James Thomson (poet, born 1834)

For the 18th-century poet of the same name, see James Thomson (poet, born 1700). For the weaver poet of the same name, see James Thomson (weaver poet). For other people with the same name, see James Thomson.

James Thomson
Thomson in 1860
Thomson in 1860
Born(1834-11-23)23 November 1834
Port Glasgow, Scotland
Died3 June 1882(1882-06-03) (aged 47)
London, England
Pen nameBysshe Vanolis
EducationRoyal Military Asylum
Period1863–1882
Notable worksThe City of Dreadful Night
Signature

James Thomson (23 November 1834 – 3 June 1882), who wrote under the pen name Bysshe Vanolis, was a Scottish journalist, poet, and translator. He is most often remembered for The City of Dreadful Night (1874; 1880), a poetic allegory of urban suffering and despair. Thomson's pen name derives from the names of the poets Shelley and Novalis; both strong influences on him as a writer.[1] Thomson's essays were written mainly for National Reformer, Secular Review, and Cope's Tobacco Plant. His longer poems include "The Doom of a City" (1854) in four parts, "Vane's Story" (1865), and the Orientalist ballad "Weddah and Om-El-Bonain". He admired and translated the works of the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi and Heinrich Heine.[2] In the title of his biography of Thomson, Bertram Dobell dubbed him "the Laureate of Pessimism".[3][4][5]

  1. ^ "James Thomson ('B.V.')". Henry S. Salt Society. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  2. ^ Byron, Kenneth Hugh (2015). The Pessimism of James Thomson (B. V.) in Relation to His Times. Walter de Gruyter. p. 106. ISBN 978-3-11-165603-8.
  3. ^ Tikkanen, Amy. "James Thomson | Scottish poet [1834–1882]". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  4. ^ Moore, Bryan L. (2017). Ecological Literature and the Critique of Anthropocentrism. 107: Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-60738-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. ^ Miller, John (2017), Mazzeno, Laurence W.; Morrison, Ronald D. (eds.), "Creatures on the "Night-Side of Nature": James Thomson's Melancholy Ethics", Animals in Victorian Literature and Culture: Contexts for Criticism, Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 189–211, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-60219-0_10, ISBN 978-1-137-60219-0