著作简介 The Seasons, by James Thomson, ---------------- London: printed for C. Whittingham ----------------
[维基百科] James Thomson (11 September 1700 – 27 August 1748) was a Scottishpoet and playwright, known for his masterpiece The Seasons and the lyrics of Rule, Britannia!. Scotland, 1700–1725[edit] James Thomson was born in Ednam in Roxburghshire around 11 September 1700 and baptised on 15 September.[1] The fourth of nine children of Thomas Thomson and Beatrix Thomson (née Trotter).[2] Beatrix Thomson was born in Fogo, Berwickshire and was a distant relation of the house ofHume. Thomas Thomson was the Presbyterian minister of Ednam until eight weeks after Thomson’s birth, when he was admitted as minister ofSouthdean, where Thomson spent most of his early years.[3] Thomson may have attended the parish school of Southdean before going to the grammar school in Jedburgh in 1712. He failed to distinguish himself there. Shiels, his earliest biographer, writes: 'far from appearing to possess a sprightly genius, [Thomson] was considered by his schoolmaster, and those which directed his education, as being really without a common share of parts'.[4] He was, however, encouraged to write poetry by Robert Riccaltoun (1691–1769), a farmer, poet and Presbyterian minister; and Sir William Bennet (d. 1729), a whiglaird who was a patron of Allan Ramsay.[3] While some early poems by Thomson survive, he burned most of them on New Year’s Day each year.[5] Thomson entered the College of Edinburgh in autumn 1715, destined for the Presbyterian ministry. At Edinburgh he studied metaphysics, Logic, Ethics, Greek, Latin and Natural Philosophy. He completed his arts course in 1719 but chose not to graduate, instead entering Divinity Hall to become a minister.[6] In 1716 Thomas Thomson died, with local legend saying that he was killed whilst performing an exorcism.[3] At Edinburgh Thomson became a member of the Grotesque Club, a literary group, and he met his lifelong friend David Mallet. After the successful publication of some of his poems in the ‘’Edinburgh Miscellany’’ Thomson followed Mallet toLondon in February 1725 in an effort to publish his verse.[3]
James Thomson, fromSamuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets (c.1779) London, 1725–1727[edit] In London, Thomson became a tutor to the son of Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning, through connections on his mother’s side of the family. Through David Mallet, by 1724 a published poet, Thomson met the great English poets of the day including Richard Savage, Aaron Hill and Alexander Pope.[3] Thomson’s mother died on 12 May 1725, around the time of his writing ‘Winter’, the first poem of ‘‘The Seasons’’. ‘Winter’ was first published in 1726 by John Millian, with a second edition being released (with revisions, additions and a preface) later the same year. By 1727, Thomson was working on Summer, published in February, and was working atWatt’s Academy, a school for young gentlemen and a bastion of Newtonian science. In the same year Millian published a poem by Thomson titled ‘A Poem to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton’ (who had died in March). Leaving Watt’s academy, Thomson hoped to earn a living through his poetry, helped by his acquiring several wealthy patrons including Thomas Rundle, the countess of Hertford and Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot. Later life, 1728–1748[edit] He wrote Spring in 1728 and finally Autumn in 1730, when the set of four was published together as The Seasons. During this period he also wrote other poems, such as to the Memory of Sir Isaac Newton, and his first play, The Tragedy of Sophonisba (1729). The latter is best known today for its mention in Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets, where Johnson records that one 'feeble' line of the poem - "O, Sophonisba, Sophonisba, O!" was parodied by the wags of the theatre as, "O, Jemmy Thomson, Jemmy Thomson, O!".[7] In 1730, he became tutor to the son of Sir Charles Talbot, then Solicitor-General, and spent nearly two years in the company of the young man on a tour of Europe . On his return Talbot arranged for him to become a secretary in chancery, which gave him financial security until Talbot's death in 1737. Meanwhile there appeared his next major work, Liberty (1734). In 1740, he collaborated with Mallet on the masque Alfred which was first performed at Cliveden, the country home of the Frederick, Prince of Wales. Thomson's words for "Rule Britannia", written as part of that masque and set to music by Thomas Arne, became one of the best-known British patriotic songs - quite apart from the masque which is now virtually forgotten. The Prince gave him a pension of £100 per annum. He had also introduced him toGeorge Lyttelton, who became his friend and patron. In later years, Thomson lived in Richmond upon Thames, and it was there that he wrote his final work The Castle of Indolence, which was published just before his untimely death on August 27, 1748. Johnson writes about Thomson's death, "by taking cold on the water between London and Kew, he caught a disorder, which, with some careless exasperation, ended in a fever that put end to his life".[8] He is buried in St. Mary Magdalene church in Richmond. A dispute over the publishing rights to one of his works, The Seasons, gave rise to two important legal decisions (Millar v. Taylor; Donaldson v. Beckett) in the history of copyright. Thomson's The Seasons was translated into German by Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1745). This translation formed the basis for a work with the same title by Gottfried van Swieten, which became the libretto for Haydn'soratorio The Seasons. 詹姆斯•汤姆森( 1700年9月11日 - 1748年8月27日)是一个Scottishpoet和剧作家,出名的是他的杰作季节和规则的歌词,不列颠尼亚! 内容 [隐藏] • 1苏格兰,一七零零年至1725年 • 2伦敦, 1725-1727 • 3最新生活, 1728年至1748年 • 4版 • 5参考 • 6外部链接 苏格兰, 1700年至1725年[编辑] 詹姆斯•汤姆森出生于Ednam在Roxburghshire 1700年左右9月11日受洗于9月15日。 [1]第四九个孩子托马斯•汤姆逊和汤姆逊贝娅特丽克丝(娘家姓猪蹄)的[2]。贝娅特丽克丝汤姆森出生于福戈,贝里克希尔并房子ofHume的远亲。托马斯•汤姆森是Ednam的长老会牧师,直到八个星期后汤姆逊的出生,他被录取为臣ofSouthdean ,汤姆逊在那里度过他的大部分早年的时候。 [ 3 ] 汤姆森可以在去之前在杰德堡文法学校于1712年参加Southdean的教区学校,他没能区别自己那里。希尔斯,他最早的传记作家写道:“远看似拥有明快的天才, [汤姆逊]他的校长认为,和那些指示他的教育,是真的没有零件的普通股”[4 ]他。然而,鼓励由罗伯特• Riccaltoun ( 1691年至1769年) ,一个农民,诗人和长老会牧师写诗;和威廉•班纳特先生(卒于1729年) ,一个whiglaird谁是艾伦•拉姆齐的赞助人。 [3]虽然一些早期的诗汤森生存,他每年烧掉他们大多在元旦。 [ 5 ] 汤姆森进入爱丁堡大学秋季1715年,注定长老职事。在爱丁堡他研究形而上学,逻辑学,伦理学,希腊文,拉丁文和自然哲学。他完成了他的艺术课程在1719年,但选择不毕业,而不是进入神馆成为一个牧师。 [ 6 ]在1716年托马斯•汤姆森死亡,当地传说称他被杀害而进行驱魔。 [ 3]在爱丁堡汤姆森成为怪诞俱乐部,文学组的成员,他遇到了自己一生的朋友大卫槌。在成功地发表了一些他在爱丁堡'' ''杂诗汤姆逊后跟着槌伦敦吧于1725年2月,努力出版他的诗。 [ 3 ]
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