Robert Anderson (poet)
Encyclopedia
Robert Anderson was an English Cumbrian poet.
He was born in Carlisle, 1 February 1770. He was at first sent to a charity school supported by the dean and chapter of his native city, and afterwards he attended the Quaker School of Carlisle, taught by Isaac Ritson. This was the sum of his educational advantages. At ten years of age he began to earn his living as an assistant to a calico printer, and somewhat later he was bound apprentice to a pattern drawer in Carlisle. In pursuance of his calling he spent five years in London, and there the gratification of hearing songs sung at Vauxhall
seems first to have fired his ambition as a poet. His earliest effort was entitled ‘Lucy Gray
;’ and was a poetic rendering of a story he had heard from a Northumbria
n rustic. Lucy had been the village beauty, who died in her seventeenth year, and was soon followed by her lover. The simple story probably suggested to William Wordsworth
the beautiful lines (written in 1799 and published first in 1800) beginning:She dwelt among the untrodden ways.
The name and metre of Wordsworth's ‘Lucy Gray’ seem also to have been taken from a poem of Anderson's. In 1798 Anderson published this poem in his first volume, but it was not until seven years later that he issued the ballads in the Cumbrian dialect by which his name is known, though he wrote and published his popular ballad, ‘Betty Brown,’ in 1801. Anderson was by no means the first to write verse in the dialect of his district. Thomas Sanderson gives the name of Josiah Relph, of Sebergham, as that of the first Cumbrian poet who wrote in the dialect, and Sir F. Madden mentions a Rev. Robert Nelson, of Great Salkeld, as contemporary with Relph. Certainly Susanna Blamire, Ewan Clarke, and Mark Lonsdale, as well as Josiah Relph, were anterior to Anderson.
The humour of Anderson placed him ahead of all competitors in the esteem of the peasantry. Anderson drew his materials from real life, was much feared for his personal attacks, had a keen eye for the ludicrous, and pictured with fidelity the ale-drinking, guzzling, and cock-fighting side of the character of the Cumbrian farm labourer. Perhaps his best dialect poems are ‘The Impatient Lass,’ ‘King Roger,’ ‘Will and Kate,’ ‘The Bashfu' Wooer,’ ‘Lae Stephen,’ ‘The Lass abuin Thirty,’ and ‘Jenny's Complaint.’ These poems are certainly destitute of those qualities which were supposed to place Anderson by the side of Burns, but some of them are made interesting by a vein of true rustic poetry, and all are valuable for the picture they afford of country manners and customs that are now almost, if not quite, obsolete. Late in life Anderson fell into habits of intemperance, and eventually into extreme poverty, and was haunted by the fear of ending his days in St. Mary's workhouse. He died in Carlisle 26 Sept. 1833. The portrait prefixed to one of the volumes of Sidney Gilpin's anthologies of Cumbrian songs shows a refined face of the cast of that of Wordsworth. The country people still living who remember Anderson describe with a good deal of humour the outbursts of misanthropy that tormented him in his last years. ‘If ye happen'd to say til him, “It's a fine morning, Mr. Anderson,” ten to yan bit his reply wad be, “Dust'e tak me for a fool or a bworn idiot? I kent that lang afooar I saw thee!”’ In 1805 the ‘Cum- brian Ballads’ were published in Wigton
, but the best edition is that in 2 vols. published in Carlisle in 1820.
He was born in Carlisle, 1 February 1770. He was at first sent to a charity school supported by the dean and chapter of his native city, and afterwards he attended the Quaker School of Carlisle, taught by Isaac Ritson. This was the sum of his educational advantages. At ten years of age he began to earn his living as an assistant to a calico printer, and somewhat later he was bound apprentice to a pattern drawer in Carlisle. In pursuance of his calling he spent five years in London, and there the gratification of hearing songs sung at Vauxhall
Vauxhall
-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...
seems first to have fired his ambition as a poet. His earliest effort was entitled ‘Lucy Gray
Lucy Gray
Lucy Gray is the debut full length album from American emo band, Envy On The Coast. The album was released under Matt Galle's Photo Finish Records on August 7, 2007. The album's first single, "Sugar Skulls," is currently on the iTunes Music store. "Mirrors" has also been released as the second single...
;’ and was a poetic rendering of a story he had heard from a Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
n rustic. Lucy had been the village beauty, who died in her seventeenth year, and was soon followed by her lover. The simple story probably suggested to William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
the beautiful lines (written in 1799 and published first in 1800) beginning:She dwelt among the untrodden ways.
The name and metre of Wordsworth's ‘Lucy Gray’ seem also to have been taken from a poem of Anderson's. In 1798 Anderson published this poem in his first volume, but it was not until seven years later that he issued the ballads in the Cumbrian dialect by which his name is known, though he wrote and published his popular ballad, ‘Betty Brown,’ in 1801. Anderson was by no means the first to write verse in the dialect of his district. Thomas Sanderson gives the name of Josiah Relph, of Sebergham, as that of the first Cumbrian poet who wrote in the dialect, and Sir F. Madden mentions a Rev. Robert Nelson, of Great Salkeld, as contemporary with Relph. Certainly Susanna Blamire, Ewan Clarke, and Mark Lonsdale, as well as Josiah Relph, were anterior to Anderson.
The humour of Anderson placed him ahead of all competitors in the esteem of the peasantry. Anderson drew his materials from real life, was much feared for his personal attacks, had a keen eye for the ludicrous, and pictured with fidelity the ale-drinking, guzzling, and cock-fighting side of the character of the Cumbrian farm labourer. Perhaps his best dialect poems are ‘The Impatient Lass,’ ‘King Roger,’ ‘Will and Kate,’ ‘The Bashfu' Wooer,’ ‘Lae Stephen,’ ‘The Lass abuin Thirty,’ and ‘Jenny's Complaint.’ These poems are certainly destitute of those qualities which were supposed to place Anderson by the side of Burns, but some of them are made interesting by a vein of true rustic poetry, and all are valuable for the picture they afford of country manners and customs that are now almost, if not quite, obsolete. Late in life Anderson fell into habits of intemperance, and eventually into extreme poverty, and was haunted by the fear of ending his days in St. Mary's workhouse. He died in Carlisle 26 Sept. 1833. The portrait prefixed to one of the volumes of Sidney Gilpin's anthologies of Cumbrian songs shows a refined face of the cast of that of Wordsworth. The country people still living who remember Anderson describe with a good deal of humour the outbursts of misanthropy that tormented him in his last years. ‘If ye happen'd to say til him, “It's a fine morning, Mr. Anderson,” ten to yan bit his reply wad be, “Dust'e tak me for a fool or a bworn idiot? I kent that lang afooar I saw thee!”’ In 1805 the ‘Cum- brian Ballads’ were published in Wigton
Wigton
Wigton is a small market town and civil parish outside the Lake District, in the administrative county of Cumbria in England, and traditionally in Cumberland. It is the bustling and thriving centre of the Solway Plain, situated between the Caldbeck Fells and the Solway coast...
, but the best edition is that in 2 vols. published in Carlisle in 1820.