Pollok, Robert

(1798-1827)

   He was a Scottish poet, the son of a small farmer, born at North Moorhouse in the parish of Eagle316 sham, Renfrewshire. His education was elementary but sound, and he graduated M.A. from Glasgow University in 1822, where he gained distinction in logic and moral philosophy. From 1822 to 1827 he studied theology, both at the United Secession Hall and at Glasgow University. In spite of bad health, he devoted his leisure to literature and in 1825 began the work which developed into the Course of Timeprompted by Lord Byron's "Darkness"-published in 1827. His preaching career was shortened by poor health. With the intention of traveling to Italy, he reached Southampton, but got no farther. With his sister he settled at Shirley Common (a suburb of the city) where he died and was buried at nearby Millbrook Church. The Course of Time is a poem of blank verse in ten books, concerned with the destiny of man, which reached its twenty-fifth edition in 1867. His other known poems: "Happiness," "Helen of the Glen," "Ocean," "Ralph Gemmell," "The Persecuted Family," "Thoughts on Man."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Great Books Online (www.bartleby.com). Significant and Famous Scots (http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/pollok_robert.htm). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Course of Time by Pollok. Robert, J., and B. Williams, 1836. The Eternal Sea: An Anthology of Sea Poetry. W.M. Williamson, ed. Coward-McCann, 1946. Treasury of Favorite Poems. Joseph H. Head, ed. Gramercy Books, 2000.