In March, poet Charles Churchill's Rosciad was published at his own expense, after several publishers refused it. The reckless and amusing satire described with disconcerting accuracy the faults of various actors on the London stage, and the poem immediately became popular, both for its personal character, vigour and raciness. No leading London actor, with the exception of David Garrick, had escaped censure, and in the Apology Garrick was clearly threatened. The actor deflected criticism by showing every possible civility to Churchill, who became a terror to the stage. Actor Thomas Davies, in a letter to Garrick, wrote that he blundered in the part of Cymbeline owing "to my accidentally seeing Mr. Churchill in the pit, it rendering me confused and unmindful of my business".[1]
Churchill's satire made him many enemies, and brought reprisals. In Night, an Epistle to Robert Lloyd (also published this year), be answered the attacks made on him, offering by way of defence the argument that any faults were better than hypocrisy. Churchill received a considerable sum from sales of the poem, paid off all of his old creditors, and gave an allowance to his wife.[1]
James Macpherson "finds" the work of "Ossian"
Macpherson
This year James Macpherson announced the discovery of an epic on the subject of Fingal which Macpherson claimed was written by Ossian. In December he published Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books, together with Several Other Poems composed by Ossian, the Son of Fingal, translated from the Gaelic Language, written in the musical measured prose of which Macpherson had made use in his earlier volume. The authenticity of these so-called translations from the works of a 3rd-century bard was immediately challenged in England, and Samuel Johnson, after some local investigation, would assert (in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, 1775) that Macpherson had found fragments of ancient poems and stories, then wove into a romance of his own composition. Macpherson is said to have challenged Johnson, who replied that he was not to be deterred from detecting what he thought a cheat by the menaces of a ruffian. Macpherson never produced his originals, which he refused to publish on the grounds of expense. Modern scholars tend to agree with Johnson's assessment.[2]
Works published
John Armstrong, A Day: An epistle to John Wilkes, published anonymously, wrongly dated "1661"[3]
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, The Poetical Works Of that Witty Lord John Earl of Rochester: Left in Ranger's Lodge in Woodstock Park, where his Lordship died, and never before Printed; with Some Account of the Life of that ingenious Nobleman. Extracted from Bishop Burnet, and other Eminent Writers, London, posthumous[5]
Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
September 13 –Santō Kyōden 山東京伝, pen name of Samuru Iwase 岩瀬醒, also known popularly as "Kyōya Denzō" 京屋伝蔵 (died 1816), Japanese, Edo period poet, writer and artist; brother of Santō Kyōzan
Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
Ossian is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as Fingal (1761) and Temora (1763), and later combined under the title The Poems of Ossian. Macpherson claimed to have collected word-of-mouth material in Scottish Gaelic, said to be from ancient sources, and that the work was his translation of that material. Ossian is based on Oisín, son of Fionn mac Cumhaill, a legendary bard in Irish mythology. Contemporary critics were divided in their view of the work's authenticity, but the current consensus is that Macpherson largely composed the poems himself, drawing in part on traditional Gaelic poetry he had collected.
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court, who reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodied this new era, and he became as well known for his rakish lifestyle as for his poetry, although the two were often interlinked. He died as a result of a sexually transmitted infection at the age of 33.
James Macpherson was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector, and politician. He is known for the Ossian cycle of epic poems, which he claimed to have discovered and translated from Gaelic.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1761.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1762.
Charles Churchill was an English poet and satirist.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Nationality words link to articles concerning that nation's poetry or literature.
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