Works
His first love though was poetry. He wrote prose and verse for various papers and periodicals, his first efforts being printed in 'the Scotsman'. Longham, Green & Co. London in 1869 also published a volume of his poems. A new and enlarged version was published in 1883 by Kegan Paul, Trench & Co. London and another by Blackwood in 1896. A fourth edition by R & R Clark ltd Edinburgh 1905 and a fifth edition in two volumes was published by James Lewis, Selkirk in 1911. He also contributed essays on poetry as well as poems to 'Blackwoods magazine', the Cornhill magazine, chambers journal and other periodicals. Some of his essays were published by smith, Elder & co, London in 1878 in a volume entitled Ethical and Aesthetica of modern poetry and he was also author of Bible Truths with Shakspearean Parallels published by Whittaker & co., London in 1862 and of which two further editions were printed. His writings cover a fairly wide variety of themes - love, death, sorrow, regret, longing, religion, nature, philosophy and patriotism etc. as well as hymnology and political speeches. Undoubtedly the most popular of his poems is 'auld Selkirk toon' the words of which were put to music by G.R. Colledge and adopted as one of the towns songs at Selkirk's great annual festival - the common riding.
Read more about this topic: J. B. Selkirk
Famous quotes containing the word works:
“I cannot spare water or wine, Tobacco-leaf, or poppy, or rose;
From the earth-poles to the line, All between that works or grows,
Every thing is kin of mine.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In doing good, we are generally cold, and languid, and sluggish; and of all things afraid of being too much in the right. But the works of malice and injustice are quite in another style. They are finished with a bold, masterly hand; touched as they are with the spirit of those vehement passions that call forth all our energies, whenever we oppress and persecute..”
—Edmund Burke (1729–97)
“Are you there, Africa with the bulging chest and oblong thigh? Sulking Africa, wrought of iron, in the fire, Africa of the millions of royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, are you there? Slowly you vanish, you withdraw into the past, into the tales of castaways, colonial museums, the works of scholars.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)