I lived from 1845-1909. I was from Scotland, and am in the English category.
I was influenced by poets Dante Alighieri, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Alexander Anderson, who generally wrote under the psuedonym "Surfaceman", was born in Kirkconnel, Dumfriesshire, Scotland and became a surfaceman on the railway. He spent all his leisure in self-culture, he mastered the languages German, French, and Spanish sufficiently.
His poeticness, which was somewhat limited in range but true, manifested itself, and when he completed his first book, Songs of Labour, it appeared in 1873. Followed was
Two Angels (1875) and Songs of the Rail (1878), then Ballads and Sonnets (1879).
In the following year, 1880, he was made assistant librarian in the University of Edinburgh, and then after an interval as secretary to the Philosophical Institution, then he returned as Chief Librarian to the University.
He was of a simple character in his life, and made many friends,
including the Duke of Argyll, Carlyle, and Lord Houghton.
He died in 1909.
His poeticness, which was somewhat limited in range but true, manifested itself, and when he completed his first book, Songs of Labour, it appeared in 1873. Followed was
Two Angels (1875) and Songs of the Rail (1878), then Ballads and Sonnets (1879).
In the following year, 1880, he was made assistant librarian in the University of Edinburgh, and then after an interval as secretary to the Philosophical Institution, then he returned as Chief Librarian to the University.
He was of a simple character in his life, and made many friends,
including the Duke of Argyll, Carlyle, and Lord Houghton.
He died in 1909.
Popular poetry
- This was what the pointsman said,
With both hands at his throbbing head:--24 lines, 3 comments - The Spirit of Love came down upon the earth,
He came full-breath'd and strong,32 lines - Love, turn thy gentle feet away,
How can I be thy lover?24 lines, 5 comments - Blind Matthew, coming down the village street
With slow, sure footsteps, pauses for a while,48 lines, 1 comment - God said, "I will reach my hand down to earth,
That man may have in him a purer birth;30 lines - The swart smoke geni with his heart aglow,
And all his giant strength and vigour strung,24 lines
