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…
“Your acknowledgment of my poor but just encomiums on your surprising genius, and your opinion of my rhyming excursions, are both, I think, by far too high.”
Neighbourhood:
Folk & Ballad Poets, Hymn Writers, Scottish Poets
Emotional landscape: Irony, Anger, Sorrow
Jeremiah Joseph Callanan, born in 1795 and dead on 19 September 1839, occupies a distinctive if sometimes precarious place in the history of nineteenth-century Irish poetry. He is remembered above all for poems that gave English-language readers access to the emotional force, compressed imagery, and historical sorrow of Irish Gaelic song. His best-known pieces, including “The Outlaw of Loch Lene,” “The Dirge of O’Sul…
Neighbourhood:
Irish Poets, Nature Poets, Romantic Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Sorrow
