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Robert Cumming

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Robert Cumming (?1770-1791 fl.) was a working-class Scottish poet.

Cumming Poems

Robert Cumming, Poems on Several Occasions, 1791. Gale/Ecco, 2018. Courtesy Amazon.com.

Life[]

Little is known of Cumming. An inscription on a copy of his Poems identifies him as an Edinburgh stay-maker.[1]

He is best known for winning a poetry contest at the Pantheon, Edinburgh, on April 14, 1791, on the topic, ""Whether have the exertions of Allan Ramsay or Robert Fergusson done more honour to Scotch Poetry?" The event was attended by a crowd of 500, who votef for the winner. Cumming, who was suspected of packing the crowd with 40 friends, beat pedlar poet Alexander Wilson by 17 votes.[2]

He is known to have published 2 books, both in 1791.[1]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Poems on Several Occasions; To which is added, The history of Mr. Wallace: A novel. Edinburgh: privately printed by Grant & Moir, 1791.
  • Essay, Delivered in the Pantheon, on Thursday, April 14. 1791: On the question, "whether have the exertions of Allan Ramsay or Robert Ferguson done most honour to Scottish poetry"; to which is added, Willie and Jamie, an eclogue, in the Scottish dialect. Edinburgh: T. Brown / J. Elder, 1791.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[3]

See also[]

References[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Robert Cumming (1770 ca.-1791 fl.), English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, May 25, 2016.
  2. ↑ Clark Hunter, Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson (1983) 41, English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, May 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ Search results = au:Robert Cumming 1791, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 25, 2016.

External links[]

Poems
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