John Davidson
born April 11, 1857, Barrhead,
Renfrewshire, Scot.
died March 23, 1909, Penzance, Cornwall,
Eng.
Scottish poet and playwright whose best work
shows him a master of the narrative lyrical
ballad.
After studying at the University of
Edinburgh, Davidson became a teacher,
meanwhile writing a number of blank-verse
dramas that failed to win recognition. In
1890 he went to London, practiced
journalism, and wrote novels and short
stories to earn a living, finally
establishing himself with Fleet Street
Eclogues (1893), Ballads and Songs (1894),
and a second series of eclogues (1896). A
series of “Testaments,” written toward the
end of his life, were long dramatic
monologues in blank verse incorporating
scientific language. They expressed his
idiosyncratic vision, which combined
scientific materialism and romantic will in
the belief that man has been created to
express himself to the utmost. Davidson
completed two plays (1907, 1908) of a
trilogy on this theme. Exhausted by his
efforts to support his family and
increasingly frustrated by the public
response to his work, he committed suicide
by drowning. His poems vary widely in tone
and execution, the best known being “Thirty
Bob a Week.”
