An' Nature All Is Cheery: The Integration of Nature Imagery in Tannahill's Poems and Songs
Robert Tannahill (1774-1810) was a Scottish laboring class poet from Paisley, near Glasgow. Tannahill worked as a weaver, but wrote poetry in his ample free time. Though historically ignored, Tannahill's work is finally beginning to receive critical attention. Many of his most beloved poems are pastoral landscapes featuring the hills and forests surrounding Paisley. However, even Tannahill's other poems often integrate nature imagery and environmental themes. For Tannahill, nature is essentially inseparable from his daily life, and thus permeates all of his work.
This collection of twenty-five poems is drawn from Tannahill's only publication during his lifetime, the 1807 edition of The Soldier’s Return; A Scottish Interlude in Two Acts: With Other Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. These pieces were judged to best exhibit Tannahill's love of and need for nature in all of his poetry. They are arranged into five thematic collections for easy navigation:
All the collections show Tannahill's use of nature in different types of work, including songs, dirges, letters, and poems. Clicking through to any poem from a collection or the main navigation menu will bring you to the piece in the middle of all the poems. Each page has "Back" and "Forward" buttons that navigate you to the next piece, which may bridge collections. This allows the user to browse through all the pieces without needing to navigate through collections, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of grouping these poems together. Many poems, such as "Sleepin' Maggie" and "Fragment, of a Scottish Ballad," could appear in multiple collections because of their broad nature. Grouping such pieces ultimately became a matter of expediency and balancing the quantity of pieces in each collection.
This website also includes other features useful to the more avid Tannahill scholar. The Emendation List details changes made in the transcription process from the original manuscript to the clear text. The Project Rationale explains my motivation for creating this website and is further divided into Document Selection, Editorial Policies, and Design Principles sections. These sections detail the decision processes necessary to create this digital edition. Works Cited cites many external resources used in the creation of this text. Biography contains a short sketch of Tannahill's life. The Multimedia page contains Text Analysis tools such as Wordles and word count charts, a Twitter feed of Tannahill's poems, and several maps of Paisley. Finally, the Contact page contains a general overview of the project, a short bio about the website creator, and a contact form for questions.
This collection of twenty-five poems is drawn from Tannahill's only publication during his lifetime, the 1807 edition of The Soldier’s Return; A Scottish Interlude in Two Acts: With Other Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. These pieces were judged to best exhibit Tannahill's love of and need for nature in all of his poetry. They are arranged into five thematic collections for easy navigation:
- "Nature's Riches Great": Pastoral Landscapes
- "My Ae Only Lassie": Fated Lovers
- "This Rhyming Trade": On Writing and Letters
- "Lightnings Gleam": Storms, Shipwrecks, and the Supernatural
- "Frae Us Torn": Death and Loss
All the collections show Tannahill's use of nature in different types of work, including songs, dirges, letters, and poems. Clicking through to any poem from a collection or the main navigation menu will bring you to the piece in the middle of all the poems. Each page has "Back" and "Forward" buttons that navigate you to the next piece, which may bridge collections. This allows the user to browse through all the pieces without needing to navigate through collections, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of grouping these poems together. Many poems, such as "Sleepin' Maggie" and "Fragment, of a Scottish Ballad," could appear in multiple collections because of their broad nature. Grouping such pieces ultimately became a matter of expediency and balancing the quantity of pieces in each collection.
This website also includes other features useful to the more avid Tannahill scholar. The Emendation List details changes made in the transcription process from the original manuscript to the clear text. The Project Rationale explains my motivation for creating this website and is further divided into Document Selection, Editorial Policies, and Design Principles sections. These sections detail the decision processes necessary to create this digital edition. Works Cited cites many external resources used in the creation of this text. Biography contains a short sketch of Tannahill's life. The Multimedia page contains Text Analysis tools such as Wordles and word count charts, a Twitter feed of Tannahill's poems, and several maps of Paisley. Finally, the Contact page contains a general overview of the project, a short bio about the website creator, and a contact form for questions.