James Thomson (writer, 1700)

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James Thomson

James Thomson (born September 11, 1700 in Ednam , Roxburghshire , † August 27, 1748 ) was a Scottish writer .

Life

During his time as a student of theology at Edinburgh University , he published his first poems, which were mainly about the Jed Valley , in which he grew up. When his sermons were criticized as too flowery, he gave up his studies and went to London in 1725 .

There he met other writers, including his compatriot David Mallet , and quickly became successful. He won the favor of Frederick, Prince of Wales , whom he also supported politically, was tutor for the son of Sir Charles Talbot , who later was Second Solicitor-General and then Secretary in the Chancellery.

In 1730 his poems were published under the title The Seasons , and his next major work was Liberty (1734), which he dedicated to the Prince of Wales. He wrote several plays including The Tragedy of Sophonisba (1734) and worked with Mallet on the mask play Alfred , which included the song Rule, Britannia! and premiered in Cliveden , the country seat of the Prince of Wales. After Talbot's death, Thomson lost the prince's favor and his career ended with The Castle of Indolence , his best-known play, published shortly before his death.

Fourteen years after the English original (1744), Barthold Heinrich Brockes published his German version of the Seasons . In 1801 Joseph Haydn's oratorio Die Jahreszeiten was published with excerpts from the text by Gottfried van Swieten .

In addition, this work formed the occasion for two important legal decisions ( Millar v. Taylor ; Donaldson v. Beckett ) in the history of copyright .

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personal data
SURNAME Thomson, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1700
PLACE OF BIRTH Ednam , Roxburghshire
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1748