John Skinner, born on 3 October 1721 and dead on 16 June 1807, lived through an age of political defeat, religious repression, agricultural change, intellectual expansion, and remarkable literary revival in Scotland. He is remembered above all as the author of “Tullochgorum,” the exuberant song that Robert Burns called “the best Scotch song ever Scotland saw.” Yet that deservedly famous lyric represents only one part…
“The difference between our two tracks of education, and ways of life, is entirely in your favour, and gives you the preference every manner of way.”
Neighbourhood:
Folk & Ballad Poets, Hymn Writers, Scottish Poets
Emotional landscape: Irony, Anger, Sorrow
John Scott of Amwell, born on 9 January 1730 and dead on 12 December 1783, occupied a distinctive if now comparatively quiet place in eighteenth-century English letters. He was a poet, critic, landscape gardener, social commentator, practical administrator, and committed Quaker whose life joined literary aspiration to civic usefulness. In his own day he was known not simply as John Scott but as “Scott of Amwell,” a n…
Neighbourhood:
Devotional Poets, Georgian Poets, Nature Poets, Social Justice Poets
Emotional landscape: Tenderness, Joy, Peace
