Robert Fergusson

Robert Fergusson (1750 - 1774), wes a Scots makar o the 18t yearhunner. He is aften thocht o as ane o the best an maist influential Scots poets o aw tyme.

Biography

Eirlie Life an Eddication

Ferguson wes born in Edinburgh on 5t September 1750 tae William an Elizabeth Fergusson at Cap And Feather Close juist aff the Royal Mile. The Close wes dinged doun in Ferguson's lifetime tae mak wey fer the biggin o the Nor Brig. His parents haed muived tae the caipital frae Aiberdeen ainlie twa yeir afore Robert wes born.

Tho the faimily wesnae unco weil aff, they did see the heich vailue o haein their childer educate weil, an at the eild o seiven, Robert jyned a private schuill in Niddry's Wynd (cryed Niddry Street the nou) apposite Cap And Feather Close. The neist yeir he wes enrolled at the Royal High School. Whan he wes eleiven he won a bursary tae leir at the Dundee Grammar School, whilk haed the condition that gin he made guid progress he wad be alloued intil the University of St. Andrews whilk he did at the eild o fowerteen. He left in 1768. He never graduate, tho this wes gey common at the tyme.

Edinburgh

Fergusson retoured tae Edinburgh 1769 efter dargin fer a wee while at his emye. Tho he wesnae in guid heal whan he cam til the city, bi September he haed recovered enouch tae tak on employ as a copyist in the Commissary Records Office. Nae dout this wesnae gey fun fer him, a yung man o ninteen an o artistic smeddum - but it gied him siller as weil as allouin enouch tyme fer scrievin musardie an an active social life.

Fergusson becam active in the Edinburgh club life o the day - jynin the Cape Club (ithir kenspeckle memmers included David Herd the sang ingaitherer, the penters Alexander Runciman, Henry Raebun, Alexander Naysmit an Jacob Moir an ane o Edinburgh's maist kenspeckle villians Deacon William Brodie) whilk wes a perfyte atmosphere fer his musardie, whilk is aften anent the social life o his peers. His pseudonym wi'in the club we Sir Precentor.

Daith

Syne bairnheid, Fergusson haed dree'd ill-heal (jaloused tae be ane o the heidmaist reasons why he gangedna til the Royal High School unitl a yeir efter maist fowk his eild), an it wes aften remairked bi chiels wha saw him that he luiked gey pale an frail. Either in or juist afore the stairt o 1774, it became cleir that Fergusson wes dree'in sum kynd o the depression, his ordinar blytheness wes gane an he kythed tae retreat intil a sort o releegious gloom, readin ainlie The Bible an his behaviour became gey orra. Accordin tae Alexander Peterkin in his The Works of Robert Fergusson. To Which is Prefixed a Sketch of the Author's Life (London , 1807) bi March 1774 Fergusson was:

"...quite aware that his mind was in disorder, and he anticipated with terror the confinement in a mad-house, which he saw would be unavoidable."

In July, the memmers o the Cape Club raised a collection o siller tae help their frien, bot despite some seemin rallies o his heal, he wes on the haill gettin waur. Later that same month he tuik a faw doun a stair, an furder damaged his heid. Within days he wes incarcerate in the Edinburgh Bedlam, Darien Hous. The traigic, rapid faw frae genius tae madness wes endit bi his daith on the 17t o October 1774. He wes juist twanty-fower.

Yirdin

Twa day efter his daith, Fergusson wes yirdit in the Canongate Kirkyaird, in an unmerked graff. Whan Robert Burns cam til Edinburgh in 1787, he speired the kirk heidyins gin he cuild hae a heidstane fer Ferugusson erect, tae whilk they said aye. The stane is still there the nou, an Fergusson's graff can be seen gin ye gae tae the left-haund side o the kirk. A statue o him staunds outwi the yett tae the kirkyaird an aw.

Wark

Fergusson scrieved musardie in baith Scots an Inglis. His Scots wes taen frae the twa-thrie byleids he's hae kent frae his parents (The Doric kythes in Hallow-Fair) an ithirs, forybe uisin sum aulder, mair leeterary terms.

The auldest o his warks whilk survives is Elegy, on the Death of Mr. David Gregory whilk he wrate whan he wes ainlie fowerteen. It is a gallus wark in fluent Scots that gies a guid hint o the genuis whilk wes tae flaw frae his pen in later yeirs. In baith Scots an Inglis Fergusson wes a fluent, confident writer wha cuid scrieve wi uneffected eise anent a braid rainge o subjecks - frae satires on fowk's preoccupation wi haen guid, fashionable claes (Braid Claith) tae descrievin scenes o ilkaday life (Hallow-fair, fer exemplar) tae his great, unfinished epic anent Edinburgh life, Auld Reekie - his maist kenspeckle poem. He cuid be bitter about Edinburgh an life in general, bot his wark also shaws a deep luve fer the ceety an ceety life.

Juist ower thritie o his Scots poems survive, as weil as a twa-thrie in Inglis. His Inglis poems are aften seen tae be guid (On Night aiblins is the best exemplar o his Inglis wark), bot it is the smeddum an vivacity o his Scots musardie whilk is best kent an luved the day.

Legacy

Fergusson's maist obvious influence wes on Robert Burns (wha threaped tae be duin wi musardie until he cam across Fergusson's wark) wha cryed him:

"...my elder brother in misfortune, by far my elder brother in the Muse."

Tho Allan Ramsay cam afore Fergusson as a Scots veracular makar (atweil, in To Mr. Robert Fergusson bi "J.S" the question is speired "Is Allan risen frae the deid...to grace the thistle?"), it wes Fergusson wha gie'd Burns mair tift, an sae airgiably haed the greater influence o the twa ower aw. :ater on Robert Loius Stevenson, anithir kenspecke Edinburgh scriever, wes aslo a muckle fan o Fergusson's an wes influenced bi his wark.

The ithir heidmaist influence he haed wes in makkin the "Habbie Stanza" form acceptable fer non-comic warks, kivverin a braid rainge o subjecks, tho no tae the exclusion o comic verse.

The traigedy o his daith at Fergusson's daith at ainlie twanty-fower yeir auld has aye left the question beggin o whit he cuid hae achieved haed he lived langer. Bearin in mind that Burns himself ainlie won on til thritie-seiven, sum fowk hae jaloused that gin he hae'd lived e'en ainlie til thritie then Scotland micht hae haed twa "Naitional Makars" an merked "Fergusson Nicht" on his annivairsary.

Sources

• Robert Fregusson: Selected Poems - Edited and Introduced by James Robertson (2007 edeetion)
• Scottish Poetry: A Critical Survey - Edited by James Kinsley , 1955. Chaiper uisit bi David Daiches

Fremmit Airtins

• Robert Fergusson Society
• University of St. Andrews wabstaid anent Fergusson, includin the fou text o aw his warks
• A pentin o Fergusson bi an unkent airtist, Scottish National Gallery