More had been written by Tannahill to accompany traditional Scottish airs, and some from Ireland too. Music The statue of the poet by David Watson StevensonĪs well as R.A.Smith's settings, other songs were set by John Ross, the Aberdeen organist. Later collections of Tannahill's work, augmented by copies of poems preserved by his friends and associates, followed soon after. In addition, there was a large selection in Motherwell's Harp of Renfrewshire, dating from 1819 and several times reprinted. But it was not long after his death that such editions began to come from the press: in 18, with a reprint of the original collection in 1822. It was for this reason that he made unsuccessful attempts to get his work accepted commercially. The book had been published by subscription, as was common at the time, but the poet later objected to this as demeaning. The title piece was a dramatic fragment in dialect couplets, serving as frame for accompanying lyrics, of which Tannahill (but few others) thought highly. The 1807 collection had been titled The soldier's return, a Scottish interlude in two acts, with other poems and songs. Poverty is a frequent theme in his work, including that brought about by the Napoleonic Wars for returning soldiers and sailors or their widows. Here the tartan-clad Genius of Scotland enters the assembly of the gods on Olympus and begs for a national bard, which is immediately granted with the birth of Burns. Among the odes are three written for the Burns anniversary, of which the first is a bravura performance. Using both Scots and English, he experimented with many forms: tales, fables, epitaphs, verse epistles, odes, besides the body of dialect song on which his reputation mainly rests. His interest in poetry was of long standing and his reading was almost solely confined to it. Most of Tannahill's poetry dates from his return home in 1802, when he composed as he worked at the loom, ‘weaving threads and verses alternately’. Eventually he burned all his manuscripts and drowned himself in a culverted stream under the Paisley Canal, where he was found because he had left his jacket at the mouth of the tunnel. But in 1810, following the rejection of an augmented collection of his work by publishers in Greenock and Edinburgh, he fell into a despondency aggravated by fears for his own health. Out on a walk some time later, he heard a girl in a field singing his "We'll meet beside the dusky glen on yon burnside" and was greatly encouraged. His work now began to appear in periodicals such as The Scots Magazine and in 1807 he published a small collection of poems and songs in an edition of 900 copies which sold out in a few weeks. While taking part in the literary life of the town, he helped found the Paisley Burns Club and became its secretary. In the years which followed, his interest in poetry and music blossomed after he became acquainted with the composer Robert Archibald Smith, who set some of his songs in the Scots language to music. As things fell out, however, his mother was to outlive him by thirteen years. As he reported in a letter to a friend, "My brother Hugh and I are all that remain at home, with our old mother, bending under age and frailty and but seven years back, nine of us used to sit down at dinner together." Then Hugh married and Robert was left the sole support, making a resolution which he records in a touching but substandard poem in English, "The Filial Vow". His father died soon after his return and he cared for his infirm mother. He returned in late 1801 to support his family. With his apprenticeship completed, Tannahill left Paisley in late 1779 to work in Bolton, Lancashire. It was during this time that he began to show an interest in poetry. On leaving school at age 12, he was apprenticed to his father as a handloom weaver. Tannahill had a delicate constitution and a limp, due to a slight deformity in his right leg. Soon after his birth the family moved to a newly built cottage in nearby Queen Street, which became both family home and weaving shop. Tannahill was born in Castle Street in Paisley to Janet (née Pollock) and James Tannahill, a silk gauze weaver. Known as the 'Weaver Poet', he wrote poetry in English and lyrics in Scots in the wake of Robert Burns. Robert Tannahill (3 June 1774 – ) was a Scottish poet of labouring class origin. For the Scottish footballer, see Robert Tannahill (footballer).Įngraving from the Biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen (1875) Robert Tannahill as appearing on the Scott Monument For the American philanthropist, see Robert Hudson Tannahill.
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