Life and Works of James Beattie: A Philosopher Poet in the Age of Enlightenment

The works of Scottish poet and philosopher James Beattie (1735-1803) have been relatively neglected by modern scholarship, though his contemporaries considered him an important poetic and philosophical force. In this groundbreaking study, Virginia Sampson traces the intriguing development of Beattie’s career as a poet from his youthful elegies and memorial poems through to the culmination of his poetic career, The Minstrel; Or, the Progress of Genius . For the first time, Beattie’s scholarly pursuits as Professor of Moral Philosophy at Marischal College Aberdeen, and his significant Common Sense philosophical treatise in response to Scepticism, are brought to bear upon his poetical and aesthetic works. Sampson uncovers significant works, now too little studied, which had a profound and lasting influence upon the generations that immediately followed, and in particular upon the first generation of Romantic poets.