The Queen's Wake is one of the landmarks of British Romantic poetry. It focuses on the return of Mary, Queen of Scots to Scotland in 1561 to take personal rule of her kingdom after her years in France. In the poem poets and bards hold a poetic competition (a 'wake') in Holyrood Palace to welcome the Queen home. When The Queen's Wake was published in 1813 it proved an unexpected popular success, placing Hogg for a while alongside Byron and Scott as one of the most admired British poets of that time. Over the next six years Hogg made substantial revisions, making the poem even more attractive and saleable. The fifth edition (1819) is an enhanced and carefully polished version from a now established and respected poet. It is markedly different from the edgy, powerful and unsettling first version, which was the work of an impecunious and marginalised outsider. This book presents both the first and fifth edition of the poem.

About the Author
The late Douglas S. Mack was formerly Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Stirling. Meiko O'Halloran is a Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University. She contributed an essay to the Stirling/South Carolina Edition volume of The Queen's Wake, and is currently preparing a monograph called Hogg's Kaleidoscopic Art. Janette Currie is MHRA Research Fellow in the Department of English Studies at the University of Stirling.


Book Information
ISBN 9780748620883
Author James Hogg
Format Paperback
Page Count 470
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
Weight(grams) 764g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 138mm * 22mm