Full Description
This edition of a seventeenth-century Scottish poem gives modern audiences insight into the ways previous generations perceived and engaged with local nature and architecture.
Henry Adamson's "The Muses Threnodie" (1638) offers insights into the lives, amusements and anxieties of of the residents of the town of Perth. In it, two of Perth's citizens venture out on foot and by boat into the vicinity of their cramped, closely overseen town. In whimsically funny conversations, they observe local natural phenomena and landmarks while discussing the buried, ruined evidence of the region's architectural history. Their perceptions of waterways and landforms highlight their sometimes conflicted understanding of historical change at Perth on the eve of the Scottish National Covenant.
The beguilingly inglorious verse in which Henry Adamson clothes his characters' sentiments serves as the outermost layer of several stylistic misdirections, as if to distract official attention from any dangerous contemporary criticism within.
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Authorship and date
- Evidence for authorship in An
- John Adamson's role
- Henry Adamson: biography
- The date of MT
Witnesses
- An
- Bo
Language and versification
- Spellings, rhymes, and sounds
- Inflections
- Parts of speech and phrasal construction
- Simple and composite sentences
- Words and meanings in Scots and English
- Versification
Literary and historical significance
- Master Gall and Monsier George
- A poem on Perth
- The bridge and its mysteries
Previous edition
Editorial practice
The Muses Threnodie: Or Mirthfull Mournings on the Death of Master Gall by Henry Adamson
1Pre. Title Page
2Pre. Dedication
3Pre. To the Reader
- William Drummond, Letter to Henry Adamson
4Pre. Henry Adamson, The Inventarie of the Gabions
5Pre. Henry Adamson, An Apologie of the Author
6Pre. Thomas Crawford, De authoris præmaturo obitu
7Pre. John Adamson, To Perth
8Pre. Thomas Crawford, On Patrick Adamson
9Pre. In authorem libri
10Pre. Ad Pertham
11Pre. John Moore, To the Memorie of the Author
1Mu. The First Muse
2Mu. The Second Muse
3Mu. The Third Muse
4Mu. The Fourth Muse
5Mu. The Fifth Muse
6Mu. The Sixth Muse
7Mu. The Seventh Muse
8Mu. The Eighth Muse
9Mu. The Ninth Muse
Textual Notes
Explanatory Notes
Bibliography
Glossary
Index of names and places in the poem
