Thomas Campbell
Thomas Campbell - A Famous Scottish Poet
Thomas Campbell (1777 - 1844) In 1799 he published The Pleasures of Hope, with Other Poems, and it made his reputation, though it is hard to see why. His other more ambitious works, such as Getrude of Wyoming in 1809 and Theodoric (1824) are justly now unread. But Campbell did write (chiefly in 1800 - 1801) a number of excellent war-songs such as 'Ye Mariners of England', 'The Soldiers Dream', 'The Battle of the Baltic', and above all 'Hohenlinden'.
Though he died as late as 1844, Campbell had nothing to do with the Romantic movement, and was more a poet of the 18th century. Lord Byron, an erratic critic preferred him to Wordsworth and Coleridge; but all that can be said of this judgement is that Campbell is not the worst of those whomw Byron singled out for praise. Born and educated in Glasgow, he moved to London in 1803, received a pension from the Crown, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
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