Tannahill's Poems and Songs
Robert Tannahill released a single collected volume of poems and songs during his lifetime, The Soldier’s Return; A Scottish Interlude in Two Acts: With Other Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1807). This collection takes its name from his play The Soldier's Return, included in the volume. Tannahill considered this interlude to be his masterpiece, but it received a rather lukewarm reception from most critics. It is not (yet) included in this digital edition, though the songs contained within The Soldier's Return have been transcribed and included as standalone entities. The vast majority of the volume, however, was devoted to Tannahill's poems and songs. While critical reception of Tannahill's poetry has occasionally been mixed, his songs have nearly always been hailed as beautiful creations that can stand against those of any of his contemporaries.
The text of 63 poems and 33 songs from Tannahill's first edition are currently available on Transforming Robert Tannahill. This includes several songs originally positioned within Tannahill's interlude The Soldier's Return, which are presented here as standalone creations. The transcription of a previously unpublished Tannahill sonnet is not currently included in this area of the website; it is located under Scholarship here. The editor intends to eventually add all of Tannahill's remaining poems and songs to this website in order to create the most complete Tannahill resource available online.
The poems and songs are arranged in the order they were published in The Soldier's Return. Once additional Tannahill poems are added to the website, this "Writing" section will be split into two parts: an edition of The Soldier's Return, and an "all writings" section that will include texts from The Soldier's Return alongside other recovered works. To navigate this section, use the Table of Contents. Clicking through to any poem from there or the main navigation menu will bring you to the piece in the middle of all the poems arranged in the original published order. Each page has "Back" and "Forward" buttons that navigate you to the next piece.
Please visit the Project Rationale for a complete description of the document selection principles, editorial policies, and design choices that have guided the development of Transforming Robert Tannahill.
The text of 63 poems and 33 songs from Tannahill's first edition are currently available on Transforming Robert Tannahill. This includes several songs originally positioned within Tannahill's interlude The Soldier's Return, which are presented here as standalone creations. The transcription of a previously unpublished Tannahill sonnet is not currently included in this area of the website; it is located under Scholarship here. The editor intends to eventually add all of Tannahill's remaining poems and songs to this website in order to create the most complete Tannahill resource available online.
The poems and songs are arranged in the order they were published in The Soldier's Return. Once additional Tannahill poems are added to the website, this "Writing" section will be split into two parts: an edition of The Soldier's Return, and an "all writings" section that will include texts from The Soldier's Return alongside other recovered works. To navigate this section, use the Table of Contents. Clicking through to any poem from there or the main navigation menu will bring you to the piece in the middle of all the poems arranged in the original published order. Each page has "Back" and "Forward" buttons that navigate you to the next piece.
Please visit the Project Rationale for a complete description of the document selection principles, editorial policies, and design choices that have guided the development of Transforming Robert Tannahill.