Scottish Poetry, 1730-1830


Book Description

The pride o' a' our Scottish plain; Thou gi'es us joy to hear thy strain, (Janet Little, 'An Epistle to Mr Robert Burns') The 18th century saw Scotland become one of the leading international centres of literature, philosophy, and publishing and yet still retain its lively oral tradition of ballads and poetry. Scottish Poetry, 1730-1830 edited by Daniel Cook contains over 200 poems and songs written in Scots, English, and Gaelic which reflect this vibrant period of literary flourishing. The collection places Burns, Scott, and other major writers alongside lesser known or even entirely forgotten figures. Gaelic poets feature in their original language and in translation, along with many important long poems in their entirety. Lairds and ladies jostle with labouring-class writers, satirists with sentimentalists, Gaelic bards with Gothic balladists, rural singers with urbanite odists, and together they reveal the unrivalled range of Scottish poetry. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.










The G. Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns


Book Description

"The G. Ross Roy Collection of Robert Burns includes fourteen color and fifty-eight black-and-white illustrations as well as an introduction by G. Ross Roy on the history of the collection. In text and images, the catalogue documents a monumental research collection that serves as an open invitation for further investigations into the life, works, and legacy of Scotland's bard."--BOOK JACKET.







The Brahan Seer


Book Description

The Brahan Seer is a legendary figure known throughout Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora and indeed anywhere there is an interest in looking into the future. This book traces the legend of the Seer between the sixteenth and twenty-first centuries. It considers the seer figure in relation to aspects of Scottish Highland culture and society that shaped its development during this period. These include the practice and prosecution of witchcraft, the reporting and scientific investigation of instances of second sight, and the perennial belief in and use of prophecy as a means of predicting events. In so doing the book provides a set of historicised contexts for understanding the genesis of the legend and how it changed over time through a synthesis of historical events, oral tradition, folklore and literary Romanticism. It makes a contribution to the debates not only about witchcraft, second sight and prophecy but also about the relationship between 'popular' and 'elite' culture in Scotland. By taking the Brahan Seer as a case study it argues that 'popular' culture is not antithetical to 'elite' culture but rather in constant (and complex) interaction with it.