Scottish literature in the eighteenth century
James Macpherson was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation, claiming to have found poetry written by Ossian.
Drama was pursued by Scottish playwrights in London such as Catherine Trotter and David Crawford, who developed the character of the stage Scot.
Important Scottish playwrights included Henry Mackenzie, John Logan's, Archibald Maclaren and Joanna Baillie.
Other Scots who contributed to the development of the novel in the eighteenth century include Henry Mackenzie, John Moore and Jean Marishall.
He laid the foundations of a reawakening of interest in older Scottish literature, publishing The Ever Green (1724), a collection that included many major poetic works of the Stewart period.
[1] He led the trend for pastoral poetry, helping to develop the Habbie stanza, which would be later be used by Robert Burns as a poetic form.
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.
[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.
His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country.
[9] Burns's poetry drew upon a substantial familiarity with and knowledge of Classical, Biblical, and English literature, as well as the Scottish Makar tradition.
[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.
James Thomson's plays often dealt with the contest between public duty and private feelings, included Sophonisba (1730), Agamemnon (1738) and Tancrid and Sigismuda (1745), the last of which was an international success.
[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".
It was a success in both Scotland and England for decades, attracting many notable actors, such as Edmund Kean, who made his debut in it,[23] Peg Woffington and Sarah Siddons.
[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.
[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.
Towards the end of the century there were "closet dramas", primarily designed to be read, rather than performed, including work by James Hogg (1770–1835), John Galt (1779–1839) and Joanna Baillie (1762–1851), often influenced by the ballad tradition and Gothic Romanticism.
It reflected contemporary politics in its emphasis on the liberties of the subject,[28][29] drawing parallels between King John and George III, and for that reason the censorship of the Lord Chamberlain had prevented its production on the London stage.
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] The novel in its modern form developed rapidly in the eighteenth century and was soon a major element of Scottish literary and critical life.
[34] Other eighteenth-century novelists included Henry Mackenzie, whose major work The Man of Feeling (1771) was a sentimental novel dealing with human emotions, influenced by Samuel Richardson and Laurence Sterne and the thinking of philosopher David Hume.
[37] Physician John Moore's novel Zeluco (1789) focused on an anti-hero, the Italian nobleman of the title, and was a major influence on the work of Byron.
