Thomson, James (1700–48)

Abstract

James Thomson was the outstanding descriptive poet of the early eighteenth century. Born at Ednam, in the south of Scotland, he was educated at Edinburgh University, where he studied for the ministry and acquired some reputation as a poet. He set out for London in 1725 and wrote ‘Winter’, the first part of The Seasons, which appeared piecemeal in 1726–30 and was published in collected form in 1730 (including ‘Autumn’ and ‘A Hymn on the Seasons’). ‘A Poem Sacred to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton’ appeared in 1727; ‘Britannia. A Poem’, in 1729. The literary world admired Thomson’s frankness and genial temper and was impressed by his talent. The success of The Seasons won him the friendship of Pope, Gay, Young and the protection of such famous patrons as Lord Lyttelton and Frederick, Prince of Wales. In November 1730 he began the Grand Tour of Europe as tutor to Charles Richard Talbot, son of the Solicitor-General, and on his return received a sinecure that enabled him to live in easy circumstances. In 1735–6 he published Liberty, a long philosophic and patriotic poem in which he traces the progress of liberty through the ages in Greece, Rome and Britain. Thomson also produced a series of tragedies and a masque, Alfred (1740).KeywordsRoyal AcademyImaginary PowerMacmillan PublisherComplete 1730editionFragmentary ViewThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.