Angeletti, Gioia (1997) Scottish eccentrics: the tradition of otherness in Scottish poetry from Hogg to MacDiarmid. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2552/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] SCOTTISH ECCENTRICS: THE TRADITION OF OTHERNESS IN SCOTTISH POETRY FROM HOGG TO MACDIARMID by Gioia Angeletti 2 VOLUMES VOLUME I Thesis submitted for the degreeof PhD Department of Scottish Literature Facultyof Arts, Universityof Glasgow,October 1997 ý'i ý'"'ý# '; iý "ý ý'; ý y' ý': ' i ý., ý, Fý ABSTRACT This study attempts to modify the received opinion that Scottish poetry of the nineteenth-centuryfailed to build on the achievementsof the century (and centuries) before. Rather it suggeststhat a number of significant poets emerged in the period who represent an ongoing clearly Scottish tradition, characterised by protean identities and eccentricity, which leads on to MacDiarmid and the `Scottish Renaissance'of the twentieth century. The work of the poets in question is thus seen as marked by recurring linguistic, stylistic and thematic eccentricities which are often radical and subversive. The poets themselves,it is suggested, share a condition of estrangementfrom the official culture of their time either within Scotland (Hogg, Geddes, MacDiarmid) or in their English exile (Smith, Davidson and Thomson). They can be hardly associatedwith establishedtradition, but rather they belong to literary what I define as tradition of `otherness' -- other from mainstream and cultural society, and characterisedby eccentric forms and themes. The Introduction examines the notions of `eccentricity' and `otherness' in relation to the selected poets. Chapter 1, after outlining existing critical theories on nineteenth-century Scottish literature, reinforces the thesis that the dominant voices in Scottish poetry are radical and eccentric by looking retrospectively at some of the eighteenth-century `eccentrics'. Chapter 2 focuses on the work of Hogg and Byron, the former as the original nineteenth-century eccentric, evincing strong links with later poets, and the latter because of the striking affinities between his work and personality and those of contemporary and later Scottish poets. Chapter 3 focuses on Alexander Smith and attempts to rescue his most interesting poetry from the simplistic categorising of his work as `Spasmodic'. Chapter 4 on James Thomson ('B. V. ') explores the innovative and pre-modernist aura of his opera omnia. Chapter 5 concentrates on John Davidson, particularly on his diverse styles and unorthodox ideas, which also look forward to MacDiarmid. Chapter 6 on James Young Geddes analyses the stylistic and ideological radicalism and eccentricity of this almost wholly neglected Victorian poet. The Conclusion brings into focus the unacknowledged links between these poets and Hugh MacDiarmid as well as other twentieth-century Scottish poets, and it suggests that individual, literary and cultural eccentricity is a creative force. Dedicated to my mother and father Acknowledgements My first debt of thanksis to ProfessorDouglas Gifford for his expert guidanceat everystage of the preparationof this thesis. I am particularly grateful to Professor Andrew Hook for his excellent advice and constant encouragement. My thanks are also to Professor Valentina Poggi for having introduced me first to the field of Scottish literature, and supported me during my years of research,and to Professor Lilla Crisafulli Jonesfor her moral support. My special thanks also to the JamesHogg Society of Stirling, and in particular to its Head Dr Douglas Mack for his enlightening advice throughout the planning and preparation of this study. I would like to thank the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the National Library of Scotland, the Mitchell Library of Glasgow and the district libraries of Blairgowrie, Dundee and Perth for having provided me essentialmaterial in support of my research. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Michael Bradshaw for his encouragement during difficult moments of my research. Finally, my heartfelt thanks to John Luke Barker for his moral support and his help in checking the drafts. Declaration This thesis representsmy own unassistedwork, and no part of it has been submitted previously for any academicqualification. The views expressedare my own and not those of the University of Glasgow. Gioia Angeletti TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ECCENTRICS AND ECCENTRICITIES FROM JAMES HOGG TO HUGH MACDIARMID 1' ................ CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES i. Overview of the emergence of Scottish poetry: theoretical 21 approaches ...................................................................... ii. A step backward: eccentricities in the eighteenth 38 century................................................................................ CHAPTER 2 TWO EARLY ECCENTRICS: HOGG AND BYRON PART I James Hogg: Scottish Eccentric 52 a .................. i. `Intermineledoms' in the noetrv of JamesHone. Comic Serious 60 and choices.................................................. ii. `Intermingledoms' in poems `whaur extremesmeet'........ 93 PART II The play of comic and serious, or `whaur extremes meet': Byron and his Scottish heritage............ 145 CHAPTER 3 THE RE-ASSESSMENT OF A SPASMODIC: THE POETRY OF ALEXANDER SMITH PART I The man his ideas 166 and ...................................... PART II The man and the poet i. The `Spasmodic A Life Drama (1852) 182 years': .................. ii. Alexander Smith's City Poems (1853) and the urban metaphysical 197 ........................................................................ 4 CHAPTER 4 LIVING IN THE TWILIGHT: THE DIALECTIC OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS IN THE POETRY OF JAMES THOMSON (`B. V. ') i. Introductory 209 ................................................................... ii. Between faith doubt (1834-1860) 217 and ............................ iii. The searchfor an faith (1860-1870) 239 alternative ............. iv. The loss of light and the dreadful night (1870-1874)..... 254 v. A deep light (1874-1881) 286 gloom with sparks of ............. CHAPTER 5 JOHN DAVIDSON: DRAMATIC ECCENTRICITY AND OTHERNESS PART I The 302 outcast ................................................... PART II The old and the new: tradition and subversion in Davidson's 329 poetry .................................. i. The ballads 335 ..................................................................... ii. The music-hall 373 poems .................................................... iii. Urban 3 92 poems ................................................................ iv. The Testaments and last 409 poems ............................:........ CHAPTER 6 JAMES YOUNG GEDDES PART I i. Another case Scottish 435 of a eccentric............................... ii. Life and works .............................................................. 445 PART II Poetry ideas 449 and ............................................ CONCLUSION i. Hugh MacDiarmid and the legacy of eccentricity............ 502 ii. Epilogue:the `strange 520 procession'continues .................. BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 527 INTRODUCTION Eccentrics AND eccentricities FROM JAMES IIOGG TO HUGH MACDIARMID Whatever course of action we take in life there is always some element in our nature which could only find . b. satisfactionin exactly a contrary course.' Without Contraries is no progression' Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes)' Recently modern critics have taken issue with MacDiarmid's and other critics' contention that most nineteenth-century novels are far removed from the reality of 4 Scottish life and culture of the time. On the, other hand, a proper and fully satisfactory assessment of nineteenth-century Scottish poetry is still awaited and overdue. This gap in most accounts of Scottish literature was the starting point of my research, and the present study is an attempt to follow in the steps of those critics who have already partly contributed to the revaluation of Scottish poetry produced in the last century. My study is not intended as a comprehensive account of Scottish ' Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish Eccentrics, cd. by Alan Riach (Manchester: Carcanet Press Limited, 1993), p. 299. 2 William Blake, 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell', in MIR= Blake's Writings, ed. by G. E. Bentley, 2 vols (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1971), pp. 74-99 (p. 77). 3 Walt Whitman, `Song of Myself', in Leaves of Grass (Philadelphia: David McKay Publisher, 1891), pp. 29-79 (p.78). See for example Douglas Gifford, 'Introduction', and 'Myth, Parody and Dissociation: Scottish Fiction 1814-1914', in The History of Scottish Literature, cd. by Cairns Craig and others, 4 vols (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1987-1989), III: Nineteenth Century, ed. by Douglas Gifford, pp. 1-12 and 217-258. nineteenth-century poets but as