Allan Ramsay. [A biography.] - National Library of Scotland
Allan Ramsay. [A biography.] - National Library of Scotland
Allan Ramsay. [A biography.] - National Library of Scotland
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CHAPTER X<br />
RAMSAY AS A PASTORAL POET AND AN ELEGIST<br />
In attempting a critical estimate <strong>of</strong> the value <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Ramsay</strong>'s works, for the purpose <strong>of</strong> analysis it will be<br />
most convenient to consider the great body <strong>of</strong> his<br />
writings under certain classified headings— (i) <strong>Ramsay</strong><br />
as a Pastoral Poet and an Elegist; (2) <strong>Ramsay</strong> as a<br />
Satirist and a Song-writer; (3) <strong>Ramsay</strong>'s Miscellaneous<br />
Works.<br />
In the chapter on The Gentle Shepherd^ we noted the<br />
distinctive constituents <strong>of</strong> pastoral poetry, as currently<br />
defined, and also wherein <strong>Ramsay</strong>'s principles, as ex-<br />
emplified in practice, differ from those <strong>of</strong> other writers<br />
<strong>of</strong> pastoral. To furnish examples illustrative <strong>of</strong> our<br />
contention is now all that remains to be done. Early<br />
in his poetical career, as soon, in fact, as he had<br />
completed his first tentative efforts, <strong>Ramsay</strong> seems to<br />
have become conscious, with that rare gift <strong>of</strong> prevision<br />
always distinguishing him, that his strength lay in a<br />
picturesque yet truthful delineation <strong>of</strong> rural life. His<br />
earliest pieces, although termed elegies, exhibit, rather,<br />
many <strong>of</strong> the characteristics <strong>of</strong> pastorals, in the broad<br />
humour and in the graphic and vivid colouring where-<br />
with he depicts the scenes at Maggy Johnston's tavern<br />
at Morningside, or the incidents in the life <strong>of</strong> Luckie