Restoration & Augustan
James Beattie
James Beattie (1735–1803) was a Scottish poet and moral philosopher, for many years professor of moral philosophy at Marischal College, Aberdeen. He was also known for his Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth (1770), written against Hume.
His best-known poem is The Minstrel (1771–74), in Spenserian stanzas, which traces the growth of a young poet, Edwin, among the hills and shepherds of the Scottish countryside. It was much admired by later eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century readers. The texts here are from Gilfillan's edition of Beattie, Blair and Falconer.
Major Works (1)
- The Minstrel — Narrative poem, 1771–1774
Poems (17)
- Ode to Hope
- Ode to Peace
- Ode on Lord Hay's Birthday
- The Judgment of Paris
- The Triumph of Melancholy
- Elegy
- Elegy, Written in the Year 1758
- Retirement
- The Hermit
- On the Report of a Monument to be Erected in Westminster Abbey, to the Memory of a Late Author (Churchill)
- The Hares: A Fable
- The Wolf and Shepherds: A Fable
- Song, in Imitation of Shakspeare's "Blow, blow, thou winter wind"
- To Lady Charlotte Gordon, Dressed in a Tartan Scotch Bonnet, with Plumes, &c.
- Epitaph: Being Part of an Inscription Designed for a Monument Erected by a Gentleman to the Memory of His Lady
- Epitaph on Two Young Men of the Name of Leitch, Who Were Drowned in Crossing the River Southesk
- Epitaph, Intended for Himself