Arbroath Library (built 1821), Arbroath, Scotland. Courtesy Auld Arbroath, Facebook.
William Allan (?1780-1804) was a Scottish poet. [1]
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Allan lived in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland.[1]
The son of a tradesman, he was self-taught.[1]
Career[]
Allan published poetry in the Edinburgh Magazine and the Scots Magazine.[1]
He died young of tuberculosis.[1]
Writing[]
Allan's earliest poetical attempt was published in the Edinburgh Magazine, February 1803, "The Winter's Night, or Henry and Anna;" after a few subsequent trifles in the Penseroso stile, he produced "Melancholy," which was originally published in the Edinburgh Magazine for May 1803, and afterwards reprinted at London in the Poetical Magazine, under the altered title "The Man of Sorrow." In the same issue of Edinburgh Magazine that contains his "Melancholy," are to be found two little pieces of his, "Stanzas to a Primrose," and "A Song;" these, although far beyond mediocrity, are not distinguished by that pathetic energy which pervades the "Man of Sorrow," for an obvious reason: they were the children of fancy, while "Melancholy" was written from the heart.[2]
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 William Allan (1780ca.-1804), English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, Apr. 16, 2016.
- ↑ Alexander Balfour, "Information respecting the Author of the Man of Sorrow," Scots Magazine 66 (September 1804) 652-53. English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virgina Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, Aug. 6, 2021.
External links[]
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