Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson led a bohemian life in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the Scottish Enlightenment. Many of his extant poems were printed from 1771 onwards in Walter Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, and a collected works was first published early in 1773. Despite a short life, his career was highly influential, especially through its impact on Robert Burns. He wrote both Scottish English and the Scots language, and it is his vivid and masterly writing in the latter leid for which he is principally acclaimed.
Portrait by Alexander Runciman, 1772
Bronze figure by David Annand of Robert Fergusson outside Edinburgh's Canongate Kirk where the poet is buried.
Mathematician David Gregory, subject of a "cheerful" satirical eulogy by Fergusson.
Drawing of the poet used in Cassell's Library of English Literature
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. The city is located in south-east Scotland, and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh had a population of
506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The wider metropolitan area has a population of 912,490.
Image: Dugald Stewart Monument, Calton Hill, Edinburgh (cropped)
Image: Scott Monument Édimbourg 11 (cropped)
Image: Scottish Parliament building, Edinburgh geograph.org.uk 223821 (cropped) (cropped)
Image: Arthur's Seat from Calton Hill (cropped)
