Alison Cockburn (née Rutherford) (Q387431): Difference between revisions

Overall: Alison Cockburn wrote poetry and songs throughout her life, but she evidently considered her work as "personal pieces or items to be shared with friends between dinner toasts" (DNB). As such, only a few of her poems were published, the most famous being her anonymous lyrical lament ‘Flowers of the Forest’. At first, many thought that it was an old ballad from the time of Flodden Field. Robert Burns later imitated it in his own ‘I dreamed I lay’ in 1776. Cockburn, however, is remembered more for her correspondence than her poetry. She cultivated and hosted a wide literary circle, and her letters aply described the contemporary cultural and literary scenes in Edinburgh.