Hawthornden, on the North Esk

Category

Library Item

Item no

15340

Title

Hawthornden, on the North Esk, the home, 1585-1649, of the poet Drummond

Artist / maker

Inglis, Francis Caird

Date

1925

Size

21 x 16.5 cm

Type

Photograph; Reproduction

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Hawthornden Castle is located on the River North Esk in Midlothian, Scotland. The castle lies a mile to the east of Roslin, and is just downstream from Roslin Castle. Hawthornden comprises a 15th-century ruin, with a 17th-century L-plan house attached.

The poet William Drummond (1585-1649) was born in Hawthornden Castle. He was educated at Edinburgh's High School and Edinburgh University, then went to France to study law. On becoming the laird at the age of 24, he devoted himself to literature. He translated French, Italian and Spanish poetry, and his own work was influenced by this. He was the first significant Scottish poet to write in English rather than Scots. His best known poems are probably 'For the Baptist' and 'Like the Idalian Queen'. He was a royalist and wrote poems on the occasion of James I's visit to Edinburgh in 1617, and for the Scottish coronation of Charles I in 1633. 'A Cypresse Grove', a meditation on death, is considered to be his finest writing in prose.

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Related subjects

Homes > Residential buildings > Castles and palaces

Landscape > Land > Cliffs

Landscape > Water > Rivers and streams

Places > Scotland > Midlothian

Plants > Trees > Trees

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