Menzies MacDonald,
Robert Allen.Important influence on Hugh MacDiarmid and T. S. Eliot. Born in Barrhead, Renfrewshire. Father was an Evangelical Union minister. Moved to Greenock at age nine. From 1870 to 1871 Worked for Walker’s, a Greenock sugar firm, in the chemical laboratory and then in the office, and after that taught in various schools, interrupted in 1876-1877 when he briefly studied at the University of Edinburgh. Married Margaret Cameron McArthur on 23 October 1885. Worked as a journalist and publisher’s reader in London from 1890 to 1907, and joined the Rhymers’ Club. Moved to Penzance, Cornwall, with his family in 1907, after suffering from illness and financial distress. Drowned (probably by suicide) while on a coastal path walk. Biographical information: ODNB; John Sloan,
New Poems by John Davidson,The Review of English Studies, vol. 44, no. 176, 1993, pp. 548-51. (AC, CC)
| Poem title | Date | Periodical | Roles | id # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrysanthemums | 1893 | Good Words | Poet | 5042 |
| I—London | 1894-04 | The Yellow Book | Poet | 773 |
| II—Down-a-down | 1894-04 | The Yellow Book | Poet | 9973 |
| Thirty Bob a Week | 1894-07 | The Yellow Book | Poet | 774 |
| A Ballad of a Nun | 1894-10 | The Yellow Book | Poet | 790 |
| Proem to “The Wonderful Mission of Earl Lavender” | 1895-01 | The Yellow Book | Poet | 801 |
| The Fleet Street Eclogue | 1895-04 | The Yellow Book | Poet | 7698 |
| Winter Rain | 1899-07 | Atalanta | Poet | 15963 |
| “He works but as He can” | 1899-07 | Atalanta | Poet | 15982 |
| A Song of the Road | 1899-07 | Atalanta | Poet | 15962 |