William Edmondstoune Aytoun
| William Edmondstoune Aytoun | |
|---|---|
 Engraving by J.C. Armytage from the bust of Aytoun by Scottish sculptor Patric Park | |
| Born |
21 June 1813 21 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh |
| Died |
4 August 1865 (aged 52) Blackhills, by Lhanbryde, Moray |
| Resting place | Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh |
| Occupation |
Writer to the Signet (1835) Advocate (1840) Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Edinburgh University (1845-65) Sheriff, Orkney & Shetland (1852-65) |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Education | Edinburgh Academy (1824-8) |
| Alma mater | Edinburgh University |
| Notable works | Lays of The Scottish Cavaliers (1848) |
| Spouse |
1st Jane Emily Wilson (d. 1859) 2nd Fearnie Jemima Kinnear (m. 1863) (d. 1904) |
| Children | No issue |
| Relatives |
Father-in-law: Professor John Wilson Brother-in-law: John Thomson Gordon |
William Edmondstoune Aytoun FRSE (21 June 1813 – 4 August 1865) was a Scottish lawyer and poet.
Life
Born at 21 Abercromby Place[1] in Edinburgh, he was the only son of Joan Keith (d. 1861) and Roger Aytoun (d. 1843), a writer to the signet, and was related to Sir Robert Aytoun. To his mother, a woman of culture, he owed his early fondness for literature (including ballad poetry), his political sympathies, and his admiration for the House of Stuart. At the age of eleven years he was sent to the Edinburgh Academy, and from there to the University of Edinburgh.
During 1833 he spent a few months in London studying law, but in September of that year he went to study German at Aschaffenburg, where he remained until April 1834. He then resumed his legal studies in his father's chambers, was admitted a writer to the signet in 1835, and five years later was certified a Scottish lawyer. By his own confession, though he followed the law, he never could overtake it. His first publication, a volume entitled Poland, Homer, and other Poems, in which he expressed his eager interest in the state of Poland, had been published in 1832.
While in Germany he made a translation in blank verse of the first part of Faust; but, forestalled by other translations, it was never published. In 1836 he made his earliest contributions to Blackwood's Magazine, translations from Uhland, and from 1839 until his death he remained on the staff of Blackwood's. In it appeared most of his humorous prose stories, such as The Glenmutchkin Railway, How I Became a Yeoman, and How I Stood for the Dreepdaily Burghs. In the same magazine his main poetical work was published, the Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers, and a novel, partly autobiographical, Norman Sinclair. About 1841 he became acquainted with Theodore Martin, and in association with him wrote a series of humorous articles on the fashions and follies of the time, in which were interspersed the verses which afterwards became popular as the Bon Gaultier Ballads (1855).
His reputation as a poet is based mainly on Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers (1848). In 1845 he was appointed professor of rhetoric and belles lettres at the University of Edinburgh. His lectures attracted large numbers of students, raising the attendance from 30 to 150. His services in support of the Tory party, especially during the Anti-Corn-Law struggle, received official recognition with his appointment (1852) as Sheriff of Orkney and Shetland, a role he served for 13 years.
Another work was Firmilian, a Spasmodic Tragedy, or The Student of Badajoz (1854) under the nom-de-plume of T. Percy Jones, a mock-tragedy in which he parodied the poems of the Spasmodic poets. It was intended to satirise a group of poets and critics, including Gilfillan, Dobell, Bailey, and Alexander Smith and it played a decisive role in ending the vogue for such works.[2]
He was married to Jane Emily Wilson, the daughter of Professor Wilson (Christopher North). She died in 1859 and he then remarried, his second wife being Fearnie Jemima Kinnear, who died in 1904. He had no children by either wife.[3]
He is buried close to Professor Wilson in the south section of Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh.
Notes
- ↑ http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
- ↑ The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 6th Edition. Edited by Margaret Drabble, Oxford University Press, 2000 Pp55
- ↑ http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf
References
-
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aytoun, William Edmonstoune". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. - Cousin, John William (1910). " Aytoun, William Edmonstone". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource
- Rosaline Masson, Pollock and Aytoun. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, 1898, ("Famous Scots Series")
External links
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: William Edmondstoune Aytoun |
- "Aytoun, William Edmondstoune". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- Works by William Edmondstoune Aytoun at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William Edmondstoune Aytoun at Internet Archive
- Works by William Edmondstoune Aytoun at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- William Edmonstoune Aytoun at University of Toronto Libraries
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