Poet Robert Fergusson

Though my other posts about individuals are all about mathematicians and though my sabbatical is focused on mathematics, there is enough about the poet Robert Fergusson (1750-1774) that I came across that I've decided to dedicate a post to him as well.  It is the case that I am as drawn to poetry as I am to mathematics, so this is a natural direction for me to go - yet I had not heard of Robert Fergusson prior to traveling in Edinburgh.

What first caught my eye was his grave at Canongate Kirk, which can be seen in pictures below. Canongate Kirk is on the lower part of the Royal Mile, and the parish it serves includes the Scottish Parliament and the Palace of Holyrood House.  It contains a royal pew and a castle pew.

Upon coming across the grave in Canongate Kirkyard, I was impressed that Scottish literary greats Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson were both so inspired by Fergusson as to wish to provide or to renovate memorial stones to him.  Because of this, his grave, which was originally unmarked, is quite prominent.  Then, when I came around to the front of the kirk, I noticed a statue, that turned out to be of Robert Fergusson as well; later I came across his portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.

Canongate Kirk from the back

Canongate Kirk

Canongate Kirk with sculpture of poet Robert Fergusson out front

Literary Roberts of Scotland

From what I now understand, had I looked more closely at the massive Sir Walter Scott Monument on Princes Street and during my visit to St. Giles', the high kirk of Edinbrugh, I could have seen a memorials to Fergusson in those places as well.  Unfortunately I did not know of these other memorials during my time in Edinburgh.

I think what most caught my attention, though were the words of the inscription Robert Louis Stevenson had intended for his memorial to Fergusson - that it was to be "the gift of one Edinburgh lad to another."  This is all the more poignant given the story of Fergusson's life and death, but more on that in a moment.

Robert Fergusson lived during the time of the Scottish Enlightenment.  He wrote in Scottish English and in the Scots language - his bilingualism particularly influencing Robert Burns.  He was educated at St. Andrew's University but did not have opportunity to graduate due to the need for him to support his family after the death of his father.  He led an active social life and was involved in the literary clubs and artistic circles of Edinburgh.

Things took a dark turn near the end of his very short life.  In late 1773 he wrote a poem about a fellow poet who had died in an asylum, and he expressed fears about having a similar fate himself.  His poetry had already become darker earlier in the year 1773, and his literary output had decreased.  He may have been suffering from depression.  Towards the end of 1774 he sustained a serious head injury in a mysterious fall down a flight of stairs, which knocked him unconscious.  Dr. Andrew Duncan was called out to see Fergusson, and, when he arrived, he found Fergusson in a state of "furious insanity."  Though attempts were made to find something more suitable those attempts failed, and he was hospitalized against his will in Edinburgh's Bedlam madhouse.  He remained there for a number of weeks in horrific conditions (treated as an inmate, living on flagstone floors with straw for bedding) before he died very suddenly on October 16, 1774.  He had just turned 24 years old.

So, while the memorials I saw caught my eye, I was impacted by his story, by what he was able to accomplish in such a short life, and by the desire of other literary greats to memorialize him - most of all I was impacted by the words of Robert Louis Stevenson as he sought to give a gift from "one Edinburgh lad to another."

Bedlam Theatre of the University of Edinburgh - near where Bedlam Madhouse had been