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Taylor, Frederick Winslow
Frederick Winslow Taylor 1856-1915
American efficiency engineer and nonfiction writer.
A mechanical engineer by trade, Taylor is generally considered the father of scientific management. Dissatisfied with what he perceived as a lack of efficiency among American workers, Taylor began a series of time management studies that resulted in his best-known work, The Principles of Scientific Management (1911), in which he set forth a system of efficient work that eventually was adopted by managers throughout the United States, most notably Henry Ford, who used Taylor's principles in his automobile factories. As the ideas outlined in the Principles spread from the workplace to the larger cultural sphere, Taylorism became one of the most influential social forces in twentieth-century American thought, leading ultimately to the modern phenomena of industrial engineering and mass production.
Biographical Information
Taylor was born into a wealthy Philadelphia family in 1856. His father, Franklin Taylor, was an attorney who later in life devoted his time to writing poetry, while his mother, Emily Annette Winslow, instilled in her son her own strong-willed practicality and independence. Groomed from an early age to study law at Harvard University, Taylor decided against entering his father's profession when his eyesight became troublesome, and instead began work in 1874 at the Enterprise Hydraulics Works, a pump manufacturing company in Philadelphia, where he worked as a pattern maker and machinist. In 1878 Taylor moved on to the Midvale Steel Company, working as a common laborer. In 1884 he gained the position of chief engineer and earned a mechanical engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology. Taylor distinguished himself in his early years at Midvale by performing experiments with cutting metals and patenting many inventions. Eventually he turned his attention to the stop-watch time studies and experiments with differential piece rates that would become the basis of his later principles. Taylor left Midvale in 1890 and became general manager at the Manufacturing Investment Company in Philadelphia. Additionally, he worked as an independent engineering consultant and continued patenting his inventions. From 1898 to 1901 Taylor worked as a consultant to the Bethlehem Steel Company in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There he furthered the development of what he called scientific management, performing numerous time-and-motion studies of workers as well as experiments on optimizing the effectiveness of machinery. Taylor was elected president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1906. By then he was devoting most of his time to perfecting his system of management, and in 1910 Taylorism was formally introduced into the American workplace when Taylor gained government contracts to use his system in federal arsenals. Although Taylor had intended his system to ease tensions between employers and workers—because he had measured exactly how much work a person could do in a certain amount of time—he met with extreme opposition from organized labor, which viewed the system as dehumanizing. The issue came to a head in 1911 when workers at the Watertown Arsenal staged a strike. This event resulted in a governmental investigation of scientific management, which concluded that Taylorism was not in the best interest of workers. Business leaders and industrialists nonetheless widely adopted the system of scientific management, in particular Henry Ford, who enthusiastically implemented Taylorism in his automobile factories. The Society to Promote the Science of Management was founded in 1911 to further the cause of Taylorism throughout the industrialized world; after Taylor's death in 1915, the group's name was changed to the Taylor Society to honor what was considered his revolutionary approach to management.
Major Works
Taylor's numerous studies with workers and machinery resulted in his treatise The Principles of Scientific Management. Written as a guide for managers to reorganize the workplace, the Principles delineated a system of worker efficiency based on Taylor's time-and-motion studies and his advancement of the differential piece rate–a method of payment based on a standard rate of time and output. In Taylor's system, work was broken down into minute series of motions performed by each worker, who received detailed instructions and specifications on how to execute each task. Taylor's system accounted for every movement performed throughout the workday and left no room for unforeseen incidents. In this way, the Principles paved the way for the ideal of mass production in industrialized contemporary culture. Taylor originally submitted his Principles to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; when he received no response, he published the work himself. Wide demand led to the 1911 publication of the work in book form by Harper and Brothers. Taylor's Principles drew heavily from two of his earlier papers, both published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers: "A Piece-Rate System" (1895)–in which he reported his conclusions on the piece rate method of worker payment–and Shop Management (1903)–which attempted to redefine the managerial structure in factories, largely through the elimination of the position of foreman and its replacement with a planning department broken into highly specialized administrative units.
Critical Reception
Critics are quick to point out that although Taylor's influence was felt in virtually all industrialized nations, and his methods continue to affect contemporary ideas about work, his theories were rarely accepted and adopted in their entirety. Taylor's principles called for extreme specialization among workers, which many managers considered impractical and overly complex. Additionally, organized labor's campaign against Taylorism made some employers hesitant to endorse it; walkouts were common when Taylorism was introduced into factories. Some critics even contend that Taylor's ideas were not entirely original—that he appears to have borrowed heavily from an unpublished manuscript by his associate Morris L. Cooke, and that results of some of his experiments may have been more fiction than fact. Taylor's conservatism, his scorn of labor unions and what he saw as laziness among workers, and his seemingly quixotic search for perfection in the most minuscule details are frequently cited as evidence of his own feelings of inadequacy, and his principles are considered an attempt to impose order wherever he could in the turbulent early years of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, scientific management permeated twentieth-century society as it ushered in a period of mass production and industrialization previously unseen; Taylorism's wide-reaching effects were even satirized in the Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times. Taylorism continues to influence contemporary work, as management theories rooted in Taylor's ideas persist.
Principal Works
"A Piece-Rate System, Being a Step toward a Partial Solution of the Labor Problem" (essay) 1895
Shop Management (essay) 1903
"On the Art of Cutting Metals" (essay) 1907
The Principles of Scientific Management (nonfiction) 1911
Edgar V. O'Daniel (essay date 1912)
SOURCE: "Paying for Alaska," in Political Science Quarterly, Vol. XXVII, No. 3, September, 1912, pp. 534-536.
[In the following essay, O'Daniel reviews the first edition of The Principles of Scientific Management.]
In his little book [The Principles of Scientific Management], which grew out of a paper prepared for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Mr. Taylor discusses, in a general way, the principles of task management, or, to put it in the words commonly used to describe the author's theme, "efficiency engineering." Although he gives a number of examples of the actual working of the new type of management, he confines his attention for the...
(The entire section is 841 words.)
Milton J. Nadworny (essay date 1955)
SOURCE: Scientific Management and the Unions 1900-1932: A Historical Analysis, Harvard University Press, 1955, 187 p.
[In the following excerpt from his book Scientific Management and the Unions, Nadworny traces the history of theories of scientific management from their roots after the Civil War to the introduction of Taylor's system to American industry and discusses the adaptation of Taylor's methods by his successors, as well as union opposition to scientific management.]
Scientific management was fashioned during the post-Civil War era, when business enterprises were expanding in size and scope, and...
(The entire section is 11033 words.)
Milton J. Nadworny (essay date 1957)
SOURCE: "Frederick Taylor and Frank Gilbreth: Competition in Scientific Management," in Business History Review, Vol. 31, No. 1, Spring, 1957, pp. 23-34.
[In the following essay, Nadworny explains the antagonistic split in the scientific management movement between Taylorites, who favored a stop-watch method of measurement, and adherents to Frank Gilbreth's micromotion technique.]
A century has elapsed since the birth of Frederick W. Taylor, the so-called "Father of Scientific Management," and it has been almost seventy-five years since Taylor began to evolve his management system. Note has been taken, and will continue to be taken, of Taylor's contributions to...
(The entire section is 3975 words.)
L. Urwick and E. F. L. Brech (essay date 1959)
SOURCE: "Frederick Winslow Taylor," in The Making of Scientific Management Volume I: Thirteen Pioneers, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1959, pp. 28-38.
[In the following essay, Urwick and Brech discuss Taylor's life and work.]
Almost half a century after Charles Babbage, the mathematician and philosopher, observing British industry from without, had propounded the essential principles of the scientific approach to business management, F. W. Taylor, an American engineer, arrived at precisely similar conclusions as the hard-won prize of practical experience. There was no plagiarism in Taylor. He never read Babbage. His ideas were his own, wrung by sheer force of...
(The entire section is 3294 words.)
L. Urwick and E. F. L. Brech (essay date 1959)
SOURCE: "The Acceptance of F. W. Taylor by British Industry (1895-1915)," in The Making of Scientific Management Volume II: Management of the British Industry, Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1959, pp. 88-107.
[In the following essay, Urwick and Brech discuss the application of scientific management in British industry, noting opposition to the movement that considered its principles "hideous" and "dehumanising."]
It is remarkable that F. W. Taylor, considered as a pioneer of scientific management, aroused comparatively little practical interest among contemporary British industrial circles, despite the fact that the period was one in which the engineers in this...
(The entire section is 6198 words.)
Hugh G. J. Aitken (essay date 1960)
SOURCE: "The Taylor System," in Taylorism at Watertown Arsenal: Scientific Management in Action 1908-1915, Harvard University Press, 1960, pp. 13-48.
[In the following essay, Aitken provides a detailed analysis of Taylor's system.]
Questioned by Colonel Wheeler about his explanation of the molders' strike, John Frey admitted that workmen sometimes seemed to behave irrationally. "I know," he said, "the fiendish deviltry with which we throw down our things and go out on strike. They deliberately go in in the morning, and say 'Boys, we'll say "No" to this,' and then they take their time, putting away their things or not, and taking their time about things as they go out."...
(The entire section is 11636 words.)
Samuel Haber (essay date 1964)
SOURCE: Efficiency and Uplift: Scientific Management in the Progressive Era 1890-1920, The University of Chicago Press, 1964, 181 p.
[In the following excerpt from his book Efficiency and Uplift, Haber examines Taylor's early leanings toward scientific management, including early events in his life that may have led to his later obsession with systematizing, and explains the practical application of Taylor's system in factories.]
At the summer meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 189S, a small, thin, pernickety engineer named Frederick Winslow Taylor read a paper entitled, "A...
(The entire section is 7996 words.)
Louis W. Fry (essay date 1976)
SOURCE: "The Maligned F. W. Taylor: A Reply to His Many Critics," in The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 1, No. 3, July, 1976, pp. 124-129.
[In the following essay, Fry attempts to answer Taylor's critics, conceding that Taylor's means were not always desirable, but concluding that his goals were indispensible to modern organizational behavior theory.]
Frederick W. Taylor has been criticized and praised by theorists from various schools of organizational thought. Some say his view of man is too simplistic, as are his theories for solving the interaction of man with organization. Others state that he laid the very foundation for the vastly improved productivity of...
(The entire section is 2695 words.)
Peter F. Drucker (essay date 1976)
SOURCE: "The Coming Rediscovery of Scientific Management," in Toward the Next Economics and Other Essays, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1981, pp. 96-106.
[In the following essay, originally published in The Conference Board Record in 1976, Drucker advocates the application of Taylor's principles to what Drucker calls "knowledge work. "]
Everybody "knows" the following "facts" about Frederick Winslow Taylor: His aim was "efficiency," which meant reducing costs and increasing profits. He believed that workers responded primarily to economic incentives. He invented the "speed-up" and the assembly line. He saw only the individual worker, and not the work group. He...
(The entire section is 3284 words.)
Edwin A. Locke (essay date 1982)
SOURCE: "The Ideas of Frederick W. Taylor: An Evaluation," in The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 7, No. 1, January, 1982, pp. 14-24.
[In the following essay, Locke defends Taylor's methods, maintaining that Taylor produced the "most objectively valid" theories in modem thought.]
Few management theorists have been more persistently criticized than has Frederick W. Taylor, the founder of scientific management, despite his being widely recognized as a key figure in the history of management thought (Wren, 1979). Taylor and scientific management frequently were attacked in his own lifetime, prompting, among other responses, Gilbreth's Primer (Gilbreth,...
(The entire section is 6754 words.)
Stephen Wood and John Kelly (essay date 1982)
SOURCE: "Taylorism, Responsible Autonomy and Management Strategy," in On Work: Historical, Comparative and Theoretical Approaches, edited by R. E. Paul, Basil Blackwell, 1988, pp. 173-89.
[In the following essay, originally published in 1982, Wood and Kelly argue in favor of a conservative reading and application of Taylor's method, keeping in mind that Taylor's principles may not be universally practical or desirable.]
A curious feature of much previous discussion of Braverman's Labor and Monopoly Capitalism (1974) has been a marked tendency to portray capitalist management as virtually omniscient. The implementation of management strategy is therefore...
(The entire section is 6904 words.)
Hindy Lauer Schachter (essay date 1989)
SOURCE: Frederick Taylor and the Public Administration Community: A Reevaluation, State University of New York Press, 1989, 175 p.
[In the following excerpt from his book Frederick Taylor and the Public Administration Community, Schachter addresses the major points of Taylor's method as laid out in The Principles of Scientific Management and Shop Management and recounts the reaction to Taylor's ideas during his lifetime.]
Shop Management and The Principles of Scientific Management are the two works that embody Taylor's mature ideas on organizational improvement and...
(The entire section is 11848 words.)
Terry Mulcaire (essay date 1991)
SOURCE: "Progressive Visions of War in 'The Red Badge of Courage' and 'The Principles of Scientific Management'," in American Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 1, March, 1991, pp. 46-72.
[In the following essay, Mulcaire argues that Stephen Crane's depiction of war in The Red Badge of Courage as mechanical and systematic indicates the widespread acceptance at the end of the nineteenth century of Taylor's principles.]
As Henry Fleming turns his back on war at the end of The Red Badge of Courage (1895), Stephen Crane describes Henry's retreat with a biblical allusion that collapses the difference between war and peace. "He came from hot plowshares to prospects of...
(The entire section is 9283 words.)
George Will (essay date 1997)
SOURCE: "Faster Mousetrap," in The New York Times Book Review, June 15, 1997, p. 10.
[In the following essay, Will reviews The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency.]
In November 1910 some railroads were trying to prove, as it had recently become their burden to do, that they merited Federal permission for rate increases. Representing opponents was Louis Brandeis, the future Justice, who questioned railroad officials about their costs. Were new efficiencies in operations an alternative to rate increases? No, said the railroaders. How did they know? Brandeis asked. Trust us, they said.
But Brandeis was in no mood to trust...
(The entire section is 1694 words.)
Further Reading
Copley, Frank Barkley. Frederick W. Taylor: Father of Scientific Management Vol. 2. New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1923, 472 p.
Comprehensive biography of Taylor.
Kakar, Sudhir. Frederick Taylor: A Study in Personality and Innovation. Cambridge, Mass., and London: MIT Press, 1970, 221 p.
Scholarly biography of Taylor and the development of his theories.
Kanigel, Robert. The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency. New York: Viking, 1997, 675 p.
Comprehensive biographical and theoretical study of Taylor.
Wrege, Charles...
(The entire section is 470 words.)


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In the pantheon of American culinary traditions, there are few dishes as iconic as the good old hot dog. And no better time to eat one than during the summer, where they�re a staple at baseball games and cookouts everywhere, and there�s an entire day (July 23rd) in celebration of the frankfurter. But if mustard, ketchup, relish, and onions are as outrageous as your dogs get, prepared to be wowed by these 15 wild dogs from across the country. Octo' Dog� This article originally appeared as on Relish
Location, ST | website.com


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Country: Panama
Serial/Series Title: United States Bureau of Mines Reports
Collection: Technical Report Archive and Image Library
Some Engineering Problems of the Panama Canal in Their Relation to Geology and Topography
Date: August 1915
Creator: MacDonald, Donald F.
Description: Report issued by the Bureau of Mines over issues encountered during construction of the Panama Canal. As stated in the introduction, "this report aims to discuss, from the viewpoint of the mining geologist, the bearing of topographic and geologic conditions on certain problems that arose in the construction of the Panama Canal" (p. 7). This report includes tables, maps, illustrations, and photographs.
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Whether you're visiting Paris for a romantic break or with the intention of doing business, then the Golden Tulip Little Palace, with its idyllic location in the very heart of Paris, offers you a hotel experience unlike any other. All of the best sights of Paris are within easy reach, and the hotel boasts the very best in on-site facilities as well as in-room comforts. Whatever your purpose for visiting Paris, you won't be disappointed with what the hotel has to offer.
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The main pen and ink technques are: 1) stipple (an example of the stipple technique can be seen on the previous page) and; 2) line (an example of the line technique can be seen below).
In a stipple drawing, each stipple should be completely round, and no two stipples should touch. Shading is achieved by increasing the number of stipples in a given area. If using technical pens, sizes 3x0 for stipples and 2x0 for the outline of the specimen, with the illustration planned for a 50% reduction work well. The closer the structure of a specimen is to a viewer, the darker the line delineating that structure should be. The size of the stipple in the shading remains constant.
|Sydney Prentice used the pen and ink thick / thin line (eyelash technique) to prepare this illustration of a fossil whale for Smithsonian curator Remington Kellogg. Prentice used a crowquill dip pen with a flexible nib. The flexible nib allows the artist to vary the thickness of the line by the pressure applied to the pen by the artist.


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Thirty-six percent of those polled said they wanted the Gipper to lead America out of the economic crisis, while 29 percent picked Roosevelt. Thomas Jefferson came in third place with the support of 14 percent of those polled, followed by Roosevelts successor Harry Truman at 8 percent. William Henry Harrison, who was inaugurated in March 1841 and died one month later, came in last with 1 percent support.
Reagan was the pick of 68 percent of Republicans, 16 percent of Democrats and 34 percent of independents surveyed. Sixteen percent of Republicans, 43 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of independents chose Roosevelt.
The poll also found that 68 percent of Americans think Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would make the best Democratic vice presidential candidate if Joe Biden doesnt remain on the ticket next year. When asked what words they thought of when the heard the name Marco Rubio, 25 percent said U.S. Senator while 14 percent said Major League Baseball player and 7 percent said Cuban musician.
The poll was conducted September 28 and October 2 among 1,012 American adults.


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quote:Originally posted by stevew628
Dark Horse is not one of my faves. His voice was so strained, critics at the time called it "Dark Hoarse". LOL
LOL... Yeah, "hoarse", that´s good!!!Poor George, I really think his voice sounds different on that album, but I like "Dark Horse" the song itself, that´s was sung in a unusual way by him, as also was "Simply Shady".


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Democrats: 'No new taxes' a myth in Pa. budget
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Gov. Tom Corbett promised "no new taxes," and with Pennsylvania's new state budget, he said he delivered, but Democrats said not so fast. They took their message to Bethlehem on Monday.
When Corbett signed the new budget late Saturday night, he hailed it as a victory for taxpayers.
"I'm pleased to able to sign a balanced state budget -- on time -- and with no new taxes," he said.
But at a news conference outside Liberty High School on Monday, Democrats fired back. With state school funding nearly flat this year, they insisted local property tax hikes will make up the loss.
"When the governor walks around and says he hasn't raised your taxes, in fact, he has," said Mayor John Callahan, D-Bethlehem.
"[This] is pretty much the governor trying to … push forward his no-tax rhetoric, but instead, he's increasing taxes by making us do it for him," said Basilio Bonilla, a member of the Bethlehem Area School Board.
Two weeks ago, Bethlehem schools raised taxes nearly 5% -- partly due to soaring pension payments the district has to make to Harrisburg.
But the new budget does include 43% more money to defray pension costs. Plus, it keeps $100 million in block grants to help pay for kindergarten. Corbett originally wanted to cut the program.
"More than $11 billion -- 40% of the more than $27 billion in this entire budget -- goes toward education," said Corbett.
State-related universities and community colleges receive no new money after major cuts last year.
"Tuition for state schools throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania are going to continue to rise dramatically," said Callahan, "and make it harder and harder for the middle class to send their kids to college."
Not true, said the governor.
"We've restored funding to those institutions to the same level as last year," he said. "In return, these schools have committed to keeping tuition as low as possible."
In fact, most state universities and state-related schools agreed to cap tuition increases to the inflation rate this year in exchange for no further funding cuts from Harrisburg. Penn State's president has proposed a 2.9% increase this year, the lowest since 1967.
The new budget also means Pennsylvania taxpayers will have a better idea what their school leaders are getting paid and what perks they're getting, partly because of a controversy in Allentown School District.
School superintendents' contracts will now be public record.
Last year, Allentown schools faced criticism after controversial superintendent Gerald Zahorchak stepped down just one year into a five-year deal.
Zahorchak's contract guaranteed him a $50,000 buyout. The district also created a nearly $200,000 consulting job for Zahorchak.
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Central Park: America's Greatest Masterpiece Walking Tour
* Additional fees apply. No coupon or promo codes necessary to enjoy the displayed discount price.
The last date listed for Central Park: America's Greatest Masterpiece Walking Tour was Thursday August 7, 2014 / 10:00am.
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Learn About History Up Close in New York City Bus Tour
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Featured review from Stephanie Leopold
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Ron was SUPER informative on the tour.
I didnt realize how extensive Central Park was. I was so happy we had a guide.
We learned a ton about the Park, celebs living in the area, etc.
It was great. Its a lot of walking so wear comfy shoes!
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Very enjoyable. If you want to learn something about the park or just enjoy its beauty, this is a good tour to take. The guide was well informed and showed a genuine interest in being with us.
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Fantastic tour. We had such a great time and our guide was entertaining and incredibly knowledgeable
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It was almost 100 degrees, so we decided not to go.
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This is an outdoor walking tour. Please dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. This tour runs rain or shine.
This tour ends in Columbus Circle at the Time Warner Center on 59th St.


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Our compatible 43034804, 43034803, 43034802, 43034801 Toner Cartridges will meet or exceed OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) specifications and high standards of quality and reliability for your Okidata C3200N. Designed to be 100% compatible and interchangeable with OEM cartridges.
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Skip to comments.Andrew Cuomo Can Never Have Too Many Abortions
Posted on 06/08/2013 6:17:34 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
In a brazen push to make his state even more decisively the abortion capital of the United States, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is trying to ram through the legislature, before its June 20 adjournment, a radical expansion of the abortion license in the provisions of his Womens Equality Act.
As my Witherspoon Institute colleague Gabrielle Speach, and co-author and practicing physician Elissa Sanchez-Speach, write today at Public Discourse, Gov. Cuomos bill is an open invitation to the Kermit Gosnells of the abortion trade to move to New York and ratchet up their performance of late-term abortions on viable children. These abortions are almost never necessary for the sake of a womans life or healthone might almost strike the almost from that statement, since it is hard to envision a necessary case at alland could instead be occasions for the saving of two lives, the mothers and the childs.
Gov. Cuomo is in a war of words with the shepherd of the Church to which he putatively belongs, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York. Dolan and all the bishops of the state have joined in a statement that staunchly opposes the abortion provision in the bill because it would ease restrictions in state law on late-term abortion and runs the serious risk of broadly expanding abortion access at all stages of gestation. Moreover, the bill would, the bishops say, repeal the portion of the penal law that governs abortion policy, opening the door for non-doctors to perform abortions and potentially decriminalizing even forced or coerced abortions.
The governors response to these reasonable criticisms is to denounce opponents as extremists. When questioned about the bishops opposition, the governor is reported to have said, Their point is that they oppose abortion and think there are too many abortions. I understand that position, but I disagree with it.
Let that sink in for a moment. Forget about Bill Clintons famous (but disingenuous) safe, legal, and rare. Andrew Cuomo, whose state has an abortion rate nearly twice the national average, thinks there are not now too many abortions on his watch. The only reason to pass his bill is because you want more abortions, more easily obtained, later in pregnancy.
The bishops concern about the repeal of penal law provisions on abortionand the dangers that such repeal opens upis a valid one. Cuomos bill, which would eliminate all meaningful restrictions on post-viability abortions in New York, also contains this language:
Subdivisions two and three of section 125.05, subdivision two of section 125.15, subdivision three of section 125.20 and sections 125.40, 125.45, 125.50, 125.55 and 125.60 of the penal law are hereby repealed to the extent that they are inconsistent with this section.
What is the import of all this? You can find out by going to Article 125 of the New York Penal Law, Homicide, Abortion and Related Offenses. Check out the sections and subdivisions named in the governors bill. They constitute essentially the entirety of New Yorks present statutory restrictions on abortion. Then the question becomes, what does it mean to say they are all hereby repealed to the extent that they are inconsistent with Cuomos bill? This does not appear on its face to be an outright repeal with the stroke of a pen. Only those existing provisions found (by a judge?) to be inconsistent with the new bill would be considered repealed. But read the existing provisions, which ban late-term abortions and criminalize acts that cause the deaths of viable unborn children. Would any of them survive the hostile scrutiny of a typical liberal judge? Not on your life. Or rather, not on the nearest unborn babys life.
So it is fair to say that New Yorks whole abortion law is wiped off the slate and replaced with Cuomos bland statement that [t]he state shall not deny a womens [sic] right to obtain an abortion as established by the United States Supreme Court in the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. In fact, there appears to be nothing banned, not a single abortion performed by anyone that is prohibited or restricted in any way, by the governors bill.
And Andrew Cuomo has the gall to label other people extremists.
Sadly they weren't readily available to some folks moms back in the early 60's. Even sadder is that they are so common and frequent today. At least king husseins kids won't have to be punished with havin' a kid before their time.
When he dies, he'll have a grand Catholic funeral, like the Mafia dons do.
I heard Pius Jr. speak earlier this week and it's so eerie how he sounds just like his father Pius Sr. Much like his father Governor Cuomo will never sniff the White House as long as the Clintons are a force in the Democratic Party.
Think Cuomo is trying to turn NY into a abortion tourism industry. People go to Thailand for sex with kids, they go to India for surgery, go to Mexico for cancer treatments and now to NY for abortions.
200 years from now, the history books are going to list this as one of the central themes as to how the United States was destroyed without anyone ever firing a shot.
Too bad Matilda didn't have one back in 1957
NY has always been a mecca for abortions
In the early 70's I had a Penn State sorority sister who went to NY for 3 abortions in 2 years
Anytime he wants communion just show up at Dolan's place.
The cardinal will sniffle and sprinkle his corpse with holy water. As I see it, the Catholic Church gave America the Cuomo family--and all that they represent--and has yet to take responsibility for it. If we end up with Kermit Gosnell as NY state surgeon general, it is as much the cardinal's fault as the governor's.
It's like Harry Reid being a member of the "God Bless Planned Parenthood" and "NO! NO! NO! God!" Party. Where are his church leaders?
200 years from now, the history books are going to list this as one of the central themes as to how the United States was destroyed without anyone ever firing a shot.
Why would God save our nation? Why should He? And....Conservatives are very much to blame as well as the communists in our nation.
1) Abortion:
Millions can show up for a chicken sandwich but can't figure out how to end abortion? Really?
2) Compulsory socialist-entitlement and GODLESS K-12 schooling!
The children who attend these schools **will** learn to think and reason godlessly. They must just to cooperate in the godless classroom. How could it be otherwise? And...They risk learning that any voting mob powerful enough to give them socialist-entitlement schooling and compel them to use it is powerful enough to give them **lots** of free stuff.
If children manage to survive the womb, then their souls risk being aborted and minds scrambled in their compulsory, socialist-entitlement, and godless schools.
And....Conservatives let this continue and even willingly cooperate. I don't think God is happy with us.
Yeah, Cuomo probably will have a Catholic funeral. The thing is though, if he doesn't sincerely repent for his mortal sin of further enabling and advancing abortions in NYS and vow to sin no more, his soul will forever burn in the fires of Hell! Cuomo may not get punishment for his grave sinfulness in this life, but he certainly will in the next.
According to Canon Law, he's automatically excommunicated. Dolan and the rest need to man up now and deny him Communion.
BTW, I agree with you, Cuomo is a scumbag! Unfortunately, he's also the governor of my state. I certainly didn't vote for him and I supported and voted for Carl Paladino.
Remember, Cuomo is virtually to only positive story for Democrats from the 2010 election cycle -for that single fact above all else he is darling of the mainstream media.
He'll go down to an embarrassing defeat when his failures are no longer offset by media buzz -just like his father.
I thought I'd give this a try and I left the following message for Cardinal Dolan.
Cardinal Dolan,
According to Canon Law:
Those Catholics who publicly announce their denial that abortion is always gravely immoral, or who publicly promote abortion, or who publicly argue in favor of legalized abortion, also commit a mortal sin and also incur a sentence of automatic excommunication.
This sentence of excommunication applies to Catholics who are politicians, as well as to those Catholics who are political commentators, or public speakers, or who write or otherwise publicly communicate their erroneous view that abortion can be morally-acceptable or that abortion should be legal. This sentence of excommunication also certainly applies to those Catholics who claim to be theologians or Biblical scholars, but who believe or teach that abortion is not always gravely immoral.
Those Catholics who promote abortion are automatically excommunicated for two reasons. First, they have fallen into the sin of heresy by believing that abortion is not always gravely immoral (canons 751 and 1364). Second, these Catholics are providing substantial assistance for women to obtain abortions by influencing public policy to make abortions legal, and to keep abortions legal, and to broaden access to abortion. Those who provide such substantial assistance commit a mortal sin and incur a sentence of automatic excommunication (canon 1398).
As a supposed Catholic, Governor Cuomo is committing mortal sin by enabling and advancing abortion in New York State. I urge you to inform Governor Cuomo of his grave sin and that he should not be receiving the Eucharist until he sincerely repents for his mortal sin and vows to sin no more. In addition, you and your fellow priests should be denying him the Eucharist!
Cuomo is obviously guilty of all that I've highlighted. Now that I've pointed out the obvious to him, we'll see if Cardinal Dolan does anything about it.
At his death we should expect a Ted Kennedy style funeral.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 4, 2013
The following is a statement of Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the Bishops of New York State:
We are profoundly distressed by the introduction of a bill in New York State today that would ease restrictions in state law on late-term abortion and runs the serious risk of broadly expanding abortion access at all stages of gestation. This legislation would add a broad and undefined health exception for late-term abortion and would repeal the portion of the penal law that governs abortion policy, opening the door for non-doctors to perform abortions and potentially decriminalizing even forced or coerced abortions. In addition, we find the conscience protection in the bill to be vague and insufficient, and we are concerned about the religious liberty of our health facilities. While the bills proponents say it will simply codify federal law, it is selective in its codification. Nowhere does it address the portions of federal laws that limit abortion, such as the ban on taxpayer funding, the ban on partial birth abortion or protections for unborn victims of violence.
As the pastors of more than 7.2 million Catholic New Yorkers, we fully oppose this measure, and urge all our faithful people to do the same, vigorously and unapologetically. We invite all women and men of good will to join in this effort and defeat this serious attempt to expand abortion availability in our state and to codify the most radical abortion proposals of any state in the nation.
We support the first nine points in the Governors agenda that enhance the true dignity of women. We commit ourselves to examining those proposals and working with the legislature on any and all efforts that help guarantee real equity for all women and men. Our position on these issues will be consistent with all the efforts of the Catholic Church throughout the world to enhance the dignity of women. The direct taking of the life of a child in the womb in no way enhances a womans dignity.
Instead of expanding abortion and making abortions even more prevalent, we would like to protect both the woman and the child in the womb. In New York, where one in every three pregnancies ends in abortion (and upwards of 6 in 10 in certain communities), it is clear that we as a state have lost sight of that childs dignity. We pledge all our efforts to defeat this proposal. We call on all pro-life New Yorkers to stand together with us and with all the leadership in Albany who share our conviction that we have no need for such a bill to become law. We need instead to enhance and promote the life and dignity of all human beings from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.
The above letter is all fine and good, but there needs to be firm and public consequences for supposed Catholic politicians for enabling, supporting and advancing pro-abortion laws and those consequences are already on the books in Canon Law, as I've pointed out in previous posts to this thread. The Catholic faithful need to hold their Cardinals/Bishops feet to the fire to publicly uphold the laws of their Church and hold Catholic politicians accountable for their grave sins. This not only applies to Cuomo, but also Biden, Pelosi and all other supposed Catholic politicians!
The feminazis and their a$$kissers like coomo love abortion and want more of it.
When this pigs time has come, I hope it is very long and very, very painful.
What I do not understand is why Sibelius is not excommunicated.
Sebelius has been banned from receiving Communion and technically speaking, she's automatically excommunicated for supporting and expanding abortion, but there's been no public pronouncement of this excommunication. There should be! The Obama administration is waging war on Christians/Catholics who are pro-life and the cardinals and bishops should fight back by publicly excommunicating Catholic politicians and government officials who support and advance abortion!
Cardinal Dolan has decreed that Cuomo is a "Catholic in good standing". Maybe if Cuomo actually killed the babies himself he'd fall out of the Cardinal's favor. Ya think? Bob
"Sebelius has been banned from receiving Communion .."
I believe this strong measure actually does fallen Catholics a favor. They need to get "hit in the head" so they realize how grave their sin is, and hopefully they eventually will make things right.
From one of my strong pro-life cyber friends:
"Call your NYS senator.. and voice your objection to the abortion expansion part of the Women's Equality Act. If the abortion language is not removed, we want our senators to vote AGAINST the entire bill."
Don't let the glad rags fool you. Dolan is just another Democrat Pol. A million laughs as a speaker at Communion Breakfasts. Pelosi, Biden, Cuomo will be at the rail as always.
Catholics? 53% for Obama ... same as everyone else.
I believe this strong measure actually does fallen Catholics a favor. They need to get hit in the head so they realize how grave their sin is, and hopefully they eventually will make things right.
I agree that it does fallen Catholics a favor and it's the Cardinals and Bishops jobs to remind people, sometimes in a strong way and it's within their authority to do so!
Don't let the glad rags fool you. Dolan is just another Democrat Pol. A million laughs as a speaker at Communion Breakfasts. Pelosi, Biden, Cuomo will be at the rail as always.
Catholics? 53% for Obama ... same as everyone else.
I know and I'm very disheartened by the fact that a majority of Catholics voted for pro-death Obama. Same goes for Cuomo in New York. Outside of the letters, it seems like Dolan and the others chum around with these Catholic pro-death politicians and that's wrong!
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SMSU's Soul Food Festival
Photo by Karin Elton
Lizzy Brown, Southwest Minnesota State Black Student Union president, served up some collard greens Thursday afternoon at the Soul Food Festival in the SMSU Student Center. Senior Anna Fitzer, a Spanish major, was on the receiving end. The festival, an annual event during Black History Month, included heaping helpings of jambalaya, fried chicken and macaroni and cheese.


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Introducing Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso sunrise © Jeff Attaway
Burkina Faso's name translates into 'the land of upright people', although it is equally well known for the remarkable hospitality of the locals, its comparatively stable political situation, and vibrant cultural life. Burkina Faso is landlocked, bordered by Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. With sixty different ethnicities, this nation is a diverse blend of cultures and traditions. Burkina Faso is ranked as one of the poorest countries in the world, and the most illiterate, but the country is generally peaceful. Nevertheless, the British Foreign Office advises against all travel north of the town of Boulsa, due to a general terrorist threat near the borders of Mali and Niger.
There are a surprising number of tourist attractions in Burkina Faso, despite the fact that very few tourists ever visit the country. The capital, Ouagadougou, is an agreeable place with excellent restaurants and entertainment options. The most interesting city to visit is Bobo Dioulasso, known throughout West Africa for its music and nightlife, and as the home of the Djembe drum. The city's atmospheric Old Quarter and Grande Mosque are also well worth visiting. Another city, Gorom Gorom, is known for its Thursday market and for the Feminine Artisan Centre of Gorom, where the local women demonstrate their skill in art, sculpture and pottery. Other camera-worthy Burkino Faso attractions include the granite-sculpting artists of Loango, the sacred crocodiles of Sabou, the mausoleum commemorating Princess Guimbi Ouattara and the natural waterfall of Banfora.
Getting around Burkina Faso entails roughing it a bit as tourist infrastructure is practically nonexistent, but the adventure and scenery is compensation enough for the inconvenience of potholed roads and simple accommodation. There is a train service running from Ouagadougou to the other main towns, but flying is invariably the quickest travel option.
Burkina Faso will interest travellers looking for a rich and varied slice of West African life in the company of some of continent's friendliest people.
Become our Burkina Faso Travel Expert
We are looking for contributors for our Burkina Faso travel guide. If you are a local, a regular traveller to Burkina Faso or a travel professional with time to contribute and answer occasional forum questions, please contact us.


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Eighteenth-Century Scottish Poetry
Eighteenth-Century Scottish Poetry
Often considered the golden age of Scottish poetry, eighteenth-century Scotland witnessed a struggle to reconcile its traditional language and cultural heritage with extreme political and social change. With the Scottish Reformation and the formal establishment of Presbyterianism in 1690, Scotland forged a new alliance with England, which had a lasting effect on the cultural significance of the Scots language. The Presbyterian church banned secular literature, thus suppressing the vernacular Scots songs that had been flourishing. Furthermore, no Scots Bible existed; the English Bible became the standard. The infusion of English culture and politics into Scotland culminated in 1707 with an official Parliamentary Union that made Scotland a part of the British Empire.
Scotland's literati generally reacted either by embracing the English literary tradition or by rebelling against England's cultural domination and reviving the Scots vernacular. Recognizing the distinguished history of English letters, a group of poets known as the Scottish Augustans began to write primarily in English. James Thomson (1700-1748), for example, combined proper English language with idiosyncratic, Latinate diction in such works as The Seasons (1730), a blank-verse meditation on nature. Heavily Miltonic, the poem was praised by figures such as William Hazlitt, and some critics have cited The Seasons as a precursor to British Romanticism. Scottish Augustan poetry also includes Robert Blair's The Grave (1743), William Falconer's The Shipwreck (1762), and James Beattie's The Minstrel (1771, 1774). Other Scottish writers, however, feared the loss of their native character and responded to English influence with a surge of nationalism—a flowering of Scots vernacular poetry and the rise of the native novel. Compilations such as James Watson's Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems both Ancient and Modern (1706-1711) brought traditional poems into wide circulation, thus helping to restore the popularity of Scots verse. The chief promoter of vernacular poetry was Allan Ramsay (1686-1758), a patriotic Jacobite who wrote in Scots, English, and Anglo-Scots, and whose work as an editor and poet strongly influenced such later figures as Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns. For the collections The Ever Green (1724) and The Tea-Table Miscellany (1724-37), Ramsay drew heavily upon the Bannatyne manuscript, a collection of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Scottish ballads and songs, and poetry by Scottish poets Robert Henryson, Alexander Scott, and William Dunbar. Ramsay's own Scots compositions in works such as The Gentle Shepherd (1725) revived several traditional meters, and his exploration of traditional genres including the comic elegy, mock testament, and pastoral; together with his creation of the Scots verse epistle; elevated Scots from what was commonly regarded as the language of bawdy and comic songs to a vehicle for serious poetry. Several influential collections followed Ramsay's example, including David Herd's Ancient and Modern Scottish Poems (1769), Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), John Pinkerton's Select Scottish Ballads (1781-1783), and Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-3). Most famous (or infamous) of the anthologies that appeared during this time were James Macpherson's "translations" of ancient Gaelic manuscripts—Fragments of Ancient Poetry, Collected in the Highlands of Scotland (1760), Fingal (1762), Temora (1763), and The Poems of Ossian (1765)—which are now widely considered forgeries. The most important link between Ramsay and Burns, however, was Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), whose Poems (1773) drew upon both the English poetic tradition and the Scots genres popularized by Ramsay. Fergusson was highly regarded for his realistic depictions of Edinburgh and the surrounding countryside. His poems "Leith Races," "Plainstanes and Causey," and "Farmer's Ingle" were emulated by Burns in "The Holy Fair," "The Twa Brigs," and "The Cotter's Saturday Night."
The last and greatest of the poets of the Scots vernacular revival, Robert Burns (1759-1796) is considered the national poet of Scotland. Burns was influenced by "the excellent Ramsay, and the still more excellent Ferguson [sic]," although his Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) and his contributions to James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (1787-1803) and George Thomson's Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice (1793-1818), reveal a more fluent use of the Scots dialect. Scots, as a vernacular language, lent itself to Burns' depiction of Scottish rural life, and Burns also expanded its use by addressing more serious topics such as Scottish nationalism and the importance of freedom. Burns resuscitated traditional poetic forms, imbuing them with contemporary issues and a mastery of traditional Scots. With the death of Burns, Scottish poetry (especially Scots vernacular poetry) generally declined. The progression of the Industrial Revolution irreversibly modernized Scotland, further alienating the society from its traditions. London increasingly became the literary capital of Britain, while emigration in the early nineteenth century largely emptied Scotland of its native talents. Furthermore, some critics contend that Burns exhausted the poetic potential of Scots, with vernacular poets who followed unable to improve on his work due to the limitations of the language itself. Although some twentieth-century versifiers have experimented with the Scots vernacular, critics generally agree that Scotland's literati have never surpassed the age of Ramsay, Fergusson, and Burns.
Representative Works
James Beattie
The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. 2 vols. 1771, 1774
Robert Blair
The Grave 1743
Robert Burns
Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect 1786
The Poetry of Robert Burns. 4 vols. 1896-97
William Falconer
The Shipwreck 1762
Robert Fergusson
Poems by Robert Fergusson 1773
The Poetry of Robert Fergusson. 2 vols. 1954-56
David Herd
(Editor) Ancient and Modern Scottish Poems 1769
James Johnson
(Editor) The Scots Musical Museum 1787-1803
James Macpherson
Fragments of Ancient Poetry, Collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and Translated from the Galic or Erse Language 1760
Fingal, an Ancient Poem in Six Books 1762
Temora, an Ancient Epic Poem, in Eight Books 1763
The Poems of Ossian 1765
Thomas Percy
(Editor) Reliques of Ancient English Poetry 1765
John Pinkerton
(Editor) Select Scottish Ballads. 2 vols. 1781-83
Allan Ramsay
(Editor) The Ever Green 1724
The Gentle Shepherd 1725
(Editor) Tea-Table Miscellany. 4 vols. 1724-37
Walter Scott
(Editor) Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border 1802-3
George Thomson
(Editor) Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice 1793-1818
James Thomson
The Seasons. A Poem 1730
The Castle of Indolence: an Allegorical Poem. Written in Imitation of Spenser 1748
James Watson
(Editor) Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems both Ancient and Modern 1706-11
J. H. Millar
SOURCE: "Eighteenth-Century Poetry: Burns," in A Literary History of Scotland, T. Fisher Unwin, 1903, pp. 370-429.
[In the following excerpt, Millar surveys the development of Scottish poetry during the eighteenth century, examining the role of the classical English-language tradition and the revival of local vernacular verse, which culminated with the poetry of Robert Burns.]
Poetry is an art more provocative of imitation than prose; and it is not surprising that, when to excel in the use of English and to eschew the Scots dialect became the mark of an enlightened mind and a cultivated taste, a considerable number of Scottish writers should have betaken themselves to verse as their form of literary expression. In too many of these it is impossible, even for partiality, to ignore "the vain stiffness of a lettered Scot." But they must all be supposed to have served some purpose, and it is proposed to take a brief survey of their performances before passing on to the vernacular poetry, in which we shall find a great deal more that is worth dwelling on.
By far the greatest poet and most accomplished artist of the Scots versifiers who wrote in English during the eighteenth century was James Thomson (1700-48), a native of Ednam in Roxburghshire, and a son of the manse. The Seasons (1726-30) and The Castle of Indolence (1746) are poems which well repay minute examination and detailed criticism, though the lyric, Rule Britannia (1740), is better remembered by the general. But they belong essentially to English literature, on which the former exerted no little influence, and of which both are justly esteemed among the most pleasing ornaments of the second class. To treat Thomson as a characteristically Scottish poet would be as absurd as to devote time and space to Dr. John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), whose proper place is with the London wits of the age of Anne and of the first two Georges. Similar considerations recommend an equally summary treatment of Dr. John Armstrong, whose Economy of Love (1736), doubtless for excellent reasons, does not appear … in any edition of his works that I have been fortunate enough to fall in with; whose Art of Preserving Health (1744) is better than its title might lead one to expect; and whose Taste: An Epistle to a young Critic (1753) is a satire of the familiar type in rhymed heroics. His brother in medicine, Dr. Smollett, was a greater favourite of the muses. The Tears of Scotland (1746) is a piece very creditable to his good feeling; the Ode to Leven Water, which appeared in Humphry Clinker (1771), is more excellent still; and if the Ode to Independence (1773) had fulfilled the promise of its opening lines, we had been blessed in him with a writer of odes superior to most of his rivals in that sort of composition, and perhaps not so very far beneath the level of Gray himself.
Robert Blair (1699-1746) was not one of those who followed the road to London; and he died, as he had lived for fifteen years, minister of Athelstaneford, in East Lothian, in which cure he was the predecessor of John Home. His poem, The Grave (1743), enjoyed unbounded popularity both in its own day, and at a much later period. Suggested, it may be, by Young's Night Thoughts, the first instalment of which had appeared in the preceding year, it has, at all events, the merit of comparative brevity, and it works, with considerable skill, the vein of gloom which that long-winded exercise in blank verse opened, and which found such favour with the public of the eighteenth century. In the structure and cadence of his measures, however, Blair owes very little to Young; but rather … stands debtor to the Elizabethan dramatists. Certainly there is no echo of Thomson, or of any other writer of blank verse later than the Elizabethans, in the concluding passage of a poem, in which good single lines are not infrequent, but which contains nothing else of such refreshing and unexpected beauty:—
Thus at the shut of even the weary bird
Leaves the wide air, and, in some lonely brake,
Cowers down and dozes till the dawn of day,
Then claps his well-fledged wings and bears away.
David Hume was always willing to give to any of his friends the "hand" which "every fellow likes." He indulged in extravagant eulogy of John Home's Douglas; and another poet whom he went out of his way to praise at considerable length was William Wilkie (1721-72), the minister of Ratho, and Professor of Natural Philosophy at St. Andrews. Wilkie was a man of real erudition, though of the most eccentric manners; and in 1757 he published a classical epic, entitled the Epigoniad, in nine books and about six thousand lines. This masterpiece was thought, perhaps by Wilkie, and certainly by Wilkie's friends, to afford a striking proof of the vast strides which Scotland had made along the road which leads from barbarism and ignorance to refinement and learning. Nevertheless, the Critical Review, then under the editorship of Smollett, had spoken disrespectfully of the great work on its first appearance, and had called attention to certain mistakes in expression and prosody by which it was disfigured. To repair this injustice, Hume addressed a long letter to "the authors" of that periodical in 1759, in which, after premising that "no literary journal was ever carried on in this country with equal spirit and impartiality," he goes on to extenuate the faults complained of on the ground that they proceeded "entirely from the author's being a Scotchman, who had never been out of his own country," and then engages in a defence of the book, pointing out its merits, and illustrating them by quotations. A more curious piece of fatuity was never perpetrated by a genius of the first order than this critical essay of Hume's. So at least it is apt to strike a generation whose standards of taste are very different from his. No amount of special pleading will make the Epigoniad a great poem. It is well enough in its way, and is preferable to Glover's Leonidas or Athenaid. The episode of the Cyclops, for example, in book iv., might be worse, though even there Wilkie never comes up to the not very exacting measure of Pope's, or Broome's, Odyssey. The whole thing is "as dead as mutton"; it is the offspring of convention and rule, not of passion, or sensibility, or vision. Wilkie's Fables (1768) are very much better, though far from being in the front rank of such trifles, with the possible exception of The Hare and the Parian, which is in the vernacular of the Lothians.
Nor is it possible to be at all enthusiastic over The Shipwreck (1762) of William Falconer (1732-69), a piece of frigid classicism, memorable chiefly as affording, in an occasional cadence or turn of phrase, some anticipation of Crabbe's manner. It is difficult even to counterfeit interest in the fortunes of Palemon, and Albert, and Anna; and if the reading of the poem once begun is not soon desisted from, it is because of the peculiar fascination which arises from the mingling of two such incongruous elements as the poetical diction of the eighteenth century and the terms of the seaman's art. The result is so quaint that a specimen may be pardoned:—
A lowering squall obscures the southern sky,
Before whose sweeping breath the waters fly;
Its weight the topsails can no more sustain—
Reef topsails, reef! the master calls again.
The halyards and top bow-lines soon are gone,
To clue lines and reef tackles next they run:
The shivering sails descend; the yards are square;
Then quick aloft the ready crew repair:
The weather earings and the lee they past,
The reefs enrolled and every point made fast.
Deep on her side the reeling vessel lies:
Brail up the mizen quick! the master cries,
Man the clue-garnets! let the main-sheet fly!
It rends in thousand shivering shreds on high!
The contrast between this stilted and lumbering stuff and the rapid and masterly handling of technicalities displayed, say, in M'Andrew's Hymn is striking and suggestive.
James Beattie (1735-1803) may not have been an acute metaphysician (and he signally failed to demolish Hume), or a cool-headed critic (for he fell a willing victim to the famous Macpherson imposture [i.e., the publication of Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands (1760), Fingal (1762), and Temora (1763), which James Macpherson (1736-96) claimed to have translated from ancient Gaelic manuscripts but which many historians now consider to be forgeries]), or yet a great poet (for he never seems quite to know what he would be at). But at least he deserves our thanks for the effort he made to escape from the common groove, and to provide the public with a commodity bearing a stronger superficial resemblance to poetry than the Epgoniads and Shipwrecks could boast of. He did not, indeed, altogether abandon the rhymed heroic couplet, and his lines On the proposed monument to Churchill (1765) are a typical specimen of the conventional satire: not without vigour and point, but immeasurably below satire as it comes from the hands of a true master, like Pope. In the Hermit he employs with laudable freedom and ease a galloping sort of measure, in considerable request for bacchanalian lyrics, to which class that poem does not belong; and in his chef d'œuvre, The Minstrel (1770-74), he betakes himself to the Spenserian stanza, to write in which was a favourite exercise of almost all the poets and poetasters of the age from Thomson (or indeed from Prior and Pope) down to William Julius Mickle (1734-88), the translator of the Lusiad, the reputed author of at least one spirited and popular song in his national dialect, and the undoubted author of the ballad of Cumnor Hall, which fascinated the youthful ear of Scott. Beattie seems to share with many of his fellow versifiers the suspicion that there is something inherently and incurably ridiculous in the Spenserian stanza. He, like them, appears never to get rid of the feeling that he is writing a parody. And accordingly, every now and then, he gives to his verse a ludicrous turn, of which, it must in fairness be owned, the metre of Spenser when wedded to commonplace and degrading ideas is readily susceptible, owing to the lofty and ennobling associations with which that poet invested it. Hence a want of steady aim, an infirmity of artistic purpose, is very noticeable in the Minstrel, which is disjointed in structure and confused in arrangement. Yet Beattie, one may venture to think, had some true feeling for what we call nature, and was not insensible to the charm of the "melodies of morn," or the "sheep-fold's simple bell," or "the full choir that wakes the universal grove," or any of the other phenomena which he notes and records, in a vocabulary that was, unfortunately, not yet emancipated from the thraldom of "poetic" convention. The following stanzas, though the first is more in his jocose than in his serious vein, may serve to give a tolerably accurate idea of his versification:—
The dream is fled. Proud harbinger of day,
Who scar'dst the vision with thy clarion shrill,
Fell chanticleer! who oft hath reft away
My fancied good, and wrought substantial ill!
O to thy cursed scream, discordant still,
Let harmony aye shut her gentle ear:
Thy boastful mirth let jealous rivals spill,
Insult thy crest, and glossy pinions tear,
And ever in thy dreams the ruthless fox appear!
Forbear, my muse. Let love attune thy line.
Revoke the spell. Thine Edwin frets not so.
For how should he at wicked chance repine
Who feels from every change amusement flow?
Even now his eyes with smiles of rapture glow,
As on he wanders through the scenes of morn,
Where the fresh flowers in living lustre blow,
Where thousand pearls the dewy lawns adorn,
A thousand notes of joy in every breeze are born.
The names of Michael Bruce (1746-67) and John Logan (1748-88) recall a rather squalid, but at the same time characteristic, controversy. On the death of the former, the latter obtained Bruce's manuscripts and papers from his father, with a view to their publication, and in 1770 brought out a volume purporting to contain Bruce's poems, together with some pieces by other hands. Bruce's relations, according to the story, were astonished to find that the youth's "Gospel Sonnets" were not included in this collection, and the suspicion of unfair dealing on the part of Logan became to their minds a certainty when in 1781 Logan published a volume of his own poems in which were to be found certain sacred verses alleged to be Bruce's, and an amended version of an Ode to the Cuckoo, which had formed part of the 1770 publication. On the one hand, then, it is said that Logan deliberately turned Bruce's manuscripts to his own account, and falsely claimed to be the author of poems which he had never written: on the other hand, this accusation is indignantly denied, and, though it is admitted that Logan's conduct and behaviour were not always such as becomes a minister of the gospel, his authorship of the Ode and of sundry other pieces in dispute is strenuously maintained. The evidence in support of either contention is extremely unsatisfactory. There is a vast amount of hearsay, and a great deal about manuscripts which A said that B told him that C had seen. Local patriotism has, of course, stepped in to supply deficiencies in solid fact, and, the village of Kinnesswod being inferior in population and importance to the port of Leith, the clamour of the Bruce faction has naturally been shriller and more insistent than that of Logan's partisans. Moreover, Logan's is not so picturesque a figure as that of the youthful poet, nor has he the moral support of an aged parent. Also, it may be questioned whether the participators in this wretched squabble have always taken pains to forget that Bruce was a Seceder, whereas Logan belonged to the Establishment, and was a Moderate.
The one thing certain is that, apart from the grave aspersions cast upon Logan's personal character, the matter is not worth fighting about. The Ode to the Cuckoo, round which the battle has raged most hotly, is a poor enough affair in all conscience. It contains two really good lines, and only two:—
Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
No winter in thy year.
The rest or it is essentially commonplace, and in parts indisputably pedestrian. No man need be ambitious to be reckoned the author of such a quatrain as this:—
In the 1770 version, there is one line which positively declines to scan. This was corrected in the later edition, and indeed all the changes made by Logan are for the better. As for Bruce's acknowledged work, it may be wonderful for his age, and considering the circumstances of his upbringing; but it will not suffer the application of any reasonably high standard. That his imitative faculty was strong is manifest. Not only does he follow the "classical" convention with abject fidelity, calling his friend Mr. Arnot, for instance, in Lochleven, by the name of Agricola, but he makes no scruple of appropriating earmarked words and phrases from his models. The Elegy to Spring is neither more nor less than a palpable imitation of Gray. It is perhaps a misfortune for the memory of this hapless young man that his champions should persist in attributing to his praiseworthy efforts, not merely comparative, but, absolute merit. Were it not for their misdirected zeal, it would be superfluous to subject them to any serious examination.
In addition to the volume of poems already referred to Logan was responsible for a tragedy, entitled Runnamede, which, like Home's Douglas, gave great offence to the "wild" party in the Church. But it is not as a dramatist, or an original poet, that he deserves to be held in remembrance. His claim upon the regard of posterity is founded on the Translations and Paraphrases in verse of several passages of Sacred Scripture (1781), collected and prepared by a Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in order to be sung in churches. Of this anthology, which consists of sixty-seven "paraphrases" and five "hymns," Logan was to all intents and purposes the editor. Addison, Watts, Doddridge, and other less eminent writers were drawn upon; and in the case of almost all, save Addison, considerable alterations were made upon the original text. The practice of emendation in such circumstances is, as a rule, highly reprehensible. But in this case it was abundantly justified by success. Scarce one of the modifications which we owe to Logan but is a self-evident improvement; scarce one but vouches for his true ear, sound judgment, and correct taste. The Paraphrases form incomparably the best collection of sacred lyrics (or "Gospel sonnets"), for its size, which has ever been made in the English language. Devout, dignified, and reticent, they afford a truly admirable medium for expressing the religious feelings and aspirations of an intelligent, educated, and self-respecting people. Their genuine piety is untainted by extravagance, their grave severity unruffled by hysteria. They that seek for glitter, and banality, and noise, must turn to the more comprehensive volumes of a later date, whence they will not be sent empty away. It is one of the most significant symptoms of the degeneration which, as some believe, is over-taking the Scottish character, that this excellent little collection is falling into something like desuetude in public worship.
The "classical" tradition was sufficiently prolific. It produced some one's Albania (1737) in blank verse and the Clyde (1764) of John Wilson (1720-89) in rhymed heroics, both typical specimens of their kinds. It may also be said to have been an unconscionable time in dying, and its extinction by no means coincides with the close of the eighteenth century. A particularly favourable specimen of what it could produce is to be found in the Scenes of Infancy (1803) of John Leyden, who will have to be adverted to in another connection.
The waning harvest moon shone cold and bright;
The warder's horn was heard at dead of night;
And as the massy portals wide were flung,
With stamping hoofs the rocky pavement rung.
Such lines are at all events much preferable to the performances of the amiable James Grahame (1765-1811), advocate, and clerk in holy orders of the Church of England. Blank verse was the metre of Grahame's choice, and the excellence of his intention will scarce atone for the futility of his execution. The Rural Calendar, The Birds of Scotland, and The Sabbath (1803), his chef d'œuvre, are conventional, ineffective, and tedious. But he deserves a niche in the Caledonian Temple of fame for the following exquisite example of the genuine "poetic diction," culled from his versified ornithology:—
Within the fabric rude
Or e'er the new moon waxes to the full
The assiduous dam eight spotted spheroids sees.
Few poets have surpassed this elegant periphrasis for eggs. The last of the "classical" Anglo-Scottish poets who need be mentioned is Robert Pollok (1798-1827), a native of Renfrewshire, who become a Seceder Minister. The Course of Time (1827) enjoyed great renown in its day. John Wilson greeted it with loud applause; and the moral lessons it inculcates were justly thought to be beyond exception. But all its choice passages—even the once celebrated screed on Byron—are of no significance for the present generation; and Pollok, for us, is merely one of the not insignificant band of his countrymen who with indomitable perseverance have confronted the obstacles presented by narrow means and humble circumstances, only to perish in the very moment when victory has been achieved.
In the Scottish vernacular verse of the eighteenth century we possess one of the happiest illustrations of what is called a "school" of poetry, culminating in the supreme achievement of an acknowledged and unsurpassed master. The members of the school were numerous, and were drawn from every class of the community and almost every part of the country. But there is a certain unity of tone and feeling, as well as of method and craftsmanship, in the work of all of them. None of them attempted to be "original" in the hackneyed sense of the word. Each tried to accommodate his effort to some old and well-proved convention. The new wine was put into old bottles, so to say; but the old bottles stood the strain. And from many men whom it would be affectation to class as great poets there emanated lyrics which only a practised and delicate sense or discrimination can distinguish from the writing of men whose pre-eminence it were no less affectation to dispute. The rhythms, the metres, the manner which had been established as the invariable concomitants of Scots poetry upwards or two centuries before, were once more summoned to the poet's aid; and "emulation" (an almost technical term with Burns in discussing his art) accomplished what less judicious and well-regulated ambition had probably failed to perform.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century the religious or, rather, ecclesiastical gloom in which the Scots had been involved for a hundred years and more began to be dissipated. The nation had time to take breath, and to recall the "makaris" and singers in whom generations less sophisticated with theological subtleties had taken unaffected delight, and whose memory had never become wholly obliterated. The Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots poems both ancient and modern (1706-11) put forth by James Watson (d. 1722) doubtless met some public demand, and being, as its preface tells us, "the first of its nature which has been published in our own native Scots dialect," it marks the beginning of a vigorous revival of interest in the poetry of the vernacular. The contents of the work are extremely varied. They embrace many English pieces, like Montrose's verse, Sir George Mackenzie's Caelia's Country-house and Closet, and Colonel Cleland's Halloo my Fancie, whither wilt thou go?; macaronics like Drummond's Polemo-Middinia; and Scots poems like Montgomerie's The Cherry and the Slae, and Christis Kirk on the Green. The most valuable and interesting ingredients of the miscellany, however, are Sempill's Piper of Kilbarchan and Sanny Brigs; Hamilton of Gilbertfield's Bonny Heck; the octosyllabics on the old theme of the fashionable extravagances of the age, entitled The Speech of a Fife Laird; and, above all, the Blyth-some Bridal, a jingle of rare spirit and gusto. The following catalogue of typical Scots "vivers" might well be set for translation and paraphrase in schools where such exercises are indulged in:—
Of this lyric, as of The Barring of the Door, Leader Haughs and Yarrow, Maggie Lauder, Maggie's Tocher, My Jo Janet, Toddlin' Hame, and a host of other pieces, the origin and date are unknown, or, at best, uncertain. As in the case of the ballads, already discussed, we may be pretty sure that they did not spring automatically from a common artistic consciousness, or unconsciousness, but that some one man was originally responsible for bringing them into the world. As they flew viva per ora virum, they became modified according to the intelligence and taste of the transmitter. Sometimes they were improved, sometimes they suffered, in the process. But of none perhaps can we positively say that we possess the text in the state in which it left the author's hands, and, in point of fact, many have been touched up deliberately and not by accident. It was the Scots tradition to seize upon some snatch of ancient song and write a new poem up to and about it. The method had its advantages and its drawbacks. Some of those who practised it (not very many, be it said) were tasteless botchers. The greatest of all the vampers was a genius, whose touch transformed the poorest dross into gold. If we consider the fate of Auld Lang Syne we see the best and the worst of the system. In Watson's Collection we find an Anglicised version, possibly by Sir Robert Ayton, which is respectable but not much more:—
Allan Ramsay caught the hint, and turned out something even more frigid and uninspiring:—
Finally came "the immortal exciseman," and what he made of it, even an Englishman may be supposed to know. So that, on the whole, when the drawbacks and the advantages of the tradition are weighed against one another, it is by no means clear that we have not come off a good deal better than we should have done had the primitive texts descended to us in all their purity, and the Scots poets betaken themselves to the discovery of new modes of expression.
Watson was excellent, so far as he went. But the collections which did for the songs of Scotland what Tom Durfey had done for those of England, and a great deal more, were the work of Allan Ramsay (1686-1758), a native of Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, who became first a barber and periwig-maker and afterwards a bookseller in Edinburgh. The contents of his Evergreen (1724) are chiefly derived from the Bannatyne MS. (supra p. 207), and consist of old poems like Christis Kirk on the Green, The Thistle and the Rose, Robeno and Makyne, and so forth. The Tea-table Miscellany (1724-40), on the other hand, exhibits the lyrical side of Scots poetry, and with all its faults is a most meritorious anthology. "Our Scots tunes," as Ramsay not unjustly says, "have an agreeable gaiety and natural sweetness that make them acceptable wherever they are known, not only among ourselves, but in other countries." Accordingly he set himself, with the assistance of certain "ingenious young gentlemen," to provide sets of verses, modelled more or less closely upon those handed down by tradition, which should be not unworthy of the airs with which they were to be conjoined. The "ingenuity" of the editor and his subordinates may sometimes have been misplaced, and their zeal may have outrun discretion; but it cannot be doubted that Ramsay has preserved much for us that might otherwise have been irrevocably lost. And what is particularly noticeable in him is his fearless and confident assertion of the claims of the national muse. Foreign decorations and accessories are to be avoided. "The morning rises as she does in the Scottish horizon. We are not carried to Greece or Italy for a shade, a stream, or a breeze. The groves rise in our valleys, the rivers flow from our own fountains, and the winds blow upon our own hills." This is the very spirit of Burns.
Ramsay himself was the chief contributor to his Miscellany, and many of the specimens of his work—not perhaps, always the best—won great popularity. In merit, they vary considerably. Now and then he "tunes his lyre" to a purely English strain; but it is difficult to be enthusiastic over
Ye powers! was Damon then so blest
To fall to charming Delia's share?
Some of the most acceptable have been those which hit off a mean between poetical English and broad Scots. But he is in his most characteristic and felicitous lyrical vein when writing in the Doric. The success of Bessy Bell and Mary Gray (with which it is interesting to compare Genty Tibby and Sonsy Nelly—a different treatment of the same theme), of This is no my ain house, of The Lass of Patie's Mill, and of For the sake of somebody is not surprising or undeserved. As a favourable illustration of his capabilities, I submit three stanzas of The Young Laird and Edinburgh Katy, merely premising that here, as in the rest of Ramsay's lyrical triumphs, it is impossible to state precisely how much is his and how much the work of some vates ignotus.
There is here true, if not very profound, feeling; and we are conscious of the presence of that simple, yet resolute, determination to extract from life every drop of pleasure it can afford which is so persistent a note in Scottish poetry, and which Ramsay himself so frankly inculcates in the following lines:—
It is the philosophy of Burns, except in his hours of remorse.
The volume of Allan Ramsay's original poetry, apart from song-writing, is considerable, and we may say of him, as he says of John Cowper, that
He was right nacky in his way,
And eydent baith be night and day.
His English poems, which include a number of so-called odes and elegies, are of little interest and significance, when they are not positively bad. Health and The Morning Interview, both in rhymed heroics, are the result of injudicious "emulation" of Pope, and little instruction or amusement can be derived from Tartana; or the Plaid, in which he implores the Caledonian beauties "who have long been both the muse and subject of [his] song," to assist their bard,
who, in harmonious lays
Designs the glory of your plaid to raise.
Much better are his Fables (1722-30), in Scots octosyllabics, though he never attains the freedom and lightness of touch that distinguish the
Dear lad, wha linkan o'er the lee,
Sang Blowsalind and Bowzybee.
In the "familiar epistles" which passed between him and Hamilton of Gilbertfield in the Habbie Simson metre he not only gives his talents fairer play, but provides a model of which Burns was not slow to avail himself to admirable purpose. Two poems of heavier calibre and more ambitious design would of themselves have marked out Ramsay from the general run of Scottish "bards." The brace of cantos which he added to Christis Kirk on the Green (1716) are characteristic of one aspect of the age and of the race—grimy, squalid, and coarse; full of what is known as "realism," but lacking that touch of genius which a Burns might have supplied, and in whose absence the spirit of gaiety has evaporated, and mirth has sunk into gross and unredeemed buffoonery. The Gentle Shepherd (1725), which has generally been regarded as Ramsay's masterpiece, is much pleasanter reading than the Christis Kirk cantos, though it is difficult to classify. The work is, in truth, a curious blend of the mock-pastoral of Gay with the realistic-pastoral, if we may call it so, of Crabbe. Anomalous though the species be, the experiment is in the main successful. The mild burlesque of the conventional idyll with its Damons and Phyllises that runs through the poem mingles very happily with the pictures of Scottish peasant life, which, if some of its harsher features have been eliminated from the representation, is depicted with faithfulness and sympathy.
But to many judges it must always seem that the very cream of Ramsay's work is to be found in his vernacular pieces, on some topic of purely local or personal interest, which the genius of the author has so handled as to raise it out of the parochial and particular into the region of the artistic and universal. When treating such themes Ramsay's metre is that of Habbie Simson, except in the cases in which he employs that of The Cherry and the Sale. But he handles both with equal firmness and dexterity. Here are a couple of stanzas from The Poet's Wish, in which stands revealed a "gausie" shopkeeping Scots Horace, but a Horace, notwithstanding:—
In the same measure are the humorous Address to the Town Council of Edinburgh, praying them to suppress the piracy of the author's works by the street ballad-vendors, and The Vision, a poem in a loftier strain, which he in vain endeavoured to palm off as a genuine antique in the Evergreen.
In the less complicated and shorter stanza to which I have referred we have a quartette of Elegies; on Maggy Johntoun, who kept an alehouse at Bruntsfield links, on Lucky Wood, who kept a tavern in the Canongate, on Patie Birnie, "the famous fiddler of Kinghorn," and on John Cowper, the...
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The Scottish Augustans
A. M. Oliver
SOURCE: "The Scottish Augustans," in Scottish Poetry: A Critical Survey, edited by James Kinsley, Cassell and Company Ltd., 1955, pp. 119-49.
[In the following essay, Oliver discusses eighteenth-century Scottish poetry written in English, faulting its didacticism and conventionality, and praising its original treatment of supernatural themes.]
The eighteenth-century Scots who wrote English verse, but little or no verse in Scots, are described conveniently by the title of this [essay]—conveniently, but inaccurately. In the sense in which Horace or Pope was Augustan, in poise, clear self-knowledge and serene self-esteem, in mastery...
(The entire section is 12658 words.)
Scottish Ballads
John Speirs
SOURCE: "The Scottish Ballads," in The Scots Literary Tradition: An Essay in Criticism, second edition, Faber & Faber, 1962, pp. 131-141.
[A former lecturer at the University of Exeter, Speirs has written a number of studies of poetry, including books on Medieval poetry and Chaucer. In the following essay, originally published in the first edition of The Scots Literary Tradition (1940), Speirs discusses the folk tradition in relation to Scottish Ballad poetry.]
As we have them in the Collections, the Scottish Ballads are poems chiefly of the eighteenth century. That they are quite different from other poems of that...
(The entire section is 2945 words.)
The Scots Vernacular Revival
H. J. C. Grierson
SOURCE: "The Problem of the Scottish Poet," in Essays and Studies, Vol. XXI, 1936, pp. 105-23.
[Formerly a professor of English and rector at the University of Edinburgh, Grierson wrote and edited a number of books on Sir Walter Scott. In the following excerpt, Grierson discusses the limited role of the Scottish dialect since the eighteenth century and asserts that Burns and Scott were the last representatives of a genuine Scottish poetic tradition.]
Throughout the seventeenth, the eighteenth, and even part of the nineteenth century the cultured, educated Scot spoke, among his fellow Scots, his Scottish vernacular; but if he...
(The entire section is 24536 words.)
Scottish Poetry After Burns
T. C. Smout
SOURCE: "The Golden Age of Scottish Culture: Poetry and Novels," in A History of the Scottish People, 1560-1830, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1969, pp. 489-500.
[A professor of Scottish history at the University of St. Andrews, Smout has written several important historical studies of Scotland, including Scottish Trade on the Eve of the Union, 1660-1707 (1963) and (with I. Levitt) The State of the Scottish Working Class in 1843 (1979). In the following excerpt, Smout discusses the culmination and subsequent decline of Scottish poetry.]
Why should Scottish imaginative literature of the eighteenth century … beat up to a...
(The entire section is 2607 words.)
Further Reading
Buchan, John. "Certain Poets: Scots Vernacular Poetry." In Homilies and Recreations, pp. 261-72. 1926. Reprint. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1969.
Chronicles the evolution of Scots, focusing on its revival and preservation in eighteenth-century Scottish literature and its subsequent deterioration.
Craig, David. Scottish Literature and the Scottish People, 1680-1830. London: Chatto & Windus, 1961, 340 p.
Cross-disciplinary "'social history' of literature" exploring especially the cultural environment that produced the vernacular revival.
(The entire section is 334 words.)