Project Rationale
Transforming Robert Tannahill endeavors to bring the beauty of Tannahill’s work and correspondence to both scholars and a worldwide general audience. His poems and songs continue to inspire modern artists, such as the folk group The Tannahill Weavers, who have covered many of Tannahill’s songs in addition to their original repertoire. Dr. Fred Freeman, who recently completed a comprehensive recording of Robert Burns’ songs, is currently recording a complete collection of Tannahill’s work. And many events were held in his honor in Paisley in 2010 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death.
Despite these honors and artistic revivals, Tannahill has been sadly neglected compared to contemporaries such as Robert Burns. Though Tannahill was extremely popular and highly regarded for his songs for nearly a century after his death, there has been a dearth of modern scholarship concentrating on Tannahill’s work. The last comprehensive edition of Tannahill’s work is an 1876 edition by David Semple. It is time for a new, modern edition of Tannahill's work.
Tannahill’s only collection of work published during his lifetime was The Soldier’s Return; A Scottish Interlude in Two Acts: With Other Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1807). Though Tannahill attempted to destroy all of his writing before his suicide in 1810, dozens of other poems and songs have been recovered and added to his oeuvre as well. All poems and songs included in The Soldier’s Return are presented here, as are many of Tannahill’s letters. The ultimate goal of this website is to provide the most comprehensive collection of Tannahill’s work and correspondence.
The primary goals of this edition are:
The project rationale is divided into three subsections: Document Selection, Editorial Policies, and Design Principles. These sections focus, respectively, on how the copy-text and particular poems were chosen; how these poems are edited and presented; and how the digital medium was leveraged to create an integrated project.
Despite these honors and artistic revivals, Tannahill has been sadly neglected compared to contemporaries such as Robert Burns. Though Tannahill was extremely popular and highly regarded for his songs for nearly a century after his death, there has been a dearth of modern scholarship concentrating on Tannahill’s work. The last comprehensive edition of Tannahill’s work is an 1876 edition by David Semple. It is time for a new, modern edition of Tannahill's work.
Tannahill’s only collection of work published during his lifetime was The Soldier’s Return; A Scottish Interlude in Two Acts: With Other Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1807). Though Tannahill attempted to destroy all of his writing before his suicide in 1810, dozens of other poems and songs have been recovered and added to his oeuvre as well. All poems and songs included in The Soldier’s Return are presented here, as are many of Tannahill’s letters. The ultimate goal of this website is to provide the most comprehensive collection of Tannahill’s work and correspondence.
The primary goals of this edition are:
- to provide an edition as free from editorial interference as possible,
- to make this edition accessible to the reader, and
- to make this edition as complete as possible.
The project rationale is divided into three subsections: Document Selection, Editorial Policies, and Design Principles. These sections focus, respectively, on how the copy-text and particular poems were chosen; how these poems are edited and presented; and how the digital medium was leveraged to create an integrated project.