Allan Cunningham began his career as an apprentice stonemason with only a dame-school education. He marched in Burns's funeral, made the acquaintance of James Hogg, and began collecting (and writing) Scots poetry. In 1810 he traveled to London and worked in the studio of the sculptor Francis Chantrey. Cunningham contributed to Blackwood's and the London Magazine, and edited The Anniversary, a prominent annual. With C. W. Dilke, J. H. Reynolds, and Thomas Hood, Allan Cunningham was part-proprietor of The Athenaeum. He published using the signature "Hildallan."
TEXT RECORDS:
1812The Scottish Seer.
1817The Soldier's Return from Waterloo.
1830The Maid of Elvar.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Eighth.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Eleventh.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Fifth.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Fourth.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Ninth.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Second.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Seventh.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Sixth.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Tenth.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Third.
1830The Maid of Elvar. Part Twelfth.
PUBLICATIONS:
The magic bridle. nd.
Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway song. 1810.
Songs, chiefly in the rural language of Scotland. 1813.
Sir Marmaduke Maxwell: a dramatic poem; The mermaid of Galloway; The legend of Richard Faulder etc. 1822.
Traditional tales of the English and Scottish peasantry. 2 vols,1822.
The songs of Scotland, ancient and modern, with introduction and notes. 4 vols, 1825.
Paul Jones: a romance. 3 vols, 1828.
Sir Michael Scott: a romance. 3 vols, 1828.
Lives of the most eminent British painters, sculptors, and architects. 6 vols, 1829-33.
Some account of the life and works of Sir Walter Scott. 1832.
The Maid of Elvar: a poem in twelve parts. 1833.
The cabinet gallery of pictures. 2 vols, 1833-34.
Biographical and critical history of the British literature of the last fifty years. 1834.
Lord Roldan: a romance. 3 vols, 1836.
The life and correspondence of Robert Burns. 1836.
The life and land of Burns with contributions by T. Campbell and an essay by T. Carlyle [ed. Cunningham]. 3 vols, 1843.
Poems and Songs, ed. Peter Cunningham. 1847.
Correspondence in David Hogg, The Life of Cunningham (1875).
PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:
Scottish
Presbyterian
no formal education
clerk
artisan
editor
poet
novelist
essayist
journalist
The Morning Chronicle
The Satirist
The Literary Gazette
Literary Recreations
Scots Magazine
Blackwood's Magazine
Knight's Quarterly Magazine
London Magazine
The Athenaeum
New Monthly Magazine
Fraser's Magazine
Sharpe's London Magazine
Edinburgh Literary Journal
Forget-Me-Not
Friendship's Offering
Literary Souvenir
The Amulet
The Anniversary
The Gem
The Diadem
Juvenile Forget-Me-Not
Christmas Box
Bernard Barton
Robert Burns
Thomas Carlyle
Rev. Henry Francis Cary
John Clare
Thomas Mounsey Cunningham
George Darley
James Hogg
Thomas Hood
James Hyslop
William Jerdan
Charles Lamb
Letitia Elizabeth Landon
John Gibson Lockhart
Mary Russell Mitford
Edward Moxon
John Murray
John Hamilton Reynolds
Sir Walter Scott
Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe
Robert Southey
James Telfer
John Wilson
William Wordsworth
REFERENCE:
DNB; NCBEL; CBEL (3rd ed); DLB.
"Allan Cunningham" La Belle Assemblee S3 5 (February 1827) 53-57; Bryan Waller Procter, "Cunningham's Songs" Edinburgh Review 47 (January 1828) 184-204; James Hogg, "My first Interview with Allan Cunningham" Edinburgh Literary Journal No. 27 (16 May 1829) 374-75; John Gibson Lockhart, in Life of Scott (1837-38); Robert Southey, "To Allan Cunningham" (1828) in Works (1837) 3:305-18; George B. Cheever, Studies in Poetry ... Elegant Extracts (1830); Blackwood's Magazine 31 (June 1832) 981-1002; William Maginn, "Gallery of Literary Characters: Allan Cunningham, Esq." Fraser's Magazine 6 (September 1832) 249 [portrait]; Robert Chambers, revised Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (1832-35; 1870); The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34); S. C. Hall, in The Book of Gems (1838); Thomas De Quincey, "Literary Reminiscences" (1840) in Works (1889-90); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); obituary in Gentleman's Magazine NS 18 (December 1842) 665-66; George Gilfillan, in Gallery of Literary Portraits (1845); David Macbeth Moir, Poetical Literature of the Past Half-Century (1851); Katherine Byerley Thomson, in Recollections of Literary Characters (1854); Charles Rogers, Scottish Minstrel (1855-57) [portrait]; George Gilfallan, in Galleries of Literary Portraits, vol. 1 (1856); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Andrew R. Bonar, Poets and Poetry of Scotland (1864); William Anderson, Scottish Nation (1865); S. C. Hall, "Allan Cunningham" Art Journal 18 (1866); Ralston Inglis, Dramatic Writers of Scotland (1868); David Hogg, The Life of Cunningham, with Selections from his Works and Correspondence (1875) [portrait]; James Grant Wilson, Poetry of Scotland (1876); Maclise Gallery (1898); De Quincey, London Reminiscences (in Collected Writings, 1890, v. 3); David McAllister, in Poets and Poetry of the Covenant (1894); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); F. Miller, The Poets of Dumfriesshire (1910); Reschke, Die Spenserstanze (1918); L. A. Marchand, The Athenaeum: a Mirror of Victorian Culture (1941); Jack, OHEL (1963); G. E. H. Hughes, "The life and works of Allan Cunningham" (PhD diss., Cambridge University, 1975); Prance, Companion to Charles Lamb (1983); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).
COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Allan Cunningham:
BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Allan Cunningham:
AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)
AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(biography records)