Robert Tannahill

Robert Tannahill

Robert Tannahill (June 3, 1774 - May 17, 1810) was a Scottish poet. Known as the 'Weaver Poet', his music and poetry is contemporaneous with that of Robert Burns. He was born in Paisley to a weaving family and was apprenticed in the same trade from the age of 12. After a short period of working in Bolton, Lancashire, England around 1800, Tannahill returned to Paisley to support the family in time of illness. In the years which followed, his interest in poetry and music blossomed and his writings began to appear in such publications as "The Scots Magazine". In 1810, he died by his own hand, drowned in the Paisley Canal.

Music

In 2007 Linn Records released The Complete Songs of Robert Tannahill Volume 1.

Perhaps the most enduring legacy of Robert Tannahill is his song "The Braes of Balquhidder", the basis for the traditional Scots ballad "Wild Mountain Thyme" which has the chorus "Will Ye Go Lassie, Go".cite web |url=http://www.renaissancefestivalmusic.com/lyrics/2006/07/braes-of-balquhidder-wild-mountain.shtml |title=Renaissance Festival Lyrics: The Braes of Balquhidder (Wild Mountain Thyme) |accessdate=2008-01-23 |format= |work=]

Politics

A substantial portion of the introduction to William Motherwell's "Harp of Renfrewshire" is dedicated to discussion of Tannahill's uneventful and even-tenored existence. He showed no interest in anything outside his own home, town, and family. However, in 1809, he wrote to his friend the Renfrewshire Militiaman James King, "I see no end of this war system", revealing an understanding of the general inability of human beings to resolve serious conflicts embedded within the historical dynamic of our psychological propensity for war. At a more particular level he was focussing on something with a distinctive place in Scottish culture and history. Tannahill was entering the heart of a Scottish political debate although he has not previously been described as a political poet in any sense at all.

Tannahill's foray into the political appears a contradiction; the sensitive lyric poet goes to the centre of a political controversy with the use of one simple phrase. The reason it did not appear highly political or controversial at the time is because militarism was a central essential of Scottish culture; so everyday that Tannahill's comment would have appeared unremarkable. Most of the residents of Tannahill's home town of Paisley thought the same thing: namely, that Scotland had been involved in the business of war in one way or another for as far back as they could remember and nothing was likely to happen to change that state of affairs.

At least four socio-ideological forces were interacting in Scotland at the time to produce social tension, civil strife and experience of foreign conflict: these were firstly the martial heritage and tradition of mercenary soldiering (the Scotsman as soldier/hero), secondly the Covenanters (radical Presbyterianism, both pro and anti Union), thirdly Jacobitism (the preservation/restoration of the Stuarts) and finally international, social and class conflicts connected with the new arrangements resulting from the industrial revolution.

From at least the middle of the 16th century up to the present day tensions from one or all of these forces have mingled with pro and anti-English sentiments to manifest themselves in outbursts of differing intensity: from the destruction of Catholic religious icons, to the 1745 Jacobite rising, to the Radical War, to the Battle of George Square, to the Celtic versus Rangers and Scotland versus England football matches. All being events of tense, high drama, passion and conflict centred in the public arena which helped form the cultural consciousness of the Scots.

ee also

*Scottish literature

References


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  • Tannahill — may refer to:ee also* Reay Tannahill, author of Food in History (1973) and other works * Robert Tannahill (1774 1810), Scottish poet * The Tannahill Weavers, traditional Scottish musical group active since 1968ee also* Tannehill (disambiguation) …   Wikipedia

  • Tannahill, Robert — (1774 1810)    The Paisley Poet was a Scottish silk weaver, born into a weaving family from Paisley, and while at the loom he would be writing poetry in his head. Although he went elsewhere to work, he returned to Paisley to work with his mother… …   British and Irish poets

  • Tannahill — Tannahill, Robert, schottischer Dichter, geb. 3. Juni 1774 in Paisley, war ein Weber, seine dichterischen Anlagen wurden bes. genährt durch Smiths Composition seiner Lieder; er endete, in Schwermuth versunken, 17. Mai 1810 sein Leben u. schr.:… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Tannahill — Tannahill, Robert, schott. Dichter, geb. 3. Juni 1774 in Paisley, gest. 17. Mai 1810, trieb die Weberei und dichtete daneben Lieder, die durch seines Freundes R. A. Smith Kompositionen bald volkstümlich wurden. Auch gab er »Poems and songs«… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Tannahill — (Tännä–), Robert, geb. 1774 zu Paisley, Weber, Liederdichter in schott. Mundart, endete 1810 wahnsinnig geworden durch Selbstmord. (Gesammelte Werke mit Lebensbeschreibung, neueste Auflage, Glasgow 1851.) …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • Robert Cimetta — Données clés Nationalité  Canada Né le 15 février 1970, Toronto (Canada) Taille 1,85 m (6 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Tannahill Weavers — Infobox musical artist Name = The Tannahill Weavers Img capt = Img size = 250 Landscape = Background = group or band Alias = Origin = Paisley, Scotland Genre = Scottish traditional Years active = 1968 ndash;present Label = Green Linnet Records… …   Wikipedia

  • The Tannahill Weavers — Die Tannahill Weavers sind eine Folkgruppe aus Schottland. Der Name stammt von dem schottischen Dichter Robert Tannahill, von dem auch mehrere Lieder zu ihrem Repertoire gehören. Die Band wurde 1968 in Paisley gegründet und hatte dort auch ihren… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • The Tannahill Weavers — est un célèbre groupe écossais de musique folk. Les musiciens sont Roy Gullane (guitare et chant), Phil Smillie (flûte, bodhran et chant) tous deux fondateurs du groupe, Leslie Wilson bouzouki et chant, John Martin (violon et chant) et Colin… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • TANNAHILL, ROBERT —    Scottish poet, born at Paisley; the son of a weaver, was bred to the hand loom, and with the exception of a two years residence in Lancashire, passed his life in his native town; an enthusiastic admirer of Burns, Fergusson, and Ramsay, he soon …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

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