James Thomson (10 September 1763 – 1832) was a
Scottish weaver poet of
Currie
Currie ( gd, Currach, IPA: kʰuːᵲəx is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edi ...
, near
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, whose poetry in the
Scottish vernacular
Scottish Vernacular architecture is a form of vernacular architecture that uses local materials.
Overview
In Scotland, as elsewhere, vernacular architecture employs readily available local materials and methods handed down from generation to gene ...
was published in
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
in the early 19th century. He is remembered by the Poet's Glen in Currie, a wooded
dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
with a scenic riverside path which is a right of way, and by a number of street names (''Thomson Road, Thomson Drive, Thomson Crescent'') in the east of Currie.
Early life
When James Thomson was born on 10 September 1763 in Edinburgh, his parents were too poor to bring him up and when he was four months old they sent him to be brought up by his mother's parents in the small village of Kenleith in the parish of
Currie
Currie ( gd, Currach, IPA: kʰuːᵲəx is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edi ...
, where his grandfather was a weaver.
The name Kenleith comes from Killeith, the chapel of the
Water of Leith
The Water of Leith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Uisge Lìte'') is the main river flowing near central Edinburgh, Scotland, and flows into the port of Leith where it flows into the sea via the Firth of Forth.
Name
The name ''Leith'' may be of Britto ...
. The farm where Thomson lived lies higher up the Kinleith Burn to the south of Currie Kirk, and is now known as Mid Kinleith.
When six years old, Thomson was sent to the
parish school
A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The ...
but after he caught
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
his grandmother kept him at home and he was taught to read by his grandmother and an aunt. He was given the duty of herding, and each day took his grandfather's cow to the field with ballads or a book of songs in his pocket. He particularly liked the songs of
Allan Ramsay, and learnt ''
The Gentle Shepherd
''The Gentle Shepherd'' is a pastoral Comedy#Etymology, comedy by Allan Ramsay (poet), Allan Ramsay. It was first published in 1725 and dedicated to Susanna Montgomery, Lady Eglinton, to whom Ramsay gifted the original manuscript.
The play has ...
'' by heart.
He was apprenticed as a weaver when 13 years old, learning from his grandfather so well that business which had suffered from his grandfather's failing eyesight soon picked up. Thomson also returned to school to learn to write, but his handwriting remained untidy. He was able to buy a fiddle and became a musician, entertaining his friends with music and with his poems. He married a young woman from the same village. His grandfather fell ill and died, and for a while Thomson and his wife lived in the parish of
Colinton
Colinton ( gd, Baile Cholgain) is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated south-west of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north ...
before returning to Kenleith. His weaving supported his family and his grandmother.
Thomson and his wife had seven daughters and one son. They lived on Mid Kinleith farm in a small cottage which they named after
Mount Parnassus
Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...
. During the day he worked as a weaver, and in the evenings composed songs and poems, depicting local characters and places. He became known for useful skills, including trimming the beards of locals, and for his poetry.
A new minister in the parish needed his razors sharpened, and when he sent them to Thomson they were returned well sharpened along with suitable verses for the occasion.
Works
With the minister's encouragement, a book of ''Poems, in the Scottish dialect'' by James Thomson, Weaver in Kinleith, was published in 1801, printed by J. Fillans & Sons, Edinburgh, and published by W. Reid,
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
, for the Author. This opened with An Account of the Author, giving his life story, and a Dedication to the Merchants of Leith. The contents include a sharp
epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...
:
A set of four love songs describes the author being too bold in the first, then in the second bidding farewell to buchts, or sheep-folds, he had become excessively shy. The tune "Logan Water" as well as the first verse of the poem itself refer to the
Logan Burn. In the chorus he laments no longer taking pleasure in the singing of the laverock, the
skylark
''Alauda'' is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species (the Raso lark) endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two additional species are ...
.
He gained the patronage of
General Scott of
Malleny, and dedicated to him ''Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect'' (Leith, 1819).
Thomson also published ''A poem, chiefly in the Scottish dialect, on raising and selling the dead, and the melancholy spectacle which was presented to the inhabitants of Currie, on their taking two dead bodies from a cart in its way from Lanark to Edinburgh'' (Leith, 1821).
Thomson lived until 1832, in reasonable prosperity.
Commemoration
The Kinleith Burn below Thomson's house has been named the "Poet's Burn", after James Thomson, the "Weaver Poet", and it runs down the steeply sloping "Poet's Glen" down to near Currie Kirk where it flows into the
Water of Leith
The Water of Leith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Uisge Lìte'') is the main river flowing near central Edinburgh, Scotland, and flows into the port of Leith where it flows into the sea via the Firth of Forth.
Name
The name ''Leith'' may be of Britto ...
after passing under a bridge of the
Water of Leith Walkway
{{coord, 55, 53, 9.73, N, 3, 20, 23.31, W, display=title
The Water of Leith Walkway is a public footpath and cycleway that runs alongside the small river of the same name through Edinburgh, Scotland, from Balerno to Leith.
The concept of a pu ...
.
His cottage still stands at Mid Kinleith farm, with "Mount Parnassus" still inscribed over the entrance door.
References
*
See also
*
List of 18th-century British working-class writers
This list focuses on published authors whose working-class status or background was part of their literary reputation. These were, in the main, writers without access to formal education, so they were either autodidacts or had mentors or patron ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, James
1763 births
1832 deaths
18th-century Scottish poets
19th-century Scottish poets
Writers from Edinburgh