Edinburgh's statues can teach us a lot about the city, its culture, and
its people.
Do you recognise this statue? Where can you find it in Edinburgh?
This is a statue of Robert Fergusson (1750 –1774), and you can find him outside the Canongate Kirk (Church) at the bottom of Edinburgh's Royal Mile.
Fergusson is one of Scotland's best poets, yet he was left to die at the very young age of 24 in abject poverty in a mental institution near the present-day Bedlam theatre (Bedlam Theatre is the former New North Free Church was built in the 1840s and was
designed by Thomas Hamilton, an architect involved in the creation of Edinburgh's New Town) towards the top of the Royal Mile.
Fergusson wrote mainly in Scots, not English, and his poetry had a huge influence on Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns. Indeed, Burns was so impressed by Fergusson that he was enraged that the young poet had been neglected by the people of Edinburgh. Burns later erected a stone on Fergusson's unmarked grave in the Canongate Kirkyard.
Fergusson's most well-known poem is about Edinburgh, and it is called 'Auld Reekie' ('Old Smokey' - Edinburgh's buildings are still black from the chimney smoke of past centuries). This poem paints a picture of the many different kinds of people that inhabited the city in the late 1700's, and Fergusson is critical of many of them.
Perhaps Fergusson would have been more accepted by the people of Edinburgh had he been more flattering towards them? Perhaps he would have lived a long and successful life, writing less honest poems?
Do you recognise this statue? Where can you find it in Edinburgh?
This is a statue of Robert Fergusson (1750 –1774), and you can find him outside the Canongate Kirk (Church) at the bottom of Edinburgh's Royal Mile.
Fergusson is one of Scotland's best poets, yet he was left to die at the very young age of 24 in abject poverty in a mental institution near the present-day Bedlam theatre (Bedlam Theatre is the former New North Free Church was built in the 1840s and was
designed by Thomas Hamilton, an architect involved in the creation of Edinburgh's New Town) towards the top of the Royal Mile.
Fergusson wrote mainly in Scots, not English, and his poetry had a huge influence on Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns. Indeed, Burns was so impressed by Fergusson that he was enraged that the young poet had been neglected by the people of Edinburgh. Burns later erected a stone on Fergusson's unmarked grave in the Canongate Kirkyard.
Fergusson's most well-known poem is about Edinburgh, and it is called 'Auld Reekie' ('Old Smokey' - Edinburgh's buildings are still black from the chimney smoke of past centuries). This poem paints a picture of the many different kinds of people that inhabited the city in the late 1700's, and Fergusson is critical of many of them.
Perhaps Fergusson would have been more accepted by the people of Edinburgh had he been more flattering towards them? Perhaps he would have lived a long and successful life, writing less honest poems?
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