Alexander Craig: The most underestimated of all Scottish Writers?

Mason, Patricia Jane (2022) Alexander Craig: The most underestimated of all Scottish Writers? MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This dissertation offers a re-evaluation of the poet Alexander Craig (1567-1627). Despite being considered a minor poet active during a fallow period in Scottish literature, he has received some share of critical attention. This attention has, in most cases, been directed at either The Amorose Songes, Sonets and Elegies (1606) or The Pilgrime and Heremite (1631). David Laing’s collected edition of 1873 introduced the poetry but did not attempt a critical appraisal.

The rediscovery of a second, manuscript, version of The Pilgrime and Heremite has rekindled interest in Craig. In her 2013 thesis, Lorna MacBean made the case for further study of Craig. This dissertation places him in the social and literary context of his time and evaluates all of his known work, teasing out literary continuities and development. It offers an understanding of the poet in and on terms comprehensible to him and his contemporaries. Identifying and applying historicised categories of interpretation enables a clear understanding of Craig’s relevance in his own cultural context. It gives us sight of a Scottish author at the early Jacobean court who engaged with contemporary emphases in poetry and culture rather than those which posterity prioritised, and demonstrates how he transferred this approach to a more regional poetic after retiring to the north-east of Scotland. It reveals a poet whose wide reading and eclectic tastes defy modern categorisation.

• Item Type: Thesis (MPhil(R))
• Qualification Level: Masters
• Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General); P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0441 Literary History
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Critical Studies > Scottish Literature
• Supervisor's Name: van Heijnsbergen, Dr. Theo and Brown, Dr. Rhona
• Date of Award: 2022
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2022-83002
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 23 Jun 2022 11:23
• Last Modified: 23 Jun 2022 11:25
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.83002
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/83002