Kenneth Millard
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122258
- eISBN:
- 9780191671395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122258.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
John Davidson's early writings are characterized by their exploration of a Scottish cultural heritage, which initially he seems to have endorsed. But Scottish literature alone became increasingly ...
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John Davidson's early writings are characterized by their exploration of a Scottish cultural heritage, which initially he seems to have endorsed. But Scottish literature alone became increasingly insufficient for Davidson as his talent and ambition developed. The Scottish poet's aversion to the austerity and self-denial and independent thought was almost programmatic. Davidson's move to London in 1890 is a watershed in his progress at which ostensibly he abandoned Scotland as a source of imaginative inspiration. However, the poverty of his literary career intensified the isolation he felt as a Scot in Edwardian London. This chapter tries to show that Davidson's sense of Scottish identity helped to sustain him in this creative enterprise despite public indifference, and argues that his cultural displacement characterizes him as perhaps unique among Edwardians, as one who anticipates some of the innovations of the Modernists.Less
John Davidson's early writings are characterized by their exploration of a Scottish cultural heritage, which initially he seems to have endorsed. But Scottish literature alone became increasingly insufficient for Davidson as his talent and ambition developed. The Scottish poet's aversion to the austerity and self-denial and independent thought was almost programmatic. Davidson's move to London in 1890 is a watershed in his progress at which ostensibly he abandoned Scotland as a source of imaginative inspiration. However, the poverty of his literary career intensified the isolation he felt as a Scot in Edwardian London. This chapter tries to show that Davidson's sense of Scottish identity helped to sustain him in this creative enterprise despite public indifference, and argues that his cultural displacement characterizes him as perhaps unique among Edwardians, as one who anticipates some of the innovations of the Modernists.
