Alexander Ross (poet)
| Alexander Ross | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 13, 1699 Aberdeenshire |
| Died |
May 20, 1784 (aged 85) Lochlee |
| Nationality | Scotland |
| Occupation | teacher, poet |
| Known for | Helenore, or the Fortunate Shepherdess |
Alexander Ross (13 April 1699[1] – 20 May 1784) was a Scottish poet.
Biography
Alexander Ross was born to a farming family at Torphins in Aberdeenshire.[2] He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen[3] and worked as private tutor for the children of Sir William Forbes of Craigievar.[4] In 1732 he became a headmaster in Lochlee, Angus, where he would live until his death in 1784. A memorial was erected in his honour c. 1854 in the old churchyard of Angus Glen where he is buried.[2] In 1768, at the suggestion of James Beattie,[5] he published Helenore, or the Fortunate Shepherdess.[6][7][8]
Reputation
Robert Burns praised Alexander Ross, writing "There is I know not what of wild happiness of thought and expression peculiarly beautiful in the old Scottish song style, of which his Grace, old venerable Skinner, the author of Tullochgorum and etc., and the late Ross at Lochlee, of true Scottish poetic memory, are the only modern instances that I recollect, since Ramsay, with his contemporaries, and poor Bob Fergusson, went to the world of deathless existence and truly immortal song."[9]
References
- ↑ "Significant Scots - Alexander Ross". electricscotland.com.
- 1 2 Gibbs, John S.; D. Hay Fleming (April 1912). "Helenore, or the Fortunate Shepherdess". The Scottish Historical Review. 9 (35): 291–300. JSTOR 25518449.
- ↑ "Alexander Ross". oxfordreference.com.
- ↑ "Overview of Alexander Ross". scottish-places.info.
- ↑ Alexander Ross
- ↑ Alexander Ross (1699-1784)
- ↑ "Alexander Ross (1699-1784). Wooed and Married and a'. William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. 1909. The Book of Georgian Verse". bartleby.com.
- ↑ Zenzinger, Peter (2013). "Cultural Paradoxes in Alexander Ross's Fortunate Shepherdess". Studies in Scottish Literature. Technische Universität Berlin. 35 (1): 271–294. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- ↑ Robert Burns Country: The Burns Encyclopedia: Ross, Alexander (1699 - 1784)