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Robert Fergusson (5 September 1750 – 16 October 1774) was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the
University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
, Fergusson led a
bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
life in
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 ...
, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the
Scottish enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment ( sco, Scots Enlichtenment, gd, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century ...
. Many of his extant poems were printed from 1771 onwards in Walter Ruddiman's ''Weekly Magazine'', and a collected works was first published early in 1773. Despite a short life, his career was highly influential, especially through its impact on
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
. He wrote both
Scottish English Scottish English ( gd, Beurla Albannach) is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standa ...
and the
Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commo ...
, and it is his vivid and masterly writing in the latter '' leid'' for which he is principally acclaimed.


Life

Robert Fergusson was born in Cap and Feather Close, a
vennel A vennel is a passageway between the gables of two buildings which can in effect be a minor street in Scotland and the north east of England, particularly in the old centre of Durham. Etymology In Scotland, the term originated in royal burgh ...
off Edinburgh's
Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), de ...
, later demolished to make way for what is today the southern abutment of the North Bridge. His parents, William and Elizabeth (née Forbes), were originally from
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area inclu ...
, but had moved to the city two years previously. He was the third of three surviving children by them. Fergusson received formal schooling at the city's
High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
and then the
High School of Dundee The High School of Dundee is an independent, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only priv ...
. He attended the
University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
with the assistance of a
clan Fergusson Clan Fergusson is a Scottish clan.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Published in 1994. Pages 136 - ...
bursary in September 1765. He was taught rhetoric by Robert Watson, professor of Logic, whose lectures covered English literature. He excelled at mathematics under the tuition of
William Wilkie William Wilkie (5 October 1721 – 10 October 1772) was a Scottish Church of Scotland minister and Professor of Natural Philosophy primarily remembered as a poet nicknamed Potato Willie, known more respectfully as the "Scottish Homer". The son ...
. In March 1768, Principal
Thomas Tullideph Thomas Tullideph (sometimes Tulliedeph or Tullidelph) (1700–1777) was principal of St Leonards College at the University of St Andrews and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1742. The odd surname is said to mean “hil ...
(nicknamed "Pauly Tam") was minded to expel Fergusson due to his part in a "student riot" but was dissuaded by Prof Wilkie due to Fergusson's imminent graduation (May 1768) and because Fergusson promised to help Wilkie organise lecture notes. In fact, Fergusson did not graduate but this was not uncommon and bore no shame. He did keep his word and aided Prof Wilkie over the summer writing the poem "Eclogue" to his memory later in life. In late summer of 1768 Fergusson returned to Edinburgh. His father had died the previous year, his sister Barbara had married, and his older brother Harry had recently left Scotland, enlisting with the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
after a business failure. This probably left Fergusson, who had not completed his studies, to support their mother. Any possibility of family support from his maternal uncle, John Forbes of Round Lichnot near Auld Meldrum, ceased when his uncle permanently disowned him after a quarrel. Fergusson, who had rejected the church, medicine and law as career options open to him due to his university training, finally settled in Edinburgh as a
copyist A copyist is a person that makes duplications of the same thing. The term is sometimes used for artists who make copies of other artists' paintings. However, the modern use of the term is almost entirely confined to music copyists, who are emplo ...
, the occupation of his father.


Literary career

There is good evidence that Fergusson had already been developing literary ambitions as a student at St Andrews where he claimed to have begun drafting a play on the life of
William Wallace Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army ...
. His earliest extant poem, also written at this time, is a satirical
elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
in Scots on the death of David Gregory, one of the university's professors of maths. Fergusson involved himself in Edinburgh's social and artistic circles mixing with musicians, actors, artists and booksellers who were also publishers. His friend, the theatre-manager William Woods, regularly procured him free admission to theatre productions and in mid-1769 Fergusson struck up a friendship with the Italian castrato singer Giusto Fernando Tenducci, who was touring with a production of Artaxerxes. Fergusson's literary debut came when Tenducci asked him to contribute Scots airs for the Edinburgh run of the opera. Fergusson supplied three, which were performed and published with the libretto. After February 1771 he began to contribute poems to Walter Ruddiman's '' Weekly Review''. These at first were generally conventional English language works that were either
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...
or fashionably
pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depict ...
in the manner of
William Shenstone William Shenstone (18 November 171411 February 1763) was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, ''The Leasowes''. Biography Son of Thomas Shenstone and Anne Penn, ...
. His first Scots poem to be published (''The Daft Days'') appeared on 2 January 1772, and from that date on he submitted works in both languages. Popular reception for his Scots work, as evidenced in a number of verse
epistle An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...
s in its praise, helped persuade Ruddiman to publish a first general edition of his poems which appeared in early 1773 and sold around 500 copies, allowing Fergusson to clear a profit. In mid-1773 Fergusson attempted his own publication of ''Auld Reekie'', now regarded as his masterpiece, a vivid verse portrait of his home city intended as the first part of a planned
long poem The long poem is a literary genre including all poetry of considerable length. Though the definition of a long poem is vague and broad and unnecessary, the genre includes some of the most important poetry ever written. With more than 220,000 (1 ...
. It demonstrated his ambition to further extend the range of his Scots writing. This also included an aspiration to make Scots translations of
Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
's
Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek word , ''geōrgika'', i.e. "agricultural (things)") the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from being an example ...
, thus following in the footsteps of
Gavin Douglas Gavin Douglas (c. 1474 – September 1522) was a Scottish bishop, makar and translator. Although he had an important political career, he is chiefly remembered for his poetry. His main pioneering achievement was the '' Eneados'', a full and fa ...
. However, if any drafts for such a project were made, none survive. The poet was a hard self-critic and is known latterly to have destroyed manuscripts of his writing.


Clubs

Fergusson was a member of the Cape Club which regularly assembled at a tavern in Craig's Close. Each member had a name and character assigned to him, which he was required to maintain at all gatherings. David Herd (1732–1810), the collector of the classic edition of ''Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs'' (1776), was "sovereign" of the Cape (in which he was known as "Sir Scrape") when Fergusson was dubbed a knight of the order, with the title of "Sir Precentor", in allusion to his fine voice. Alexander Runciman, the historical painter, his pupil
Jacob More Jacob More (1740–1793) was a Scottish landscape painter. Biography Jacob More was born in 1740 in Edinburgh. He studied landscape and decorative painting with James Norie's firm. He took the paintings of Gaspard Dughet and Claude Lorrain as ...
, and Sir
Henry Raeburn Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Biography Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a f ...
were all members. The old minute books of the club abound with pencilled sketches by them, one of the most interesting of which, ascribed to Runciman, is a sketch of Fergusson in his character of "Sir Precentor".


Death

Fergusson's literary energy and active social life were latterly overshadowed by what may have been depression although there are likely to have been other factors. From around mid-1773 his surviving works appear to become more darkly melancholic. In late 1773, in his "Poem to the Memory of John Cunningham" which was written on hearing news of the death of that poet in an
asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...
in Newcastle, Fergusson expressed fears of a similar fate. His fears were founded. Around the backend of the year 1774, after sustaining a head injury in circumstances that are obscure (he fell heavily down a flight of stairs in Edinburgh, according to his epitaph), Fergusson was submitted against his will into Edinburgh's Darien House "hospital" (close to today's eponymous
Bedlam Theatre Bedlam Theatre is a theatre in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The building was completed in 1848 for the New North Free Church. After closing as a church in 1941, the building served as a chaplaincy centre and then a store for the Universi ...
), where, after a matter of weeks, he suddenly died. He had only just turned 24. He was buried in an unmarked grave on the west side of the
Canongate Kirkyard The Canongate Kirkyard ( en, Churchyard) stands around Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. The churchyard was used for burials from the late 1680s until the mid-20th century. The most celebrated burials at the kirkyard are ...
. The poet Robert Burns privately commissioned and paid for a memorial headstone of his own design in 1787, which was erected in 1789. The stone was restored in April 1850 by the poet Robert Gilfillan. In the later nineteenth century,
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
intended to renovate the stone, but died before he could do so. The epitaph that Stevenson planned to add to the stone is recorded on a plaque added to the grave by the Saltire Society on the Society's 50th anniversary in 1995.


Memorials

Fergusson is one of the sixteen Scottish poets and writers depicted on the lower section of the Scott Monument on
Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (thr ...
. He appears on the right side of the west face, opposite
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
. A plaque was erected in his memory in St Giles Cathedral in the 1930s. An independent statue outside
Canongate Churchyard The Canongate Kirkyard ( en, Churchyard) stands around Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland. The churchyard was used for burials from the late 1680s until the mid-20th century. The most celebrated burials at the kirkyard are ...
was unveiled on 17 October 2004, following a competition for a memorial to Fergusson. The sculptor was
David Annand David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
.


Overview and influence

Fergusson's literary output was both urban and
pastoral A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depict ...
in equal degree. He was often an effective
satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-196 ...
and generally
nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
in themes and outlook. Although small, his canon stands as an important artistic and linguistic bridge between the generation of Allan Ramsay (1686–1758) and most later writers in Scots. His bilingual career was the acknowledged inspiration for the career of Robert Burns. Many leading
makar A makar () is a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as a royal court poet. Since the 19th century, the term ''The Makars'' has been specifically used to refer to a number of poets of fifteenth and sixteenth ce ...
s of the twentieth century, such as
Robert Garioch Robert Garioch Sutherland (9 May 1909 – 26 April 1981) was a Scottish poet and translator. His poetry was written almost exclusively in the Scots language, he was a key member in the literary revival of the language in the mid-20th century. ...
or
Sydney Goodsir Smith Sydney Goodsir Smith (26 October 1915 – 15 January 1975) was a New Zealand-born Scottish poet, artist, dramatist and novelist. He wrote poetry in literary Scots often referred to as Lallans (Lowlands dialect), and was a major figure of the Sc ...
, similarly recognised his importance. More widely, however, his legacy has tended to be unjustly neglected. Many works by Burns either echo or are directly modelled on works by Fergusson. For example, "Leith Races" unquestionably supplied the model for Burns' "Holy Fair". "On seeing a Butterfly in the Street" has reflections in it which strikingly correspond with "To a Mouse". Comparisons, such as between Fergusson's "The Farmer's Ingle" and Burns' "
The Cotter's Saturday Night ''The Cotter's Saturday Night'' is a poem by Robert Burns that was first published in ''Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect'' in 1786. Composition Burns wrote "The Cotter's Saturday Night" at his Mossgiel farm, near Mauchline, during the win ...
", often demonstrate the creative complexity of the influence. Fergusson's life also had one important non-literary influence. The brutal circumstances of the poet's death prompted one of his visitors in Darien House, the young doctor Andrew Duncan (1744–1828), to pioneer better institutional practices for the treatment of mental health problems through the creation of what is today the
Royal Edinburgh Hospital The Royal Edinburgh Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Morningside Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Lothian. History The "foundational myth" has it that the hospital was founded by Dr Andrew Duncan, following the death of ...
.


Editions

Ruddiman's 1773 edition of Fergusson's work was reprinted in 1779 with a supplement containing additional poems. A second edition appeared in 1785. There are later editions, by Robert Chambers (1850) and
Alexander Grosart Alexander Balloch Grosart (18 June 182716 March 1899) was a Scottish clergyman and literary editor. He is chiefly remembered for reprinting much rare Elizabethan literature, a work which he undertook because of his interest in Puritan theology. ...
(1851). A life of Fergusson is included in
David Irving David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938) is an English author and Holocaust denier who has written on the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany. His works include ''The Destruction of Dresden'' (19 ...
's ''Lives of the Scottish Poets'', and in Robert Chambers's ''Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Scotsmen''. Grosart also contributed a biography of Fergusson for the "Famous Scots Series", (Edinburgh:
Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier was a Scottish publishing company based in the national capital Edinburgh. It produced many hundreds of books mainly on religious and biographical themes, especially during its heyday from about 1880 to 1910. It is ...
, 1898). Modern editions of Fergusson include the definitive two-volume collection of his works in both Scots and
Scottish English Scottish English ( gd, Beurla Albannach) is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standa ...
, edited by the scholar
Matthew McDiarmid Matthew McDiarmid, full name Matthew Purdie McDiarmid (25 June 1914–12 February 1996) was a Scottish literary scholar, essayist, campaigning academic and poet. He was a founding member of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies (1970) ...
, ''The Poems of Robert Fergusson'', published in the 1950s, and ''Robert Fergusson, Selected Poems'', a popular edition of the poetry in Scots, edited by the author James Robertson and first published around the turn of the present century.


Further reading

* Campbell, Donald (1975), review of Alexander Manson (ed.), ''Poems by Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson'', in ''Calgacus'' 1, Winter 1975, p. 57,


See also

*
Habbie stanza The Burns stanza is a verse form named after the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who used it in some fifty poems. It was not, however, invented by Burns, and prior to his use of it was known as the standard Habbie, after the piper Habbie Simpson (1550 ...
*
Scottish literature Scottish literature is literature written in Scotland or by List of Scottish writers, Scottish writers. It includes works in Scottish English, English, Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots, Brythonic languages, Bryth ...
*
Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commo ...
*
Thomas Chatterton Thomas Chatterton (20 November 1752 – 24 August 1770) was an English poet whose precocious talents ended in suicide at age 17. He was an influence on Romantic artists of the period such as Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth and Coleridge. Althoug ...


External links


Robert Fergusson Society

Portrait of Fergusson
by Alexander Runciman in the
National Gallery of Scotland The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by W ...
* Robert Fergusson is commemorated i
Makars' Court
outside Th
Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh
Selections for Makars' Court are made by The Writers' Museum,
The Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland. Founded in 1936, the society was "set up to promote and celebrate the uniqueness of Scottish culture and Scotland’s ...
and
The Scottish Poetry Library The Scottish Poetry Library is a public library specialising in Scottish poetry. Since 1999, the library has been based at 5 Crichton's Close, just off the Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town. History and status The library was founded in 19 ...
.
Video footage of Robert Fergusson's grave


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fergusson, Robert 1750 births 1774 deaths Alumni of the University of St Andrews People educated at the High School of Dundee Lallans poets Writers from Edinburgh People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Scots Makars Burials at the Canongate Kirkyard People of the Scottish Enlightenment 18th-century Scottish writers 18th-century Scottish poets Poets associated with Dundee