William Nicholson (1782–1849) was a
Scottish poet, born in the village of
Borgue in
Kirkcudbrightshire
Kirkcudbrightshire ( ), or the County of Kirkcudbright or the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright is one of the historic counties of Scotland, covering an area in the south-west of the country. Until 1975, Kirkcudbrightshire was an administrative county ...
. He was also known variously as "The
Bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise t ...
of
Galloway
Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway.
A native or i ...
", the itinerant singer and "pedlar-poet", or "Wandering Wull". His best writing makes distinctive use of his native
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 commonly ...
and many of his works are in the form of
song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...
.
He was encouraged by James Hogg and Dr. Alexander Murray. Nicholson's published collections include ''Tales, in Verse, and Miscellaneous Poems: Descriptive of Rural Life and Manners'' (1814), a work which contains some 60 original poems, including "The
Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
of
Crazy Jane
Crazy Jane is a fictional character created by Grant Morrison and Richard Case for their work on the Vertigo Comics version of ''Doom Patrol''. She first appears in ''Doom Patrol'' (vol. 2) #19 (February 1989). According to the afterword in the ...
", "The
Fairy
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
Dance", and "A Tale of Terror", a number of which have been anthologised. One common
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
piece sometimes associated with his name is also "The
Aiken Drum
"Aiken Drum" (Roud 2571) is a popular Scottish folk song and nursery rhyme, which probably has its origins in a Jacobite song about the Battle of Sheriffmuir (1715).
Lyrics
Modern versions of the lyrics include:
There was a man lived in the ...
".
He is best remembered today for "The
Brownie of
Blednoch" (1828), a favourite of the poet
Marion Angus
Marion Emily Angus (1865–1946) was a Scottish poet who wrote in the Scots vernacular or Braid Scots, defined by some as a dialect of English and others as a closely related language. Her prose writings are mainly in standard English. She is s ...
(1865–1946), and "The
Braes
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit.
Terminology
The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...
of Galloway".
See also
*
*
External links
"The Braes of Galloway"€”online text of the song/poem by William Nicholson
1782 births
1849 deaths
Scottish poets
{{Scotland-writer-stub