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Mador Of The Moor
''Mador of the Moor'' is a narrative poem by James Hogg, first published in 1816. Consisting of an Introduction, five cantos, and a Conclusion, it runs to more than two thousand lines, mostly in the Spenserian stanza. Set in late medieval Scotland, it tells of the seduction of a young maiden by a charismatic minstrel and her journey to Stirling in search of him, leading to the revelation that he is the king and finally to their marriage and the christening of their son. Background In the autumn of 1813 Hogg spent two or three weeks at Kinnaird House near Dunkeld in Perthshire, where his hostess Eliza Izett urged him to write something about the River Tay. He decided to produce a narrative rather than a purely descriptive poem. He seems to have completed composition in February 1814, but decided to hold publication back to allow '' The Pilgrims of the Sun'' (written shortly after the completion of ''Mador'') to appear first, in December 1814 (dated 1815). Hogg corrected proofs of ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Hogg
James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many of the great writers of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, of whom he later wrote an unauthorised biography. He became widely known as the "Ettrick Shepherd", a nickname under which some of his works were published, and the character name he was given in the widely read series '' Noctes Ambrosianae'', published in ''Blackwood's Magazine''. He is best known today for his novel ''The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner''. His other works include the long poem '' The Queen's Wake'' (1813), his collection of songs ''Jacobite Relics'' (1819), and his two novels ''The Three Perils of Man'' (1822), and ''The Three Perils of Woman'' (1823). Biography Early life James Hogg was born on a small farm near Ettrick, Selkirkshire, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spenserian Stanza
The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem ''The Faerie Queene'' (1590–96). Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single 'alexandrine' line in iambic hexameter. The rhyme scheme of these lines is ABABBCBCC. Example stanza This example is the first stanza from Spenser's ''Faerie Queene''. The formatting, wherein all lines but the first and last are indented, is the same as in contemporary printed editions. Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske, As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, Am now enforst a far unfitter taske, For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds, And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds; Whose prayses having slept in silence long, Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds To blazon broad emongst her learned throng: Fierce warres and faithfull loues shall moralize my song. Possible influences Spenser's invention may have been influen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pilgrims Of The Sun
''The Pilgrims of the Sun'' is a narrative poem by James Hogg, first published in December 1814, dated 1815. It consists of four cantos, totalling somewhat less than 2000 lines. In similar vein to 'Kilmeny' in The Queen's Wake (1813), it tells of a young woman's journey to an ideal world and her return to Earth. Background After completing his Highland poem ''Mador of the Moor'' in February 1814, Hogg conceived the idea of 'a volume of romantic poems, to be entitled "Midsummer Night Dreams".' The first poem he composed for this project was ''Connel of Dee'', in which a shepherd's social aspirations come to an end when he has a nightmare of a hellish marriage and violent death. Hogg then completed a second poem in three weeks, ''The Pilgrims of the Sun'', offering a contrasting vision of a journey to a heavenly world. A short poem 'Superstition' was also intended for ''Midsummer Night Dreams'', but when James Park of Greenock read Hogg's recent poems in manuscript and judged ''The P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Queen's Wake
''The Queen's Wake'' is a narrative poem by James Hogg, first published in 1813. It consists of an Introduction, three Nights, and a Conclusion, totalling over five thousand lines, and there are also authorial notes. The poem presents the contributions, in various metres, of a series of Scottish bards to a competition organised by Mary, Queen of Scots on her arrival in Scotland from France in 1561. Background In his 'Memoir of the Author's Life', revised in 1832, Hogg maintained that he was encouraged by his friend John Grieve to build on his earlier poetic achievements as he sought to begin a literary career in Edinburgh. He recalled that, recognising that what he had produced recently, including pieces for his periodical '' The Spy'', consisted of ballads or metrical tales, he decided that if he was to produce a long poem it would best consist of a collection of such shorter pieces: from this came the idea of the framework afforded by a bardic competition staged by Mary, Queen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Blackwood
William Blackwood (20 November 177616 September 1834) was a Scottish publisher who founded the firm of William Blackwood and Sons. Life Blackwood was born in Edinburgh on 20 November 1776. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a firm of booksellers in Edinburgh, and he followed his calling also in Glasgow and London for several years. Returning to Edinburgh in 1804, he opened a shop in South Bridge Street for the sale of old, rare and curious books. He undertook the Scottish agency for John Murray and other London publishers, and gradually drifted into publishing on his own account, moving in 1816 to Princes Street. On 1 April 1817 the first number of the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine'' was published, which on its seventh number became ''Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine''. "''Maga''," as this magazine soon came to be called, was the organ of the Scottish Tory party, and round it gathered a host of writers, including John Neal, making Maga the first British literary journal to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Murray (publisher, Born 1778)
John Murray (27 November 1778 – 27 June 1843) was a Scottish publisher and member of the John Murray publishing house. He published works by authors such as Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Jane Austen and Maria Rundell. Life The publishing house was founded by Murray's father, who died when Murray was only fifteen years old. During his adolescence, he ran the business with a partner Samuel Highley, but in 1803 the partnership was dissolved. Murray soon began to show the courage in literary speculation which earned for him later the name given him by Lord Byron of "the Anak of publishers", a reference to Anak in the Book of Numbers. In 1807 Murray took a share with Archibald Constable in publishing Sir Walter Scott's '' Marmion''. In the same year, he became part-owner of the ''Edinburgh Review'', although with the help of George Canning he launched in opposition the '' Quarterly Review'' in 1809, with William Gifford as its editor, and Scott, Canning, Robert Southey, Joh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archibald Constable
Archibald David Constable (24 February 1774 – 21 July 1827) was a Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer. Life Constable was born at Carnbee, Fife, son of the land steward to the Earl of Kellie. In 1788 Archibald was apprenticed to Peter Hill, an Edinburgh bookseller, but in 1795 he started in business for himself as a dealer in rare books. He bought the rights to publish the ''Scots Magazine'' in 1801, and John Leyden, the orientalist, became its editor. In 1800 Constable began the ''Farmer's Magazine'', and in November 1802 he issued the first number of the ''Edinburgh Review'', under the nominal editorship of Sydney Smith; Lord Jeffrey, was, however, the guiding spirit of the review, having as his associates Lord Brougham, Sir Walter Scott, Henry Hallam, John Playfair and afterwards Lord Macaulay. Constable made a new departure in publishing by the generosity of his terms to authors. Writers for the ''Edinburgh Review'' were paid at an unprecedented rate, and Consta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Queer Book
''A Queer Book'' (1832) is a collections of 26 poems, mostly short narratives, by James Hogg, all but two of which had been previously published, more than half of them in ''Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine''. Background The earliest reference to ''A Queer Book'' is found in ''The Edinburgh Literary Journal'' in December 1830. It was envisaged as a companion volume to ''Songs, by The Ettrick Shepherd'', which had appeared at the end of January 1831 and been well received. The new volume is a collection of 26 poems, longer than those in ''Songs'' and (apart from the first two) assembled from periodicals between 1825 and 1831: more than half the poems first appeared in ''Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine''. Although Hogg left the final choice of poems to his nephew Robert and William Blackwood he gave fairly detailed guidance. Reluctantly, he also agreed that the two men should be permitted to modernise his 'beloved ancient stile' Editions ''A Queer Book. By The Ettrick Shepherd'', publi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert II Of Scotland
Robert II (2 March 1316 – 19 April 1390) was King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. The son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, he was the first monarch of the House of Stewart. Upon the death of his uncle David II, Robert succeeded to the throne. Edward Bruce, younger brother of Robert the Bruce, was named heir presumptive but died childless on 3 December 1318. Marjorie Bruce had died probably in 1317 in a riding accident and Parliament decreed her infant son, Robert Stewart, as heir presumptive, but this lapsed on 5 March 1324 on the birth of a son, David, to King Robert and his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh. Robert Stewart became High Steward of Scotland on his father's death on 9 April 1327, and in the same year Parliament confirmed the young Steward as heir should David die childless. In 1329 King Robert I died and his five-year-old son succeeded to the throne as David II under the guardianship of Thom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James II Of Scotland
James II (16 October 1430 – 3 August 1460) was King of Scots from 1437 until his death in 1460. The eldest surviving son of James I of Scotland, he succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of six, following the assassination of his father. The first Scottish monarch not to be crowned at Scone, James II's coronation took place at Holyrood Abbey in March 1437. After a reign characterised by struggles to maintain control of his kingdom, he was killed by an exploding cannon at Roxburgh Castle in 1460. Life James was born in Holyrood Abbey.Grants "Old and New Edinburgh" He was the son of King James I and Joan Beaufort. By his first birthday, his only brother, his older twin, Alexander, had died, thus leaving James as heir apparent with the title Duke of Rothesay. On 21 February 1437, James I was assassinated, and the six-year-old James immediately succeeded him as James II. He was crowned in Holyrood Abbey by Abbot Patrick on 23 March 1437. On 3 July 1449, the eighteen-ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1816 Poems
This year was known as the ''Year Without a Summer'', because of low temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere, possibly the result of the Mount Tambora volcano, volcanic eruption in Indonesia in 1815, causing severe global cooling, catastrophic in some locations. Events January–March * December 25 1815–January 6 – Tsar Alexander I of Russia signs an order, expelling the Society of Jesus, Jesuits from St. Petersburg and Moscow. * January 9 – Sir Humphry Davy's Davy lamp is first tested underground as a coal mining safety lamp, at Hebburn Colliery in northeast England. * January 17 – Fire nearly destroys the city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Newfoundland. * February 10 – Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, dies and is succeeded by Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Friedrich Wilhelm, his son and founder of the House of Glücksburg. * February 20 &nd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scottish Poetry
Poetry of Scotland includes all forms of verse written in Brythonic, Latin, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, French, English and Esperanto and any language in which poetry has been written within the boundaries of modern Scotland, or by Scottish people. Much of the earliest Welsh literature was composed in or near Scotland, but only written down in Wales much later. These include ''The Gododdin'', considered the earliest surviving verse from Scotland. Very few works of Gaelic poetry survive from this period and most of these in Irish manuscripts. ''The Dream of the Rood'', from which lines are found on the Ruthwell Cross, is the only surviving fragment of Northumbrian Old English from early Medieval Scotland. In Latin early works include a "Prayer for Protection" attributed to St Mugint, and ''Hiberno-Latin#Altus Prosator, Altus Prosator'' ("The High Creator") attributed to St Columba. There were probably filidh who acted as poets, musicians and historians. After the "de-gallicisation" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
