View source for Scots-language literature

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
[[File:PG 1063Burns Naysmithcrop.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Robert Burns]] in portrait by [[Alexander Nasmyth]]]]
'''Scots-language literature''' is literature, including poetry, prose and drama, written in the [[Scots language]] in its many forms and derivatives. [[Middle Scots]] became the dominant language of Scotland in the late Middle Ages. The first surviving major text in Scots literature is [[John Barbour (poet)|John Barbour]]'s ''[[The Brus|Brus]]'' (1375). Some [[ballad]]s may date back to the thirteenth century, but were not recorded until the eighteenth century. In the early fifteenth century Scots historical works included [[Andrew of Wyntoun]]'s verse ''Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland'' and [[Blind Harry]]'s ''[[The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace|The Wallace]]''. Much Middle Scots literature was produced by [[makars]], poets with links to the royal court, which included [[James I of Scotland|James I]], who wrote the extended poem ''[[The Kingis Quair]]''. Writers such as [[William Dunbar]], [[Robert Henryson]], [[Walter Kennedy (poet)|Walter Kennedy]] and [[Gavin Douglas]] have been seen as creating a golden age in Scottish poetry. In the late fifteenth century, Scots prose also began to develop as a genre. The first complete surviving work is [[John Ireland (theologian)|John Ireland]]'s ''The Meroure of Wyssdome'' (1490). There were also prose translations of French books of chivalry that survive from the 1450s. The landmark work in the reign of [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] was [[Gavin Douglas]]'s version of [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]''.

[[James V of Scotland|James V]] supported William Stewart and [[John Bellenden]], who translated the Latin ''History of Scotland'' compiled in 1527 by [[Hector Boece]], into verse and prose. [[David Lyndsay]] wrote elegiac narratives, romances and satires. From the 1550s cultural pursuits were limited by the lack of a royal court and the [[Church of Scotland|Kirk]] heavily discouraged poetry that was not devotional. Nevertheless, poets from this period included [[Richard Maitland]] of Lethington, [[John Rolland]] and [[Alexander Hume]]. [[Alexander Scott (16th-century poet)|Alexander Scott]]'s use of short verse designed to be sung to music, opened the way for the Castilan poets of [[James VI of Scotland|James VI]]'s adult reign. who included [[William Fowler (makar)|William Fowler]], [[John Stewart of Baldynneis]], and [[Alexander Montgomerie]]. Plays in Scots included Lyndsay's ''[[A Satire of the Three Estates|The Thrie Estaitis]]'', the anonymous ''The Maner of the Cyring of ane Play'' and ''Philotus''. After his accession to the English throne, James VI increasingly favoured the language of southern England and the loss of the court as a centre of patronage in 1603 was a major blow to Scottish literature. The poets who followed the king to London began to [[anglicise]] their written language and only significant court poet to continue to work in Scotland after the king's departure was [[William Drummond of Hawthornden]].

After the [[Acts of Union 1707|Union in 1707]] the use of Scots was discouraged. [[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]] (1686–1758) is often described as leading a "vernacular revival" and he laid the foundations of a reawakening of interest in older Scottish literature. He was part of a community of poets working in Scots and English that included [[William Hamilton (comic poet)|William Hamilton of Gilbertfield]], Robert Crawford, [[Alexander Ross (poet)|Alexander Ross]], [[William Hamilton (Jacobite poet)|William Hamilton]] of Bangour, [[Alison Rutherford|Alison Rutherford Cockburn]] and [[James Thomson (poet, born 1700)|James Thomson]]. Also important was [[Robert Fergusson]]. [[Robert Burns]] is widely regarded as the [[national poet]] of Scotland, working in both Scots and English. His "[[Auld Lang Syne]]" is often sung at [[Hogmanay]], and "[[Scots Wha Hae]]" served for a long time as an unofficial [[national anthem]]. Scottish poetry is often seen as entering a period of decline in the nineteenth century, with Scots-language poetry criticised for its use of parochial dialect. Conservative and anti-radical [[Burns club]]s sprang up around Scotland, filled with poets who fixated on the "Burns stanza" as a form. Scottish poetry has been seen as descending into infantalism as exemplified by the highly popular [[Whistle Binkie]] anthologies, leading into the sentimental parochialism of the [[Kailyard school]]. Poets from the lower social orders who used Scots included the weaver-poet [[William Thom (poet)|William Thom]]. [[Walter Scott]], the leading literary figure of the early nineteenth century, largely wrote in English, and Scots was confined to dialogue or interpolated narrative, in a model that would be followed by other novelists such as [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]] and [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]. [[James Hogg]] provided a Scots counterpart to the work of Scott.<ref name=Carruthers2009p58>G. Carruthers, ''Scottish Literature'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|074863309X}}, p. 58.</ref> However, popular Scottish newspapers regularly included articles and commentary in the vernacular and there was an interest in translations into Scots from other Germanic languages, such as Danish, Swedish and German, including those by [[Robert Jamieson (antiquary)|Robert Jamieson]] and [[Robert Williams Buchanan]].

In the early twentieth century there was a new surge of activity in Scottish literature, influenced by [[modernism]] and resurgent nationalism, known as the [[Scottish Renaissance]]. The leading figure in the movement was [[Hugh MacDiarmid]] who attempted to revive the Scots language as a medium for serious literature, developing a form of [[Synthetic Scots]] that combined different regional dialects and archaic terms. Other writers that emerged in this period, and are often treated as part of the movement, include the poets [[Edwin Muir]] and [[William Soutar]]. Some writers that emerged after the Second World War followed MacDiarmid by writing in Scots, including [[Robert Garioch]], [[Sydney Goodsir Smith]] and [[Edwin Morgan (poet)|Edwin Morgan]], who became known for translations of works from a wide range of European languages. [[Alexander Gray (poet)|Alexander Gray]] is chiefly remembered for this translations into Scots from the German and Danish ballad traditions into Scots. Writers who reflected urban contemporary Scots included [[Douglas Dunn]], [[Tom Leonard (poet)|Tom Leonard]] and [[Liz Lochhead]]. The Scottish Renaissance increasingly concentrated on the novel. [[George Blake (novelist)|George Blake]] pioneered the exploration of the experiences of the working class. Lewis Grassic Gibbon produced one of the most important realisations of the ideas of the Scottish Renaissance in his trilogy ''[[A Scots Quair]]''. Other writers that investigated the working class included James Barke and [[J. F. Hendry]]. From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another major revival, particularly associated with a group of Glasgow writers that included [[Alasdair Gray]] and [[James Kelman]] were among the first novelists to fully utilise a working class Scots voice as the main narrator. [[Irvine Welsh]] and [[Alan Warner (novelist)|Alan Warner]] both made use of vernacular language including expletives and words from the Scots language.

==Background==
{{Main|Scots language}}
In the late Middle Ages, [[Middle Scots]], often simply called English, became the dominant language of the country. It was derived largely from [[Old English]], with the addition of elements from Gaelic and French. Although resembling the language spoken in northern England, it became a distinct dialect from the late fourteenth century onwards.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7">J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0748602763}}, pp. 60–7.</ref> It began to be adopted by the ruling elite as they gradually abandoned French. By the fifteenth century it was the language of government, with acts of parliament, council records and treasurer's accounts almost all using it from the reign of [[James I of Scotland|James I]] (1406–37) onwards. As a result, Gaelic, once dominant north of the Tay, began a steady decline.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/>

==Development==
{{See also|Scottish literature in the Middle Ages}}
[[File:Seal of Gavin Douglas.jpg|thumb|The seal of [[Gavin Douglas]] as [[Bishop of Dunkeld]]]]
The first surviving major text in Scots literature is [[John Barbour (poet)|John Barbour]]'s ''[[The Brus|Brus]]'' (1375), composed under the patronage of [[Robert II of Scotland|Robert II]] and telling the story in epic poetry of [[Robert the Bruce|Robert I]]'s actions before the English invasion until the end of the [[First Scottish War of Independence|first war of independence]].<ref>A. A. M. Duncan, ed., ''The Brus'' (Canongate, 1997), {{ISBN|0-86241-681-7}}, p. 3.</ref> The work was extremely popular among the Scots-speaking aristocracy and Barbour is referred to as the father of Scots poetry, holding a similar place to his contemporary [[Chaucer]] in England.<ref>N. Jayapalan, ''History of English Literature'' (Atlantic, 2001), {{ISBN|81-269-0041-5}}, p. 23.</ref> Some Scots [[ballad]]s may date back to the late medieval era and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century, including "[[Sir Patrick Spens]]" and "[[Thomas the Rhymer]]", but which are not known to have existed until they were collected and recorded in the eighteenth century.<ref>E. Lyle, ''Scottish Ballads'' (Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2001), {{ISBN|0-86241-477-6}}, pp. 9–10.</ref> They were probably composed and transmitted orally and only began to be written down and printed, often as [[broadside ballad|broadsides]] and as part of [[chapbooks]], later being recorded and noted in books by collectors including [[Robert Burns]] and [[Walter Scott]].<ref>R. Crawford, ''Scotland's Books: a History of Scottish Literature'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0-19-538623-X}}, pp. 216–9.</ref> In the early fifteenth century Scots historical works included [[Andrew of Wyntoun]]'s verse ''Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland'' and [[Blind Harry]]'s ''[[The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace|The Wallace]]'', which blended [[Romance (heroic literature)|historical romance]] with the [[chronicle|verse chronicle]]. They were probably influenced by Scots versions of popular French romances that were also produced in the period, including ''[[The Buik of Alexander]]'', ''[[Lancelot|Launcelot o the Laik]]'', ''The Porteous of Noblenes'' by [[Gilbert Hay (poet)|Gilbert Hay]].<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/>

Much Middle Scots literature was produced by [[makars]], poets with links to the royal court, which included [[James I of Scotland|James I]], who wrote the extended poem ''[[The Kingis Quair]]''. Many of the makars had university education and so were also connected with the [[Mother Church|Kirk]]. However, [[William Dunbar]]'s (1460–1513) ''[[Lament for the Makaris]]'' (c. 1505) provides evidence of a wider tradition of secular writing outside of Court and Kirk now largely lost.<ref>A. Grant, ''Independence and Nationhood, Scotland 1306–1469'' (Baltimore: Edward Arnold, 1984), pp. 102–3.</ref> Writers such as Dunbar, [[Robert Henryson]], [[Walter Kennedy (poet)|Walter Kennedy]] and [[Gavin Douglas]] have been seen as creating a golden age in Scottish poetry.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/> Major works include [[Richard Holland]]'s satire the ''[[Buke of the Howlat]]'' (c. 1448).<ref name=Lynch2001pp117-18/> Dunbar  produced satires, lyrics, invectives and dream visions that established the vernacular as a flexible medium for poetry of any kind. [[Robert Henryson]] (c. 1450-c. 1505), re-worked Medieval and Classical sources, such as [[Chaucer]] and [[Aesop]] in works such as his ''Testament of Cresseid'' and ''The Morall Fabillis''. [[Gavin Douglas]] (1475–1522), who became [[Bishop of Dunkeld]], injected [[Humanism|Humanist]] concerns and classical sources into his poetry.<ref name=vanHeijnsbergen2001pp129-30>T. van Heijnsbergen, "Culture: 9 Renaissance and Reformation: poetry to 1603", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp.&nbsp;129–30.</ref> Much of their work survives in a single collection. The [[Bannatyne Manuscript]] was collated by [[George Bannatyne]] (1545–1608) around 1560 and contains the work of many Scots poets who would otherwise be unknown.<ref name=Lynch2001pp117-18>M. Lynch, "Culture: 3 Medieval", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp.&nbsp;117–8.</ref>

In the late fifteenth century, Scots prose also began to develop as a genre. Although there are earlier fragments of original Scots prose, such as the ''Auchinleck Chronicle'',<ref>[[Thomas Thomson (advocate)|Thomas Thomson]] ed., ''[https://archive.org/stream/auchinleckchron00thomgoog#page/n1/mode/1up Auchinleck Chronicle]'' (Edinburgh, 1819).</ref> the first complete surviving work is John Ireland's ''The Meroure of Wyssdome'' (1490).<ref>J. Martin, ''Kingship and Love in Scottish poetry, 1424–1540'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), {{ISBN|0-7546-6273-X}}, p. 111.</ref> There were also prose translations of French books of chivalry that survive from the 1450s, including ''The Book of the Law of Armys'' and the ''Order of Knychthode'' and the treatise ''[[Secretum Secretorum|Secreta Secetorum]]'', an Arabic work believed to be Aristotle's advice to [[Alexander the Great]].<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/> The landmark work in the reign of [[James IV of Scotland|James IV]] was [[Gavin Douglas]]'s version of [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'', the ''[[Eneados]]'', which was the first complete translation of a major classical text in an [[Anglic languages|Anglic]] language, finished in 1513, but overshadowed by the disaster at Flodden in the same year.<ref name="Wormald1991pp60-7"/>

==Golden age==
{{See also|Literature in early modern Scotland}}
[[File:Portrait of James I of England and James VI of Scotland.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[James I of England|James VI]] in 1585, aged 19. He promoted poetry in his native Scots but abandoned it after he acceded to the English throne in 1603]]
As a patron of poets and authors [[James V of Scotland|James V]] (r. 1513–42) supported William Stewart and [[John Bellenden]], who translated the Latin ''History of Scotland'' compiled in 1527 by [[Hector Boece]], into verse and prose.<ref name=Brownetalpp256-7/> [[David Lyndsay]] (c. 1486 – 1555), diplomat and the head of the [[Lyon Court]], was a prolific poet. He wrote elegiac narratives, romances and satires.<ref name=vanHeijnsbergen2001pp129-30/> From the 1550s, in the reign of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]] (r. 1542–67) and the minority of her son [[James VI of Scotland|James VI]] (r. 1567–1625), cultural pursuits were limited by the lack of a royal court and by political turmoil. The Kirk, heavily influenced by [[Calvinism]], also discouraged poetry that was not devotional in nature. Nevertheless, poets from this period included [[Richard Maitland]] of Lethington (1496–1586), who produced meditative and satirical verses in the style of Dunbar; [[John Rolland]] (fl. 1530–75), who wrote allegorical satires in the tradition of Douglas and courtier and minister [[Alexander Hume]] (c. 1556–1609), whose corpus of work includes nature poetry and [[Epistolary poem|epistolary verse]]. [[Alexander Scott (16th-century poet)|Alexander Scott]]'s (?1520–82/3) use of short verse designed to be sung to music, opened the way for the Castilan poets of James VI's adult reign.<ref name=vanHeijnsbergen2001pp129-30/>

From the mid sixteenth century, written Scots was increasingly influenced by the developing [[Standard English]] of Southern England due to developments in royal and political interactions with England.<ref>J. Corbett, D. McClure and J. Stuart-Smith, "A Brief History of Scots" in J. Corbett, D. McClure and J. Stuart-Smith, eds, ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scots'' (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2003), {{ISBN|0-7486-1596-2}}, p. 10ff.</ref> The English supplied books and distributing Bibles and Protestant literature in the [[Scottish lowlands|Lowlands]] when they invaded in 1547.<ref>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0-7486-0276-3}}, pp.&nbsp;102–4.</ref> With the increasing influence and availability of books printed in England, most writing in Scotland came to be done in the English fashion.<ref>J. Corbett, D. McClure and J. Stuart-Smith, "A Brief History of Scots" in J. Corbett, D. McClure and J. Stuart-Smith, eds, ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scots'' (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2003), {{ISBN|0-7486-1596-2}}, p. 11.</ref> Leading figure of the Scottish Reformation [[John Knox]] was accused of being hostile to Scots because he wrote in a Scots-inflected English developed while in exile at the English court.<ref name=Carruthers2009p44>G. Carruthers, ''Scottish Literature'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|074863309X}}, p. 44.</ref>

In the 1580s and 1590s James VI strongly promoted the literature of the country of his birth in Scots. His treatise, ''[[Reulis and Cautelis|Some Rules and Cautions to be Observed and Eschewed in Scottish Prosody]]'', published in 1584 when he was aged 18, was both a poetic manual and a description of the poetic tradition in his mother tongue, to which he applied Renaissance principles.<ref>R. D. S. Jack, "Poetry under King James VI", in C. Cairns, ed., ''The History of Scottish Literature'' (Aberdeen University Press, 1988), vol. 1, {{ISBN|0-08-037728-9}}, pp. 126–7.</ref> He became patron and member of a loose circle of Scottish [[Jacobean era|Jacobean]] court poets and musicians, later called the [[Castalian Band]], which included [[William Fowler (makar)|William Fowler]] (c. 1560 – 1612), [[John Stewart of Baldynneis]] (c. 1545 – c. 1605), and [[Alexander Montgomerie]] (c. 1550 – 1598).<ref>R. D. S. Jack, ''Alexander Montgomerie'' (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1985), {{ISBN|0-7073-0367-2}}, pp. 1–2.</ref> They translated key Renaissance texts and produced poems using French forms, including [[sonnet]]s and short sonnets, for narrative, nature description, satire and meditations on love. Later poets that followed in this vein included [[William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling|William Alexander]] (c. 1567 – 1640), Alexander Craig (c. 1567 – 1627) and [[Robert Aytoun|Robert Ayton]] (1570–1627).<ref name=vanHeijnsbergen2001pp129-30/> By the late 1590s the king's championing of his native Scottish tradition was to some extent diffused by the prospect of inheriting of the English throne.<ref>R. D. S. Jack, "Poetry under King James VI", in C. Cairns, ed., ''The History of Scottish Literature'' (Aberdeen University Press, 1988), vol. 1, {{ISBN|0-08-037728-9}}, p. 137.</ref>

In drama Lyndsay produced an interlude at [[Linlithgow Palace]] for the king and queen thought to be a version of his play ''[[A Satire of the Three Estates|The Thrie Estaitis]]'' in 1540, which satirised the corruption of church and state, and which is the only complete play to survive from before the Reformation.<ref name=Brownetalpp256-7>I. Brown, T. Owen Clancy, M. Pittock, S. Manning, eds, ''The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: From Columba to the Union, until 1707'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0-7486-1615-2}}, pp. 256–7.</ref> The anonymous ''The Maner of the Cyring of ane Play'' (before 1568)<ref name=vanHeijnsbergen2001pp127-8>T. van Heijnsbergen, "Culture: 7 Renaissance and Reformation (1460–1660): literature", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp.&nbsp;127–8.</ref> and ''Philotus'' (published in London in 1603), are isolated examples of surviving plays. The latter is a vernacular Scots comedy of errors, probably designed for court performance for [[Mary, Queen of Scots]] or James VI.<ref name=Carpenter2011p15>S. Carpenter, "Scottish drama until 1650", in I. Brown, ed., ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011), {{ISBN|0748641076}}, p. 15.</ref>

==Decline==
[[File:Attributed to Abraham van Blijenberch - William Drummond of Hawthornden, 1585 - 1649. Poet - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Drummond of Hawthornden]]]]
Having extolled the virtues of Scots "poesie", after his accession to the English throne, James VI increasingly favoured the language of southern England. In 1611 the Kirk adopted the English [[Authorised King James Version]] of the Bible. In 1617 interpreters were declared no longer necessary in the port of London because Scots and Englishmen were now "not so far different bot ane understandeth ane uther". Jenny Wormald, describes James as creating a "three-tier system, with Gaelic at the bottom and English at the top".<ref name=Wormald1991pp192-3>J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), {{ISBN|0748602763}}, pp. 192–3.</ref> The loss of the court as a centre of patronage in 1603 was a major blow to Scottish literature. A number of Scottish poets, including William Alexander, John Murray and Robert Aytoun accompanied the king to London, where they continued to write,<ref name=Brown2003pp253-4>K. M. Brown, "Scottish identity", in B. Bradshaw and P. Roberts, eds, ''British Consciousness and Identity: The Making of Britain, 1533–1707'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), {{ISBN|0521893615}}, pp. 253–3.</ref> but they soon began to [[anglicise]] their written language.<ref>M. Spiller, "Poetry after the Union 1603–1660" in C. Cairns, ed., ''The History of Scottish Literature'' (Aberdeen University Press, 1988), vol. 1, {{ISBN|0-08-037728-9}}, pp. 141–52.</ref> James's characteristic role as active literary participant and patron in the English court made him a defining figure for English Renaissance poetry and drama, which would reach a pinnacle of achievement in his reign,<ref>N. Rhodes, "Wrapped in the Strong Arm of the Union: Shakespeare and King James" in W. Maley and A. Murphy, eds, ''Shakespeare and Scotland'' (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0-7190-6636-0}}, pp. 38–9.</ref> but his patronage for the [[Stylistics (linguistics)|high style]] in his own Scottish tradition largely became sidelined.<ref>R. D. S. Jack, "Poetry under King James VI", in C. Cairns, ed., ''The History of Scottish Literature'' (Aberdeen University Press, 1988), vol. 1, {{ISBN|0-08-037728-9}}, pp. 137–8.</ref> The only significant court poet to continue to work in Scotland after the king's departure was [[William Drummond of Hawthornden]] (1585–1649),<ref name=vanHeijnsbergen2001pp127-8/> and he largely abandoned Scots for a form of court English.<ref>J. Corbett, ''Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation: A History of Literary Translation Into Scots'' (Multilingual Matters, 1999), {{ISBN|1853594318}}, p. 77.</ref> The most influential Scottish literary figure of the mid-seventeenth century, [[Thomas Urquhart]] of Cromarty (1611 – c. 1660), who translated ''The Works of Rabelais'', worked largely in English, only using occasional Scots for effect.<ref>J. Corbett, ''Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation: A History of Literary Translation Into Scots'' (Multilingual Matters, 1999), {{ISBN|1853594318}}, p. 89.</ref> In the late seventeenth century it looked as if Scots might disappear as a literary language.<ref>J. Corbett, ''Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation: A History of Literary Translation Into Scots'' (Multilingual Matters, 1999), {{ISBN|1853594318}}, p. 94.</ref>

==Revival==
{{See also|Scottish literature in the eighteenth century}}
After the [[Acts of Union 1707|Union in 1707]] and the shift of political power to England, the use of Scots was discouraged by many in authority and education.<ref>C. Jones, ''A Language Suppressed: The Pronunciation of the Scots Language in the 18th Century'' (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1993), p. vii.</ref> Intellectuals of the [[Scottish Enlightenment]] like [[David Hume]] and [[Adam Smith]], went to great lengths to get rid of every Scotticism from their writings.<ref>Ian Simpson Ross, [https://books.google.com/books?id=J38Ll9DUsUAC&dq=David+Hume+and+Adam+Smith+Scotticism&pg=PT174 ''The Life of Adam Smith''] (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd edn., 2010), {{ISBN|0191613940}}.</ref> Following such examples, many well-off Scots took to learning English through the activities of those such as [[Thomas Sheridan (actor)|Thomas Sheridan]], who in 1761 gave a series of lectures on English [[elocution]]. Charging a [[Guinea (British coin)|guinea]] at a time (about £{{formatnum:{{inflation|UK|1.05|1761|r=-2}}}} in today's money,{{inflation-fn|UK}}) they were attended by over 300 men, and he was made a [[:wikt:freeman|freeman]] of the City of [[Edinburgh]]. Following this, some of the city's intellectuals formed the ''Select Society for Promoting the Reading and Speaking of the English Language in Scotland''. From such eighteenth-century activities grew [[Scottish English|Scottish Standard English]].<ref>J. Corbett, D. McClure and J. Stuart-Smith, "A Brief History of Scots" in J. Corbett, D. McClure and J. Stuart-Smith, eds, ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scots'' (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2003), {{ISBN|0-7486-1596-2}}, p. 13.</ref> Scots remained the vernacular of many rural communities and the growing number of urban working class Scots.<ref>J. Corbett, D. McClure and J. Stuart-Smith, "A Brief History of Scots" in J. Corbett, D. McClure and J. Stuart-Smith, eds, ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scots'' (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2003), {{ISBN|0-7486-1596-2}}, p. 14.</ref>

[[Image:Allan-Ramsay.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]] who led a vernacular revival in the eighteenth century]]
[[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]] (1686–1758) was the most important literary figure of the era, often described as leading a "vernacular revival". He laid the foundations of a reawakening of interest in older Scottish literature, publishing ''The Ever Green'' (1724), a collection that included many major poetic works of the Stewart period.<ref>R. M. Hogg, ''The Cambridge History of the English Language'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), {{ISBN|0521264782}}, p. 39.</ref> He led the trend for [[pastoral]] poetry, helping to develop the [[Habbie stanza]], which would be later be used by Robert Burns as a [[poetic form]].<ref>{{Citation| author=J. Buchan| title=Crowded with Genius| publisher=Harper Collins| year=2003| isbn=0-06-055888-1| page=[https://archive.org/details/crowdedwithgeniu00buch/page/311 311]| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/crowdedwithgeniu00buch/page/311}}</ref> His ''Tea-Table Miscellany'' (1724–37) contained poems old Scots folk material, his own poems in the folk style and "gentilizings" of Scots poems in the English neo-classical style.<ref>"Poetry in Scots: Brus to Burns" in C. R. Woodring and J. S. Shapiro, eds, ''The Columbia History of British Poetry'' (Columbia University Press, 1994), {{ISBN|0585041555}}, p. 100.</ref> Ramsay was part of a community of poets working in Scots and English. These included [[William Hamilton (comic poet)|William Hamilton of Gilbertfield]] (c. 1665 – 1751), Robert Crawford (1695–1733), [[Alexander Ross (poet)|Alexander Ross]] (1699–1784), the Jacobite [[William Hamilton (Jacobite poet)|William Hamilton]] of Bangour (1704–1754), socialite [[Alison Rutherford|Alison Rutherford Cockburn]] (1712–1794), and poet and playwright [[James Thomson (poet, born 1700)|James Thomson]] (1700–1748).<ref>C. Maclachlan, ''Before Burns'' (Canongate Books, 2010), {{ISBN|1847674666}}, pp. ix–xviii.</ref> Also important was [[Robert Fergusson]] (1750–1774), a largely urban poet, recognised in his short lifetime as the unofficial "laureate" of Edinburgh. His most famous work was his unfinished long poem, ''Auld Reekie'' (1773), dedicated to the life of the city. His borrowing from a variety of dialects prefigured the creation of [[Synthetic Scots]] in the twentieth century<ref>J. Corbett, ''Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation: A History of Literary Translation Into Scots'' (Multilingual Matters, 1999), {{ISBN|1853594318}}, p. 106.</ref> and he would be a major influence on [[Robert Burns]].<ref>R. Crawford, ''Scotland's Books: a History of Scottish Literature'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0-19-538623-X}}, p. 335.</ref>

Burns (1759–1796), an Ayrshire poet and lyricist, is widely regarded as the [[national poet]] of Scotland and a major figure in the Romantic movement. As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected [[Folk music|folk songs]] from across Scotland, often revising or [[Literary adaptation|adapting]] them. His poem (and song) "[[Auld Lang Syne]]" is often sung at [[Hogmanay]] (the last day of the year), and "[[Scots Wha Hae]]" served for a long time as an unofficial [[national anthem]] of the country.<ref>{{Citation |author=L. McIlvanney |date=Spring 2005 |title=Hugh Blair, Robert Burns, and the Invention of Scottish Literature |journal=Eighteenth-Century Life |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages= 25–46|doi=10.1215/00982601-29-2-25}}</ref> Burns's poetry drew upon a substantial familiarity with and knowledge of [[Classics|Classical]], [[Bible|Biblical]], and [[English literature]], as well as the Scottish [[Makar]] tradition.<ref name=Literary-Style>Robert Burns: "[http://www.blurbwire.com/topics/Robert_Burns::sub::Literary_Style Literary Style] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016215809/http://www.blurbwire.com/topics/Robert_Burns::sub::Literary_Style |date=2013-10-16 }}", retrieved 24 September 2010.</ref> Burns was skilled in writing not only in the [[Scots language]] but also in the [[Scottish English]] [[dialect]] of the [[English language]]. Some of his works, such as "Love and Liberty" (also known as "The Jolly Beggars"), are written in both Scots and English for various effects.<ref name=some-hae-meat>Robert Burns: "[http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/robert-burns-some-hae-meat/some hae meat]", retrieved 24 September 2010.</ref> His themes included [[republicanism]], [[Radicalism (historical)|radical]]ism, [[Scottish patriotism]], [[Anti-clericalism|anticlericalism]], [[social class|class]] inequalities, [[gender roles]], commentary on the Scottish Kirk of his time, [[Scottish cultural identity]], [[poverty]], [[Human sexuality|sexuality]], and the beneficial aspects of popular socialising.<ref name=Address-to-the-Kibble>Red Star Cafe: "[http://redstarcafe.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/address-to-the-kibble/Address to the Kibble]." Retrieved 24 September 2010.</ref>

==Marginalisation==
{{See also|Scottish literature in the eighteenth century}}
Scottish poetry is often seen as entering a period of decline in the nineteenth century, with Scots-language poetry criticised for its use of parochial dialect.<ref name=Mandell2007pp301-07>L. Mandell, "Nineteenth-century Scottish poetry", in I. Brown, ed., ''The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: Enlightenment, Britain and empire (1707–1918)'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0748624813}}, pp. 301–07.</ref> Conservative and anti-radical [[Burns club]]s sprang up around Scotland, filled with members that praised a sanitised version of [[Robert Burns]]' life and work and poets who fixated on the "Burns stanza" as a form.<ref name=Carruthers2009pp58-9>G. Carruthers, ''Scottish Literature'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|074863309X}}, pp. 58–9.</ref> Scottish poetry has been seen as descending into infantalism as exemplified by the highly popular [[Whistle Binkie]] anthologies, which appeared 1830–90 and which notoriously included in one volume "[[Wee Willie Winkie]]" by [[William Miller (poet)|William Miler]] (1810–1872).<ref name=Carruthers2009pp58-9/> This tendency has been seen as leading late-nineteenth-century Scottish poetry into the sentimental parochialism of the [[Kailyard school]].<ref Name=LindsayandDuncan2005ppxxxiv-xxxv>M. Lindsay and L. Duncan, ''The Edinburgh Book of Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), {{ISBN|074862015X}}, pp. xxxiv–xxxv.</ref> Poets from the lower social orders who used Scots included the weaver-poet [[William Thom (poet)|William Thom]] (1799–1848), whose his "A chieftain unknown to the Queen" (1843) combined simple Scots language with a social critique of [[Queen Victoria]]'s visit to Scotland.<ref name=Mandell2007pp301-07/>

[[Walter Scott]] (1771–1832), the leading literary figure of the era began his career as a ballad collector and became the most popular poet in Britain and then its most successful novelist.<ref>A. Calder, ''Byron and Scotland: Radical Or Dandy?'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 1989), {{ISBN|0389208736}}, p. 112.</ref> His works were largely written in English and Scots was largely confined to dialogue or interpolated narrative, in a model that would be followed by other novelists such as [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]] (1779–1839) and later [[Robert Louis Stevenson]] (1850–1894).<ref name=Carruthers2009pp58-9/> [[James Hogg]] (1770–1835) worked largely in Scots, providing a counterpart to Scott's work in English. Popular Scottish newspapers regularly included articles and commentary in the vernacular.<ref>William Donaldson, ''The Language of the People: Scots Prose from the Victorian Revival'', Aberdeen University Press 1989.</ref>

There was an interest in translations into Scots from other Germanic languages, such as Danish, Swedish and German. These included [[Robert Jamieson (antiquary)|Robert Jamieson]]'s (c. 1780–1844) ''Popular Ballads And Songs From Tradition, Manuscripts And Scarce Editions With Translations Of Similar Pieces From The Ancient Danish Language'' and ''[[Illustrations of Northern Antiquities]]'' (1814) and
[[Robert Williams Buchanan]]'s (1841–1901) ''Ballad Stories of the Affections'' (1866).<ref>J. Corbett, ''Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation: A History of Literary Translation Into Scots'' (Multilingual Matters, 1999), {{ISBN|1853594318}}, pp. 116.</ref>

==Twentieth-century renaissance==
{{See also|Literature in modern Scotland|Scottish Renaissance}}
[[File:Edwin Morgan by Alex Boyd.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Edwin Morgan (poet)|Edwin Morgan]], poet, playwright and the first official [[Scots Makar]]]]
In the early twentieth century there was a new surge of activity in Scottish literature, influenced by [[modernism]] and resurgent nationalism, known as the Scottish Renaissance.<ref name=VisitingArtsScotland>{{Citation|title=The Scottish 'Renaissance' and beyond|journal=Visiting Arts: Scotland: Cultural Profile|url=http://www.culturalprofiles.net/scotland/Directories/Scotland_Cultural_Profile/-5403.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930034437/http://www.culturalprofiles.net/scotland/Directories/Scotland_Cultural_Profile/-5403.html|archive-date=30 September 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The leading figure in the movement was [[Hugh MacDiarmid]] (the pseudonym of Christopher Murray Grieve, 1892–1978). MacDiarmid attempted to revive the Scots language as a medium for serious literature in poetic works including "[[A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle]]" (1936), developing a form of Synthetic Scots that combined different regional dialects and archaic terms.<ref name=VisitingArtsScotland/> Other writers that emerged in this period, and are often treated as part of the movement, include the poets [[Edwin Muir]] (1887–1959) and [[William Soutar]] (1898–1943), who pursued an exploration of identity, rejecting nostalgia and parochialism and engaging with social and political issues.<ref name=VisitingArtsScotland/> Some writers that emerged after the Second World War followed MacDiarmid by writing in Scots, including [[Robert Garioch]] (1909–1981) and [[Sydney Goodsir Smith]] (1915–1975). The Glaswegian poet [[Edwin Morgan (poet)|Edwin Morgan]] (1920–2010) became known for translations of works from a wide range of European languages. He was also the first [[Scots Makar]] (the official [[national poet]]), appointed by the inaugural Scottish government in 2004.<ref>{{Citation| title =The Scots Makar| publisher =The Scottish Government| date =16 February 2004| url =http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2004/02/5075| access-date =2007-10-28| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120204042020/http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2004/02/5075| archive-date =4 February 2012| url-status =dead}}</ref> [[Alexander Gray (poet)|Alexander Gray]] was an academic and poet, but is chiefly remembered for this translations into Scots from the German and Danish ballad traditions into Scots, including ''Arrows. A Book of German Ballads and Folksongs Attempted in Scots'' (1932) and ''Four-and-Forty. A Selection of Danish Ballads Presented in Scots'' (1954).<ref>J. Corbett, ''Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation: A History of Literary Translation Into Scots'' (Multilingual Matters, 1999), {{ISBN|1853594318}}, pp. 161–4.</ref>

The generation of poets that grew up in the postwar period included [[Douglas Dunn]] (born 1942), whose work has often seen a coming to terms with class and national identity within the formal structures of poetry and commenting on contemporary events, as in ''Barbarians'' (1979) and ''Northlight'' (1988). His most personal work is contained in the collection of ''Elegies'' (1985), which deal with the death of his first wife from cancer.<ref name=Princetonpp1276-9>"Scottish poetry" in S. Cushman, C. Cavanagh, J. Ramazani and P. Rouzer, eds, ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition'' (Princeton University Press, 2012), {{ISBN|1400841429}}, pp. 1276–9.</ref> [[Tom Leonard (poet)|Tom Leonard]] (born 1944), works in the [[Glasgow patter|Glaswegian dialect]], pioneering the working class voice in Scottish poetry.<ref name=Carruthers2009pp67-9>G. Carruthers, ''Scottish Literature'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|074863309X}}, pp. 67–9.</ref> [[Liz Lochhead]] (born 1947) also explored the lives of working-class people of Glasgow, but added an appreciation of female voices within a sometimes male dominated society.<ref name=Princetonpp1276-9/> She also adapted classic texts into Scots, with versions of [[Molière]]'s ''[[Tartuffe]]'' (1985) and ''[[The Misanthrope]]'' (1973–2005), while Edwin Morgan translated '' [[Cyrano de Bergerac]]'' (1992).<ref>J. MacDonald, "Theatre in Scotland" in B. Kershaw and P. Thomson, ''The Cambridge History of British Theatre: Volume 3'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), {{ISBN|0521651328}}, p. 223.</ref>

The Scottish Renaissance increasingly concentrated on the novel, particularly after the 1930s when Hugh MacDiarmid was living in isolation in Shetland and many of these were written in English and not Scots. However, George Blake pioneered the exploration of the experiences of the working class in his major works such as ''The Shipbuilders'' (1935). Lewis Grassic Gibbon, the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell, produced one of the most important realisations of the ideas of the Scottish Renaissance in his trilogy ''[[A Scots Quair]]'' (''[[Sunset Song]]'', 1932, ''Cloud Howe'', 1933 and ''Grey Granite'', 1934), which mixed different Scots dialects with the narrative voice.<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9>C. Craig, "Culture: modern times (1914–): the novel", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp.&nbsp;157–9.</ref> Other works that investigated the working class included James Barke's (1905–1958), ''Major Operation'' (1936) and ''The Land of the Leal'' (1939) and [[J. F. Hendry]]'s (1912–1986) ''Fernie Brae'' (1947).<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9/>

From the 1980s Scottish literature enjoyed another major revival, particularly associated with a group of Glasgow writers focused around meetings in the house of critic, poet and teacher [[Philip Hobsbaum]] (1932–2005). Also important in the movement was [[Peter Kravitz]], editor of [[Birlinn (publisher)|Polygon Books]].<ref name=VisitingArtsScotland/> These included [[Alasdair Gray]] (born 1934), whose epic ''[[Lanark: A Life in Four Books|Lanark]]'' (1981) built on the [[Proletarian literature|working class novel]] to explore realistic and fantastic narratives. [[James Kelman]]’s (born 1946) ''The Busconductor Hines'' (1984) and ''[[A Disaffection]]'' (1989) were among the first novels to fully utilise a working class Scots voice as the main narrator.<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9/> In the 1990s major, prize winning, Scottish novels that emerged from this movement included Gray's ''[[Poor Things]]'' (1992), which investigated the capitalist and imperial origins of Scotland in an inverted version of the [[Frankenstein]] myth,<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9/> [[Irvine Welsh]]'s (born 1958), ''[[Trainspotting (novel)|Trainspotting]]'' (1993), which dealt with the drug addiction in contemporary Edinburgh, [[Alan Warner (novelist)|Alan Warner]]’s (born 1964) ''[[Morvern Callar]]'' (1995), dealing with death and authorship and Kelman's ''[[How Late It Was, How Late]]'' (1994), a [[stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|stream of consciousness]] novel dealing with a life of petty crime.<ref name=VisitingArtsScotland/> These works were linked by a reaction to [[Thatcherism]] that was sometimes overtly political, and explored marginal areas of experience using vivid vernacular language (including expletives and Scots dialect).<ref name=VisitingArtsScotland/> ''[[But'n'Ben A-Go-Go]]'' (2000) by [[Matthew Fitt]] is the first [[cyberpunk]] novel written entirely in Scots.<ref>J. Corbett, "Past and future language: Matthew Fitt and Iain M. Banks" in C. McCracken-Flesher, ed., ''Scotland as Science Fiction'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012), {{ISBN|1611483743}}, p. 121.</ref> One major outlet for literature in [[Lallans]] (Lowland Scots) is ''Lallans'', the magazine of the Scots Language Society.<ref>J. Corbett, ''Language and Scottish Literature'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997), {{ISBN|0748608265}}, p. 16.</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Scottish literature}}
{{European literature}}

[[Category:Scots-language literature| ]]
[[Category:Scottish literature]]
[[Category:European literature]]
[[Category:History of literature in Scotland]]
[[Category:Scots language]]