John Davidson
John Davidson, 1857-1909.
Fleet Street Eclogues
London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1893.
(SPL) PR 4525 .D5 F6 1893
John Davidson was a native Scotsman who made his living as a school teacher. He increasingly turned his talents toward literature and produced many plays published first in Scotland and then in England. He moved south to London in 1890. Another member of the Rhymers’ Club, Davidson gained a wide readership and considerable notoriety for his collection of poems published as the Fleet Street Eclogues in 1893.
John Davidson, 1857-1909
Ballads and Songs
London: John Lane, 1894.
(SPL) PR 4525 .D5 B35 1894
The Eclogues were followed in 1894 by Ballads and Songs which was also well-received by critics and the reading public.
John Davidson, 1857 -1909.
Perfervid: The Career of Ninian Jamieson
London: Ward and Downey, 1890.
(SPL) PR 4525 .D5 P4 1890
Davidson also wrote a prose romance called Perfervid: The Career of Ninian Jamieson, which broadened his readership.
Davidson was the first English translator of Nietzsche, and through this work he became associated with the philosophy of scientific materialism. Thereafter, his texts became too heavy and dogmatic for his readers. His declining reputation and difficulties in his personal life led him to commit suicide in 1909.