Robert Williams Buchanan

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Robert Williams Buchanan

Robert Williams Buchanan (born August 18, 1841 in Caverswall , Staffordshire , † June 10, 1901 in Streatham ) was a Scottish poet , novelist and playwright .

life and work

Robert William Buchanan was a son of the socialist author, lecturer and journalist Robert Buchanan (1813-1866) and attended high school and university in Glasgow , where the poet David Gray was one of his fellow students. His essay on Gray, originally published in Cornhill Magazine , tells of their close friendship and their 1860 trip to London in search of fame.

After several disappointments, Buchanan emerged in 1863 with the successful volume of poetry Undertones (4th edition 1882), which he had the Idyls and legends of Inverburn (1865) and London poems (1866) follow. In the same year he published poetic transcriptions from Scandinavian under the title Ballad stories of the affections (new edition 1869). This was later followed by Wayside poesies (1867), North coast, and other poems (1868) and The book of Orm: A prelude to the epic (1870), a study of mysticism .

The German-French war inspired Buchanan on the preparation of the work The drama of kings (1871), whose second part also independently under the title falling Napoleon: a lyrical drama in 1871 appeared in two runs and the third part The Teuton against Paris Bismarck hero has . Excellent descriptions of nature and stories in prose can be found in The land of Lorne (2 vols., 1871), a lively account of sailing experiences on the Scottish west coast. The stage successes with the tragedy The witchfinder (1872) and the comedy A madcap prince (1874), which were performed in London, were low.

Buchanan's article The fleshly school of poetry , published in October 1871 in The Contemporary Review under the pseudonym Thomas Maitland and expanded to a pamphlet in 1872, embroiled in an unpleasant literary dispute . In this, Buchanan attacked Rossetti , who was later better appreciated by him, and Swinburne . Rossetti replied in a letter to the Athenaeum (December 16, 1871) and Swinburne, entitled The stealthy school of criticism , with a damning reply in Under the microscope (1872). Buchanan later regretted his attack.

Buchanan also published the cheerful poetic satire on Mormonism, St. Abe and his seven wives (anonymous, 1872), Master spirits (1873), Balder the Beautiful: a song of divine death (1877), Ballads of life, love and humor (1882), The earthquake, or six days and a sabbath (1885), the epic The city of dream (1888), The outcast: a rhyme for the time (1891), Come, live with me and be my love, an English pastoral (1892) and The wandering Jew (1893).

In the field of the novel, Buchanan became very well known with The shadow of the sword (3 vols., 1876). Here followed, among others:

  • A childe of nature , 1879
  • God and the man , 3 vols., 1881
  • The martyrdom of Madeline , 3 vols., 1882
  • Annan water , 3 vols., 1882
  • Love me forever , 1883
  • The new Abelard , 3 vols., 1884
  • Foxglove Manor , 3 vols., 1884
  • Stormy waters , 3 vols., 1885
  • The master of the mine , 2 vols., 1885
  • Frosted. A story of a caravan , 1885
  • The winter night, or Love's victory , 1886
  • The heir of Linne , 1888
  • The moment after: a tale of the unseen , 1890 (deals with the immortality of the soul )
  • Effie Hetherington , 1896
  • Father Anthony , 1898

Buchanan gained much popularity as a playwright. Alone in London (with his sister-in-law Harriet Jay , 1885), A nine days' queen and Sophia (1886), a folk piece based on Fielding's Tom Jones and played several hundred times in a row in London, had great success . Furthermore, the following became very popular:

  • Fascination, an improbable comedy , 1888 (written with Harriet Jay)
  • Joseph's sweetheart , 1888 (an excellent play based on Fieldings Joseph Andews )
  • Partners , 1888 (a five-act comedy based on Alphonse Daudet )
  • A man's shadow , 1889 (after Jules Marys and Georges Grisiers Roger la Honte )
  • That doctor Cupid , 1889
  • Miss Tomboy (based on John Vanbrugh's The relapse )

The dramatic poem The bride of love (1891) is based on Amor and Psyche by Apuleius . The poetical works of Robert Buchanan appeared in three volumes in London in 1874 and in one volume in 1884. In 1901 they came out in two volumes as Complete poetical works .

Buchanan also delivered many series of articles on time issues for London daily newspapers, e.g. B. 1890 for The Daily Telegraph on the subject Is the marriage contract eternal? He also wrote the book A look around literature (1887), The coming terror and other essays and letters (1891), a collection of witty studies on social and literary issues of the day, and Andromeda, idyll of the great river (1900). He was impoverished in his final years due to bad speculation and died on June 10, 1901 at the age of 59 in Streatham of complications from a stroke .


The Little Milliner ( Little Hatter )

My girl hath violet eyes and yellow hair,
A soft hand, small and fair.
A sweet fate pouting in a white straw bonnet,
A tiny foot and a little boot upon it.
And all her finery to charm the beholders -
Is the gray shawl drawn tight around her shoulders.
The plain stuff-gown and collar white as snow,
and sweet red petticoat that peeps below.
But gladly in the busy town goes she,
Summer and winter, fearing nobodie.
She pats the pavement with her fairy feet,
With fearless eyes she charms the crowded street.
The pretty shining face goes by,
healthy and rosy, fresh from slumber sweet -
A sunbeam in the quiet morning street.
The city closed around her night and day,
but lightly, happily - she went her way.
Nothing of evil that she saw or heard,
Could touch a heart so innocently stirred.
But she was good and pure amid the strife,
By virtue of the joy that was her life.
And who shall match her with her new straw bonnet?
Her tiny foot and a little boot upon it.
Embroidered petticoat and silk gown new,
And shawl she wears as few fine ladies do.

(From the poem "The Little Milliner" ( "The Little Hatter" ) by Robert Williams Buchanan)

literature

Web links

Individual references, source

  1. ^ The Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan (1884), London: Chatto & Windus, pp. 115-119.
personal data
SURNAME Buchanan, Robert Williams
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish poet, novelist and playwright
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Caverswall , Staffordshire
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 1901
Place of death Streatham