Scottish literature in the eighteenth century

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Robert Burns, considered by many the national poet, in Alexander Nasmyth's portrait of 1787

Scottish literature in the eighteenth century is

Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir, Uillean Ross and Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, who helped inspire a new form of nature poetry. James Macpherson was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation, claiming to have found poetry written by Ossian. Robert Burns is widely regarded as the national poet
.

Drama was pursued by Scottish playwrights in London such as

closet dramas", primarily designed to be read. Important Scottish playwrights included Henry Mackenzie, John Logan's, Archibald Maclaren and Joanna Baillie
.

In this century the novel emerged as a major element of Scottish literary and critical life. Tobias Smollett's picaresque novels, such as The Adventures of Roderick Random and The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle mean that he is often seen as Scotland's first novelist. Other Scots who contributed to the development of the novel in the eighteenth century include Henry Mackenzie, John Moore and Jean Marishall.

Poetry

Main article: Poetry of Scotland

After the Union in 1707 Scottish literature developed a distinct national identity and began to enjoy an international reputation.

Alison Rutherford Cockburn (1712–94), and poet and playwright James Thomson's (1700–48), most famous for the nature poetry of his Seasons.[4]

Alan Ramsay, the most influential literary figure in early eighteenth-century Scotland

The eighteenth century was also a period of innovation in Gaelic vernacular poetry. Major figures included the satirist

Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir (Duncan Ban MacIntyre, 1724–1812)[5] and Uillean Ross (William Ross, 1762–90), most noted for his anguished love songs.[6] The most significant figure in the tradition was Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (Alasdair MacDonald, c. 1698–1770), who emerged as the nationalist poet of the Jacobite cause and whose poetry marks a shift away from the clan-based panegyric tradition.[6] His interest in traditional forms can be seen in his most significant poem Clanranald's Gallery. He also mixed these traditions with influences from the Lowlands, including Thompson's Seasons, which helped inspire a new form of nature poetry in Gaelic, which was not focused on their relations to human concerns.[5]

Herder and Goethe.[7] Eventually it became clear that the poems were not direct translations from the Gaelic, but flowery adaptations made to suit the aesthetic expectations of his audience.[8]

Scottish cultural identity, poverty, sexuality, and the beneficial aspects of popular socialising.[12]

Major poets writing in the radical tradition of Burns include Alexander Wilson (1766–1813), whose outspoken views forced him into emigration to the US.[13] Major literary figures connected with Romanticism include the poets James Hogg (1770–1835) and Allan Cunningham (1784–1842).[14]

Drama

Main article:
Theatre in Scotland
Portrait of Henry Erskine Johnston (1777–1830?), Scottish actor, in the title role of Douglas

Drama was pursued by Scottish playwrights in London such as

Masque of Alfred (1740) was a collaboration between Thompson, Mallet and composer Thomas Arne, with Thompson supplying the lyrics for his most famous work, the patriotic song Rule, Britannia!.[15]

In Scotland performances were largely limited to those by visiting actors, who faced hostility from the Kirk.[16] In November 1727, Edinburgh Town Council denounced stage plays.[17] The Court of Session reversed the magistrates' pleas, but Rev Robert Wodrow complained of plays as "seminaries of idleness, looseness and sin".[17] A pamphlet of the time described actors as, "the most profligate wretches and vilest vermin that hell ever vomited out... the filth and garbage of the earth, the scum and stain of human nature, the excrement and refuse of all mankind".[17] In 1729, the Scots Company of Comedians, formed for dramatic entertainments, was forced to close.[17] The Edinburgh Company of Players were able to perform in Dundee, Montrose, Aberdeen and regular performances at the Taylor's Hall in Edinburgh under the protection of a Royal Patent.[16] In 1727, Allan Ramsay wrote his Some Hints in Defence of Dramatic Entertainment.[17] Ramsay was instrumental in establishing them in a small theatre in Carruber's Close in Edinburgh.[18] Dundee formed a company of players in 1734.[17] However, the passing of the 1737 Licensing Act made their activities illegal and these theatres soon closed.[19]

Engraving of playwright Joanna Baillie

The Licensing Act began a three-decade period where institutional and organised drama was in abeyance. Eventually the subterfuge of offering a free drama at the end of a musical performance was adopted. This is known to have been used in Edinburgh from 1739 when

Peg Woffington and Sarah Siddons.[24] Home was hounded by the church authorities for Douglas and this may have driven him to leave his parish and move to work on the London stage.[24] Other emigres to London included Tobias Smollett (1721–71), whose play The Regicide about the death of James I failed to gain a production in the capital, but after his success as a novelist it was published in 1749 and his The Reprisal, a comedy based on his experiences at sea, was delivered by David Garrick at Drury Lane in 1757.[25] Despite the opposition of the church, theatre going began to emerge as a regular part of elite life in Scotland.[26] Performances included Eleanore Carthart, Lady Huston's Coquettes in 1759, John (or James) Baille's political farce Patriotism in 1763, and Andrew Eskine's cross-dressing love farce She's Not Him, He's Not Her in 1764.[26] The British government granted the first licence to a Scottish theatre under the act in 1767[21] as part of the plans for the building of the New Town in Edinburgh. The new Theatre Royal opened in 1769.[26] In Perth it was 1780 before theatre was properly produced. As late as 1784, the council of Dundee prevented a company from Edinburgh from entering the town.[22]

In the later eighteenth century, many plays were written for and performed by small amateur companies and were not published and so most have been lost. Towards the end of the century there were "

King John and George III, and for that reason the censorship of the Lord Chamberlain had prevented its production on the London stage.[30] Among the most prolific of Scottish playwrights was Archibald Maclaren (1755–1826) whose The Conjurer; or, the Scotsman in London (1781) inverted the stereotype of the gullible Scot common in London plays. He went on to produce over a hundred plays.[31] The work of Baillie is now seen as particularly significant, although it was more often anonymously published rather than in performance for much of her lifetime. Baillie's first volume of Plays on the Passions was published in 1798 consisted of Count Basil, a tragedy on love, The Tryal, a comedy on love, and De Monfort, a tragedy on hatred. De Monfort was successfully performed in Drury Lane, London before knowledge of her identity emerged and the prejudice against women playwrights began to effect her career.[32]

Novels

Main article: Novel in Scotland
Tobias Smollett, often considered Scotland's first novelist

The novel in its modern form developed rapidly in the eighteenth century and was soon a major element of Scottish literary and critical life. There was a demand in Scotland for the newest novels including

The Critical Review. Lending libraries were established in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Private manor libraries were established in estate houses. The universities began to acquire novels and they became part of the curriculum.[33] By the 1770s about thirty novels were being printed in Britain and Ireland every year and there is plentiful evidence that they were being read, particularly by women and students in Scotland. Scotland and Scottish authors made a modest contribution to this early development. About forty full length prose books were printed in Scotland before 1800. One of the earliest was the anonymously authored Select Collection of Oriental Tales (1776).[34]

As well as being a poet, essayist, satirist and playwright, Tobias Smollett is best known for his

Byron.[38] Female novelists included Jean Marishall (f. 1765–89), who published the epistolary novels, The History of Miss Camilla Cathcart, and Miss Fanny Renton (1766) and The History of Alicia Montague (1767).[39]

Notes

  1. ISBN 0521264782
    , p. 39.
  2. ISBN 0-06-055888-1
  3. ISBN 0585041555
    , p. 100.
  4. ISBN 1847674666
    , pp. ix–xviii.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-19-211696-7
    , pp. 255–7.
  6. ^
    ISBN 1400841429
    , pp. 1276–9.
  7. ISBN 0-06-055888-1
  8. ^ D. Thomson (1952), The Gaelic Sources of Macpherson's "Ossian", Aberdeen: Oliver & Boyd
  9. doi:10.1215/00982601-29-2-25
  10. ^ Robert Burns: "Literary Style Archived 2013-10-16 at the Wayback Machine", retrieved 24 September 2010.
  11. ^ Robert Burns: "hae meat", retrieved 24 September 2010.
  12. ^ Red Star Cafe: "to the Kibble." Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  13. ISBN 074863309X
    , pp. 58–9.
  14. ISBN 0816074968
    , p. 374.
  15. ISBN 0748641076
    , pp. 30–31.
  16. ^
    ISBN 0748641076
    , pp. 28–30.
  17. ^
    ISBN 0-306-71865-0
    , p. 301.
  18. ^
    ISBN 0521650682
    , pp. 170–1.
  19. ISBN 0748624813
    p. 288.
  20. ISBN 0748641076
    , p. 34.
  21. ^
    ISBN 0748624813
    , p. 134.
  22. ^
    ISBN 0-306-71865-0
    , p. 308.
  23. ^ "Edmund Kean". Arthurlloyd.co.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  24. ^ a b Keay, J. & Keay, J., Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland (London: Harper Collins, 1994).
  25. ISBN 0748641076
    , p. 33.
  26. ^
    ISBN 0748641076
    , p. 36.
  27. ^ I. Brown, The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: Enlightenment, Britain and Empire (1707–1918) (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007),
    ISBN 0748624813
    , pp. 229–30.
  28. ^ "Logan, John" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  29. ISBN 978-0-521-62639-2
    , p. 96.
  30. ^ H. W. Meikle, archive.org. Scotland and the French Revolution (1912), p. 4.
  31. ISBN 0748641076
    , p. 39.
  32. ISBN 0748641076
    , pp. 48–9.
  33. ISBN 0521590388
    , pp. 89–90.
  34. ^
    ISBN 0-19-538623-X
    , p. 313.
  35. ISBN 0820319716
    , p. 1.
  36. ISBN 0-19-538623-X
    , p. 316.
  37. ISBN 0-19-538623-X
    , pp. 321–3.
  38. ISBN 0-19-538623-X
    , p. 392.
  39. ISBN 9781405156691
    .
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