Poetical Works (dodo Press)

Synopsis

James Thomson (1700-1748) was a Scottish poet and playwright. He possibly attended the parish school of Southdean before going to the grammar school in Jedburgh in 1712. He entered the College of Edinburgh in autumn 1715, destined for the Presbyterian ministry. At Edinburgh he studied metaphysics, Logic, Ethics, Greek, Latin and Natural Philosophy. He completed his arts course in 1719 but chose not to graduate, instead entering Divinity Hall to become a minister. In 1726 Winter, the first poem of The Seasons was first published. By 1727 Thomson was working on Summer and in 1728 published Spring and finally Autumn in 1730 when the set of four was published together as The Seasons. During this period he also wrote other poems, such as A Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton, and his first play, The Tragedy of Sophonisba (1729). His other works include: Liberty (1735-1736), Agamemnon (1738), Edward and Eleanora (1739), Tancred and Sigismunda (1745), The Castle of Indolence (1748), and Coriolanus (1749).