎂 🧵1/6🖼️ Allan Ramsay, 1684–1758, by William Aikman – Scottish National Portrait Gallery (This portrait was owned by Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, who wrote on the back of the canvas: “Here painted on this canvas clout by Aikman’s hand is Ramsay’s snout”)<a href="https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/3526" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/3526">https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/3526</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/drama/" rel="tag">#drama</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#Romanticism</a>

Portrait of Allan Ramsay (1684–1758), by William Aikman. Oil on canvas. Ramsay is clean-shaven, and looks out at the viewer with a half-smile. He wears a collarless dark green velvet coat, unbuttoned, and has an orange silk cloth wound about his head like an improvised turban.

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1y

Lord Byron – “half a Scot by birth, and bred / a whole one” – died 200 years ago <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 19 April 1824This poem was written in a letter to Thomas Moore from Venice in 1817, when Byron was feeling particularly shagged out after Carnevale…<a href="/tags/byron/" rel="tag">#Byron</a> <a href="/tags/lordbyron/" rel="tag">#LordByron</a> <a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> 1/4 <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43845/so-well-go-no-more-a-roving" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43845/so-well-go-no-more-a-roving">https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43845/so-well-go-no-more-a-roving</a>

So We'll Go No More a Roving
BY Lord Byron (George Gordon)

So, we'll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.

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162d

James Macpherson (1736–1796), of “Ossian” fame, was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 27 Oct. The “Ossian” poems were the literary sensation of the 18th century; they inspired the Brothers Grimm to collect German folktales, & Elias Lönnrot to compile Finnish poems into the Kalevala. They are the founding texts of European Romanticism & of modern fantasy literature A 🎂🧵 @litstudies 1/9 🖼️: Ingres, Le Songe d’Ossian<a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/fantasy/" rel="tag">#fantasy</a> <a href="/tags/ossian/" rel="tag">#Ossian</a> <a href="/tags/jamesmacpherson/" rel="tag">#JamesMacpherson</a> <a href="/tags/gaelic/" rel="tag">#Gaelic</a> <a href="/tags/gaidhlig/" rel="tag">#Gaidhlig</a>

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Le Songe d’Ossian (1813)

The poet Ossian sleeps and dreams of relatives, warriors and deities, which appear above him. Ossian is seated in the centre foreground, dreaming while leaning on his harp. The poet is accompanied in the rocky landscape by a hound. The figures above Ossian are ghosts of the past and are part of his titular dream. The vision is framed on the right by Ossian's son Oscar bearing a spear and shield and on the left by a seated woman who holds a bow with one hand and extends the other towards Ossian. Behind this female figure is Ossian's father, Fingal, who leads a group of warriors, some of whom are embraced by naked women. In the centre of the dream, four maidens play harps in the clouds before a seated and long-haired Snow King Starno.

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164d

‘The Garb of Old Gaul’: Romanticised Gaelic Highlanders & Intercultural Mobility 4 November, online – freeProf Silke Stroh discusses the 18th-century song “The Garb of Old Gaul” – an example of the romanticisation of Highland soldiers. She traces the song’s textual history, argues that the English text might be older than is commonly assumed, & sheds new light on the Gaelic translations<a href="https://www.scotland.uni-mainz.de/reading-scotland/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.scotland.uni-mainz.de/reading-scotland/">https://www.scotland.uni-mainz.de/reading-scotland/</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/highlands/" rel="tag">#Highlands</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/gaelic/" rel="tag">#Gaelic</a> <a href="/tags/gaidhlig/" rel="tag">#Gaidhlig</a>

READING SCOTLAND
with Silke Stroh

‘The Garb of Old Gaul’: Romanticised Gaelic Highlanders and Intercultural Mobility

Tuesday 4th November 2025
6:00–7:30 p.m. (German time) on MS Teams

www.scotland.uni-mainz.de

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119d

“Hogg defied categorisation. A prolific poet, songwriter, playwright, novelist, short story writer & parodist, he wrote with equal skill in Scots & English”James Hogg, AKA “the Ettrick Shepherd” (1770–1835, DOB unknown) was baptised <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 9 Dec🧵1/10<a href="https://theconversation.com/james-hogg-at-250-the-farmhand-who-became-one-of-scotlands-greatest-storytellers-155534" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="theconversation.com/james-hogg-at-250-the-farmhand-who-became-one-of-scotlands-greatest-storytellers-155534">https://theconversation.com/james-hogg-at-250-the-farmhand-who-became-one-of-scotlands-greatest-storytellers-155534</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/jameshogg/" rel="tag">#JamesHogg</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/gothic/" rel="tag">#gothic</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a>

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155d

If a landscape ‘speaks’, can we hear it? 10 Nov, Edinburgh, & online. Tickets £6/£2From the medieval West Highlands & Gaelic society, Prof Aonghus MacKechnie’s talk ranges through Early Modern Scotland, the exploitation of history & the ‘signage’ used by the Stewart monarchy, through to post-1660s classicism, Romanticism, “Improvement”, & militarism<a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/if-a-landscape-speaks-can-we-hear-it-with-aonghus-mackechnie-tickets-1733332637579?aff=oddtdtcreator" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/if-a-landscape-speaks-can-we-hear-it-with-aonghus-mackechnie-tickets-1733332637579?aff=oddtdtcreator">https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/if-a-landscape-speaks-can-we-hear-it-with-aonghus-mackechnie-tickets-1733332637579?aff=oddtdtcreator</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/history/" rel="tag">#history</a> <a href="/tags/culture/" rel="tag">#culture</a> <a href="/tags/culturalstudies/" rel="tag">#culturalstudies</a> <a href="/tags/placenames/" rel="tag">#placenames</a> <a href="/tags/gaelic/" rel="tag">#Gaelic</a> <a href="/tags/gaidhlig/" rel="tag">#Gaidhlig</a> <a href="/tags/earlymodern/" rel="tag">#EarlyModern</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#Romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/militarism/" rel="tag">#militarism</a>

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139d

What are you going to do With what is left of yourself Now among the rustling Of your maybe best years?—WS Graham, “An Entertainment for WS Graham for Him Having Reached Sixty-Five”The Modernist romantic poet W.S. Graham (1918–1986) was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 19 NovemberA 🎂 🧵1/7<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/145184/an-entertainment-for-ws-graham-for-him-having-reached-sixty-five" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/145184/an-entertainment-for-ws-graham-for-him-having-reached-sixty-five">https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/145184/an-entertainment-for-ws-graham-for-him-having-reached-sixty-five</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/modernism/" rel="tag">#modernism</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/wsgraham/" rel="tag">#WSGraham</a>

An Entertainment for W.S. Graham for Him Having Reached Sixty-Five
by W. S. Graham

What are you going to do
With what is left of yourself
Now among the rustling
Of your maybe best years?
This is not an auto-elegy
With me pouring my heart
Out into where you
Differently stand or sit
On the Epidaurus steps.
What shall I say to myself
Having put myself down
On to a public page?

Where am I going now?
And where are you going
Tricked into reading
Words of my later life?
Let me pretend you are
Roughly of my age.
Are you a boy or a girl?
And what has happened to you?

Look at the chirping various
Leaves of Mr Graham’s
Spanking summer. Where are
You at? I know my face
Has changed. My hair has blanched
Into a wrong disguise
Sitting on top of my head.

Beside each other perched
On the Epidaurus steps.
Where am I going to go?
Shall I rise to follow
The thin sound of the goats
Tinkling their bells?

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139d

Centre for Robert Burns Studies Conference 17 January, University of Glasgow – £25 (includes tea, coffee, lunch, & a toast) A day conference exploring the life, work, & legacy of Robert Burns.This year, the conference theme is the Burns Supper: a global phenomenon that celebrates its 225th anniversary in 2026.@litstudies <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/centre-for-robert-burns-studies-conference-tickets-1851549627779" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/centre-for-robert-burns-studies-conference-tickets-1851549627779">https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/centre-for-robert-burns-studies-conference-tickets-1851549627779</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/robertburns/" rel="tag">#RobertBurns</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/song/" rel="tag">#song</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/burnssupper/" rel="tag">#BurnsSupper</a>

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136d

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion Has broken Nature’s social union, An’ justifies that ill opinion,‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍Which makes thee startle, At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍An’ fellow-mortal!—Robert Burns, “To a Mouse, On turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785”<a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/robertburns/" rel="tag">#RobertBurns</a> <a href="/tags/scots/" rel="tag">#Scots</a> <a href="/tags/scotlsanguage/" rel="tag">#Scotlsanguage</a> <a href="/tags/environmentalism/" rel="tag">#environmentalism</a> <a href="/tags/naturewriting/" rel="tag">#naturewriting</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thCentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#Romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/november/" rel="tag">#November</a> <a href="/tags/winter/" rel="tag">#winter</a>

To a Mouse, On turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785.
Robert Burns

Wee, sleekit, cowran, tim’rous beastie,
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,‍‍
Wi’ bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee‍‍
Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion,‍‍
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,‍‍
An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daimen-icker in a thrave‍‍
’S a sma’ request:
I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,‍‍
An’ never miss’t!

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Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!
An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,‍‍
O’ foggage green!
An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,‍‍
Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,
An’ weary Winter comin fast,
An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,‍‍
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past‍‍
Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble
Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,‍‍
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,‍‍
An’ cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men‍‍
Gang aft agley,
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,‍‍
For promis’d joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e’e,‍‍
On prospects drear!
An’ forward, tho’ I canna see,‍‍
I guess an’ fear!

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132d

Unveiling Lady Scott Walter Scott, French Influence & Transcultural Connections Free online from 26 Nov–10 Dec 2025Céline Sabiron sheds new light on Walter Scott’s work by investigating the French influence of his wife, Charlotte Charpentier & argues that she, as a knowledgeable art & literature enthusiast, greatly assisted him in his work as his secretary, amanuensis, & proofreader@litstudies <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/unveiling-lady-scott/312FE027B29B98DEA13AEFD0A39EA095" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.cambridge.org/core/elements/unveiling-lady-scott/312FE027B29B98DEA13AEFD0A39EA095">https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/unveiling-lady-scott/312FE027B29B98DEA13AEFD0A39EA095</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/walterscott/" rel="tag">#WalterScott</a>

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133d

‘A Tartan Belle’: Jane, Duchess of Gordon and the Romanticisation of Scottish Identity in London, c.1780–1812 25 Nov, online – freeAt a time when markers of Scottish identity were still viewed with suspicion in England, Jane, Duchess of Gordon used her social influence to make Scottish culture interesting & romantic to the British elite<a href="https://www.history.ac.uk/news-events/events/tartan-belle-jane-duchess-gordon-romanticisation-scottish-identity-london-c1780-1812" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.history.ac.uk/news-events/events/tartan-belle-jane-duchess-gordon-romanticisation-scottish-identity-london-c1780-1812">https://www.history.ac.uk/news-events/events/tartan-belle-jane-duchess-gordon-romanticisation-scottish-identity-london-c1780-1812</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/history/" rel="tag">#history</a> <a href="/tags/culture/" rel="tag">#culture</a> <a href="/tags/identity/" rel="tag">#identity</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a>

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75d

But I am half a Scot by birth, and bred A whole one, and my heart flies to my head,——from “Don Juan”, Canto X, by George Gordon, Lord ByronThe great Romantic poet George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron – Lord Byron – was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 22 Jan, 1788A 🎂 🧵1/5<a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/byron/" rel="tag">#Byron</a> <a href="/tags/lordbyron/" rel="tag">#LordByron</a> <a href="/tags/romantic/" rel="tag">#romantic</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a>

from “Don Juan”, Canto X
George Gordon Byron

And all our little feuds, at least all mine,
Dear Jefferson, once my most redoubted foe
(As far as rhyme and criticism combine
To make such puppets of us things below),
Are over: Here's a health to 'Auld Lang Syne!'
I do not know you, and may never know
Your face—but you have acted on the whole
Most nobly, and I own it from my soul.

And when I use the phrase of 'Auld Lang Syne!'
'Tis not address'd to you—the more's the pity
For me, for I would rather take my wine
With you, than aught (save Scott) in your proud city.
But somehow,—it may seem a schoolboy's whine,
And yet I seek not to be grand nor witty,
But I am half a Scot by birth, and bred
A whole one, and my heart flies to my head,—

As 'Auld Lang Syne' brings Scotland, one and all,
Scotch plaids, Scotch snoods, the blue hills, and clear streams,
The Dee, the Don, Balgounie's brig's black wall,
All my boy feelings, all my gentler dreams
Of what I then dreamt, clothed in their own pall,
Like Banquo's offspring;—floating past me seems
My childhood in this childishness of mine:
I care not—'t is a glimpse of 'Auld Lang Syne.'

And though, as you remember, in a fit
Of wrath and rhyme, when juvenile and curly,
I rail'd at Scots to show my wrath and wit,
Which must be own'd was sensitive and surly,
Yet 'tis in vain such sallies to permit,
They cannot quench young feelings fresh and early:
I 'scotch'd not kill'd' the Scotchman in my blood,
And love the land of 'mountain and of flood.'

ALT

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72d

“On the dirt roads of Arkansas I first met Robert Burns…” Currently on the BBC iPlayer: writer, poet, & activist Dr Maya Angelou goes on a pilgrimage to the home of Robert Burns (originally broadcast in 1996 to mark the bicentenary of Burns’s death)<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013vcs" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013vcs">https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013vcs</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/robertburns/" rel="tag">#RobertBurns</a> <a href="/tags/mayaangelou/" rel="tag">#MayaAngelou</a> <a href="/tags/burnsnight/" rel="tag">#BurnsNight</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a>

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72d

I murder hate by flood or field, Tho’ glory's name may screen us; In wars at home I’ll spend my blood— Life-giving wars of Venus. The deities that I adore Are social Peace and Plenty; I’m better pleas’d to make one more, Than be the death of twenty… —Robert Burns, “I Murder Hate”<a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/robertburns/" rel="tag">#RobertBurns</a> <a href="/tags/burnsnight/" rel="tag">#BurnsNight</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a>

I Murder Hate
Robert Burns

I murder hate by flood or field,
Tho’ glory’s name may screen us;
In wars at home I’ll spend my blood—
Life-giving wars of Venus.
The deities that I adore
Are social Peace and Plenty;
I’m better pleas’d to make one more,
Than be the death of twenty.

I would not die like Socrates,
For all the fuss of Plato;
Nor would I with Leonidas,
Nor yet would I with Cato:
The zealots of the Church and State
Shall ne’er my mortal foes be;
But let me have bold Zimri’s fate,
Within the arms of Cozbi!

ALT

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72d

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever; Ae fareweel, and then forever! Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee, Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee…—Robert Burns published in SELECTED POEMS & SONGS (OUP, 2013)<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/selected-poems-and-songs-9780199682324" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="global.oup.com/academic/product/selected-poems-and-songs-9780199682324">https://global.oup.com/academic/product/selected-poems-and-songs-9780199682324</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/robertburns/" rel="tag">#RobertBurns</a> <a href="/tags/burnsnight/" rel="tag">#BurnsNight</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/song/" rel="tag">#song</a> <a href="/tags/folksong/" rel="tag">#folksong</a> <a href="/tags/lovesong/" rel="tag">#lovesong</a>

Robert Burns
“Ae Fond Kiss”

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, and then forever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee.
Who shall say that fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerfu’ twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.

I'll ne’er blame my partial fancy,
Naething could resist my Nancy;
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love forever.
Had we never lov’d sae kindly,
Had we never lov’d sae blindly,
Never met—or never parted—
We had ne’er been broken-hearted.

Fare thou weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, Enjoyment, Love, and Pleasure!
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, Alas! for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee.

ALT

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72d

From 2020 – Prof Kirsteen McCue, Prof Nigel Leask, & Dr Craig Lamont discuss the importance of the Kilmarnock edition of POEMS, CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH DIALECT for Burns, & the significance of the copy of the volume donated by Craig Sharp to Glasgow University’s Centre for Robert Burns Studies @litstudies <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1LzFCI1bNs&feature=youtu.be" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1LzFCI1bNs&feature=youtu.be">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1LzFCI1bNs&feature=youtu.be</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/robertburns/" rel="tag">#RobertBurns</a> <a href="/tags/burnsnight/" rel="tag">#BurnsNight</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/bookhistory/" rel="tag">#BookHistory</a>

Edited 72d ago

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308d

Robert Tannahill (1774–1810), “the weaver poet”, was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 3 June – “second only to Robert Burns as a poet writing chiefly in the language of the working class of Scotland”1/3<a href="https://www.thenational.scot/culture/24360177.celebrating-scotlands-second-greatest-poet-robert-tannahill/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.thenational.scot/culture/24360177.celebrating-scotlands-second-greatest-poet-robert-tannahill/">https://www.thenational.scot/culture/24360177.celebrating-scotlands-second-greatest-poet-robert-tannahill/</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thCentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/pastoral/" rel="tag">#pastoral</a> <a href="/tags/workingclass/" rel="tag">#workingclass</a>

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300d

Helen Craik (1751–1825), Gothic novelist & friend of Robert Burns, died 200 years ago <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 11 June. Craik published 5 novels but no poetry. In 1919, excerpts of her poems appeared in a newspaper, but the source – a notebook Craik presented to a family friend – disappeared…1/6<a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/gothic/" rel="tag">#Gothic</a> <a href="/tags/womenwriters/" rel="tag">#WomenWriters</a> <a href="/tags/manuscripts/" rel="tag">#manuscripts</a>

A manuscript page, headed

Poems
by
A LADY

Underneath is a paragraph in ornate copperplate handwriting (it's from Laurence Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, by Mr Yorick, vol. II):

Dear sensibility! source inexhausted of all that’s precious in our Joys, or costly in our sorrows! thou chainest thy martyr down upon his bed of straw—and ’tis thou who lifts him up to Heaven—Eternal fountain of our feelings, ’tis here I trace thee.—

Below is a drawing of a curly-haired cherub's face, with wings made of looping pen-strokes.

ALT

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299d

Christian Isobel Johnstone (1781–1857) – novelist, journalist, & editor – was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 12 June.Johnstone was editor for more than a decade of Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine, a journal famous for its vigorous liberal viewpoints & incisive literary reviews, & wrote some of the most remarkable Scottish novels of the <a href="/tags/romantic/" rel="tag">#Romantic</a> era.1/4<a href="https://www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to-z/christian-isobel-johnstone" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to-z/christian-isobel-johnstone">https://www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to-z/christian-isobel-johnstone</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/womenwriters/" rel="tag">#womenwriters</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a>

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49d

Infinite Women: Susan Edmonstone FerrierIn this episode of the Infinite Women podcast, Cleo O’Callaghan Yeoman (Research Associate at the University of Glasgow) & Kate Ferrier (PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh) discuss the novelist Susan Edmonstone Ferrier (1782–1854).@litstudies <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbHjU6Jisrk" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbHjU6Jisrk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbHjU6Jisrk</a><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/womenwriters/" rel="tag">#womenwriters</a> <a href="/tags/romanticism/" rel="tag">#romanticism</a> <a href="/tags/podcast/" rel="tag">#podcast</a>

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