John Davidson (poet)
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John Davidson (11 April 1857 – 23 March 1909) was a Scottish poet, playwright and novelist, best known for his
ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...
s. He also did translations from French and German. In 1909, financial difficulties, as well as physical and mental health problems, led to his suicide.


Life and works


Scotland

He was born at
Barrhead Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268. History Barrhead was formed when ...
,
East Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas of ...
as the son of Alexander Davidson, an Evangelical Union minister and Helen ''née'' Crocket of Elgin. His family removed to
Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
in 1862 where he was educated at Highlanders' Academy there and entered the chemical laboratory of Walker's Sugarhouse refinery in his 13th year, returning after one year to school as a pupil teacher. Davidson also briefly worked in the Public Analysts' Office, from 1870–71. In these employments he developed an interest in science which became an important characteristic of his poetry. In 1872 he returned for four years to the Highlanders' Academy as a pupil-teacher, and, after a year at
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
(1876–77), received in 1877 his first scholastic employment at Alexander's Charity, Glasgow. During the next six years he held positions in the following schools : Perth Academy (1878–81), Kelvinside Academy, Glasgow (1881–82), and Hutchinson's Charity, Paisley (1883–84). He varied his career by spending a year as clerk in a Glasgow thread firm (1884–85), and subsequently taught in Morrison's Academy, Crieff (1885–88), and in a private school at Greenock (1888–89).


London

Having taken to literature, he went in 1889 to London where he frequented '
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a Grade II listed public house at 145 Fleet Street, on Wine Office Court, City of London. Rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire of 1666, the pub is known for its literary associations, with its regular patrons havi ...
' and joined the '
Rhymers' Club The Rhymers' Club was a group of London-based male poets, founded in 1890 by W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys. Originally not much more than a dining club, it produced anthologies of poetry in 1892 and 1894.''The Oxford Companion to English Literature' ...
'.Robert Farquharson Sharp (1904) ''A Dictionary of English Authors, Biographical and Bibliographical'', K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., London Davidson's first published work was '' Bruce,'' a chronicle play in the Elizabethan manner, which appeared with a Glasgow imprint in 1886. Four other plays, ''Smith, a Tragic Farce'' (1888), ''An Unhistorical Pastoral'' (1889), ''Aromantic Farce'' (1889), and the brilliant pantomimic ''Scaramouch in Naxos'' (1889) were also published while he was in Scotland.Ian Hamilton (1996) ''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English'', Oxford University Press Besides writing for the ''Speaker,'' the ''Glasgow Herald,'' and other papers, he produced several novels and tales, of which the best was ''Perfervid'' (1890). But these prose works were written for a livelihood.


Verse

Davidson's true medium was verse. '' In a Music Hall and other Poems'' (1891) suggested what ''Fleet Street Eclogues'' (1893) proved, that Davidson possessed a genuine and distinctive poetic gift. The late nineteenth century English novelist
George Gissing George Robert Gissing (; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best-known works have reappeared in modern editions. They include '' The Nether World'' (1889), '' New Gr ...
read both these volumes in one day in 1893 at the British Museum Library.
Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
had words of praise for ''In a Music Hall''. He called it, "An example of a new writer seeking out 'new subject matter, new emotions'". Yeats wrote of his emotional dispute with Davidson in ''Autobiographies'' (1955). The second collection established his reputation among the discerning few. His early plays were republished in one volume in 1894, and henceforward he turned his attention more and more completely to verse. A volume of vigorous ''Ballads and Songs'' (1894), his most popular work, which Davidson sent a copy of to
George Gissing George Robert Gissing (; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. His best-known works have reappeared in modern editions. They include '' The Nether World'' (1889), '' New Gr ...
, who wrote that it "gave me thoughts", was followed in turn by a second series of ''Fleet Street Eclogues'' (1896) and by ''New Ballads'' (1897) and ''The Last Ballad'' (1899).


Dramatic works

For a time he abandoned lyric for the drama, writing several original plays.


'Testaments'

Finally Davidson engaged on a series of "Testaments", in which he gave definite expression to his philosophy. These volumes were entitled ''The Testament of a Vivisector'' (1901),''The Testament of a Man Forbid'' (1901), ''The Testament of an Empire Builder'' (1902), and ''The Testament of John Davidson'' (1908). Though he disclaimed the title of philosopher, he expounded an original philosophy which was at once materialistic and aristocratic. The cosmic process, as interpreted by evolution, was for him a fruitful source of inspiration. His later verse, which is often fine rhetoric rather than poetry, expressed the belief which is summed up in the last words that he wrote, "Men are the universe become conscious; the simplest man should consider himself too great to be called after any name." The corollary was that every man was to be himself to the utmost of his power, and the strongest was to rule. Davidson professed to reject all existing philosophies, including that of
Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...
, as inadequate, but Nietzsche's influence is traceable in his argument. The poet planned ultimately to embody his revolutionary creed in a trilogy entitled '' God and Mammon''. Only two plays, however, were written, ''The Triumph of Mammon'' (1907) and ''Mammon and his Message'' (1908).


Family

In 1885 Davidson married Margaret, daughter of John McArthur of Perth. She survived him with two sons, Alexander (b. 1887) and Menzies (b. 1889).


Other works

Davidson was a prolific writer. Besides the works cited, he wrote many other works, including '' The Wonderful Mission of Earl Lavender'' (1895), a novel which included flagellation erotica, and he contributed an introduction to Shakespeare's ''Sonnets'' (Renaissance edition, 1908), which, like his various prefaces and essays, shows him a subtle literary critic.


Translations

He translated Montesquieu's ''Lettres Persanes'' (1892),
François Coppée François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist. Biography Coppée was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war and won ...
's ''Pour la Couronne'' in 1896 and
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
's ''Ruy Blas'' in 1904, the former being produced as, ''For the Crown'', at the Lyceum Theatre in 1896, the latter as ''A Queen's Romance'' at the Imperial Theatre.


Portraits

Davidson's portrait was drawn by
Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...
and by
Robert Bryden Robert Bryden (1865–1939) was a Scots artist and sculptor. Bryden was born in Coylton in South Ayrshire, Scotland. After a period working in the office of Hunter & Morris, architects in Ayr, he moved to London where he stayed for fifteen yea ...
. A caricature by
Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the '' Saturday ...
appeared in ''The Chapbook,'' (1907), and
William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...
did a portrait of him for ''The Yellow Book''. In ''Men and Memories'' (1931), Rothenstein said that when Max Beerbohm looked at his pictures of Davidson, he had complimented him on the 'subtle way he had handled his toupée'. Rothenstein wrote that he had not noticed that he was wearing one. Frank Harris, a member of the Rhymers' Club described him in 1889 thus:
"... a little below middle height, but strongly built with square shoulders and remarkably fine face and head; the features were almost classically regular, the eyes dark brown and large, the forehead high, the hair and moustache black. His manners were perfectly frank and natural; he met everyone in the same unaffected kindly human way; I never saw a trace in him of snobbishness or incivility. Possibly a great man, I said to myself, certainly a man of genius, for simplicity of manner alone is in England almost a proof of extraordinary endowment."Norman Alford (1996) ''The Rhymers' Club: Poets of the Tragic Generation '', Palgrave Macmillan


Drowning

In 1906 he was awarded a civil list pension of £100 ''per annum'' and
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
did what he could to help him financially, but poverty, ill-health, and his declining powers, exacerbated by the onset of cancer, caused profound hopelessness and clinical depression. Late in 1908, Davidson left London to reside at
Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...
. On 23 March 1909, he disappeared from his house there, under circumstances which left little doubt that he had drowned himself. Among his papers was found the manuscript of a new work, ''Fleet Street Poems'', with a letter containing the words, "This will be my last book." His body, which was discovered by some fishermen in Mount's Bay on 18 September, was, in accordance with his known wishes, buried at sea. In his will he desired that no biography should be written, none of his unpublished works published, and "no word except of my writing is ever to appear in any book of mine as long as the copyright endures." The assumption that he took his own life is consistent with what is known of his temperament and his ideas. In ''The Testament of John Davidson'', published the year before his death, he anticipates this fate: :"None should outlive his power. . . . Who kills : Himself subdues the conqueror of kings; : Exempt from death is he who takes his life; : My time has come."


Influence on other poets

Davidson's poetry was a key early influence on important Modernist poets, in particular, his compatriot
Hugh MacDiarmid Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid (), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Rena ...
and
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
.
T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National B ...
was especially fond of the poem 'Thirty Bob a Week' (In ''Ballads and Songs'' (1894)). Davidson's poem "In the Isle of Dogs", for example, is a clear intertext of later poems such as Eliot's "
The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the Octob ...
" and Stevens' " The Idea of Order at Key West".


Quotes

* "This is an age of
Bovril Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick and salty meat extract paste similar to a yeast extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston. It is sold in a distinctive bulbous jar, and as cubes and granules. Bovril is owned and distribut ...
"


Works

* ''The North Wall'' (1885) * ''Diabolus Amans'' (1885), verse drama * ''Bruce'' (1886 ) a drama in five acts * ''Smith'' (1888) a tragedy * Plays (1889)''The Cambridge History of English Literature'', Vol 13, (1917) edited by Sir Adolphus William Ward, Alfred Rayney Waller, G.P. Putnam's Sons ** ''An Unhistorical Pastoral'', a Romantic Farce ** ''Scaramouch in Naxos'' * ''Perfervid: The Career of Ninian Jamieson'', (1890) with 23 Original Illustrations by Harry Furniss, Ward & Downey, Ltd., London. * ''The Great Men, And a Practical Novelist'' (1891) Illustrated by E. J. Ellis. Ward & Downey, Ltd., London. * ''In a Music Hall, and other Poems'' (1891) Ward & Downey, Ltd., London. * ''Laura Ruthven's Widowhood'' (with C. J. Wills), (1892) * ''Fleet Street Eclogues'' (1893)

* ''The Knight of the Maypole,'' (1903) * ''Sentences and Paragraphs'' (1893) * ''Ballads and Songs'' (1894) John Lane Publishers, Londo

* ''Baptist Lake'' (1894) Ward & Downey, Ltd., London. * ''A Random Itinerary'' (1894) * ''
A Full and True Account of the Wonderful Mission of Earl Lavender ''A Full and True Account of the Wonderful Mission of Earl Lavender, which Lasted One Night and One Day; with a History of the Pursuit of Earl Lavender and Lord Brumm by Mrs. Scamler and Maud Emblem'', is a comical novel, written by Scots poet an ...
'' (1895) * ''St. George's Day'' (1895) * ''Fleet Street Eclogues (Second Series)'' (1896

* ''Miss Armstrong's and Other Circumstances'' (1896) * ''The Pilgrimage of Strongsoul and Other Stories'' (1896) * ''New Ballads'' (1897) * ''Godfrida'', a play (1898) * ''The Last Ballad'' (1899) * ''Self's the Man'', a tragi-comedy, (1901) * '' The Testament of a Man Forbid'' (1901) * ''The Testament of a Vivisector'' (1901) * ''The Testament of an Empire Builder'' (1902) * ''A Rosary,'' (1903) Grant Richards, Londo

* ''The Knight of the Maypole: A Comedy in Four Acts'' (1903) * ''The Testament of a Prime Minister'' (1904

* ''The Ballad of a Nun'' (1905) * ''The Theatrocrat: a Tragic Play of Church and State,'' (1905) * ''Holiday and other poems, with a note on poetry'' (1906) * ''The Triumph of Mammon'' (1907) E.G. Richards, Londo

* ''Mammon and His Message'' (1908) * ''The Testament of John Davidson'' (1908) * '' Fleet Street and other Poems,'' (1909) * Contributor to ''
The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...
'' He translated: *
Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principa ...
's ''Lettres Persanes'', (''
Persian Letters ''Persian Letters'' (french: Lettres persanes) is a literary work, published in 1721, by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two fictional Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who spend several years in France u ...
'') (1892) *
François Coppée François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist. Biography Coppée was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war and won ...
's ''Pour la couronne'', (''For the Crown'') (1896) *
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
's ''Ruy Blas'', (''A Queen's Romance'') (1904


References


Further reading

* * ''John Davidson, First of the Moderns; A Literary Biography'' (1995) by John Sloan * ''Karl E. Beckson, London in the 1890s: A Cultural History'' (1992) * Princeton University Library, John Davidson Collection, 1879–1945 (bulk 1890–1909

*


External links

*
John Davidson
profile at Internet Accuracy Project
Text of ''Scaramouch in Naxos''
at La Commedia dell'arte * *
Interview with John Davidson in March 1895 edition of ''The Bookman'' (New York)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, John 1857 births 1909 suicides Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Suicides by drowning in England People from Barrhead Scottish male novelists Scottish translators Scottish schoolteachers 19th-century Scottish poets 19th-century Scottish novelists 19th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 19th-century British translators