James Thomson (1700-1748)

James Thomson 1700-1748, Scottish poet. Educated at Edinburgh, he went to London, took a post as tutor, and became acquainted with such literary celebrities as Gay, Arbuthnot, and Pope. His most famous poem, The Seasons, was published in four parts, beginning with "Winter" (1726), which achieved an immediate success. "Summer" (1727) was followed by "Spring" (1728) and then "Autumn" in the first collected edition (1730); a revised edition appeared in 1744. In The Seasons, Thomson's faithful, sensitive descriptions of external nature were a direct challenge to the urban and artificial school of Pope and influenced the forerunners of romanticism, such as Gray and Cowper. His other important poems are Liberty (1735-36), a tribute to Britain, and The Castle of Indolence (1748), written in imitation of Spenser and reflecting the poet's delight in idleness. Thomson also wrote a series of tragedies along classical lines, with a strong political flavor. The most notable were Sophonisba (1730); Edward and Eleanora (1739), which was banned for political reasons; and Tancred and Sigismunda (1745). In 1740 he collaborated with his friend David Mallet on a masque, Alfred, which contains his famous ode "Rule Britannia."

Bibliography: See his poetical works (ed. by J. L. Robertson, 1908, repr. 1965); biographies by H. H. Campbell (1979) and M. J. Scott (1988); studies by R. Cohen (1963 and 1970) and R. R. Agrawal (1981).

Thomson, James (1700–48), born at Ednam on the Scottish border, came to London in 1725, and wrote ‘Winter’, the first of The Seasons, which appeared successively in 1726–30. He made the acquaintance of Arbuthnot, Gay, and Pope, found patrons, and eventually, through the influence of Lord Lyttelton received a sinecure. He published in 1735–6 his long patriotic poem Liberty. He produced a series of tragedies, Sophonisba (1730), Agamemnon (1738), Edward and Eleanora (1739); Tancred and Sigismunda (published 1745) and Coriolanus (1749) were produced after his death. In 1740 was performed the masque of Alfred by Thomson and Mallet, containing ‘Rule, Britannia’, probably written by Thomson. In 1748 he published The Castle of Indolence, which contains a portrait of himself (‘A bard here dwelt, more fat than bard beseems’) supposed to have been written by Lyttelon, the first line by J. Armstrong, which affectionately mocks the poet's notorious love of idleness. The Seasons, one of the most popular of English poems, was immensely influential, offering both in style and subject a new departure from the urbanity of Pope and developing in a highly distinctive manner the range of topographical poetry; Wordsworth recognized Thomson as the first poet since Milton to offer new images of ‘external nature’. He contributed greatly to the vogue for the picturesque.

Thomson, James (1700–48) Scottish poet. A precursor of Romanticism, Thomson's best-known work is the four-part nature poem The Seasons (1730). It was used by Haydn as the basis for his oratorio (1801). Other works include the song “Rule Britannia” (1740), and the Spenserian allegory The Castle of Indolence (1748).