James Hogg

James Hogg (1770 – 1835) was born on his father’s farm in the Ettrick Forest near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. He left school for farm work at the age of seven and became a shepherd in his teens. Steeped in the Oral tradition and encouraged by one of his employers, he determined to become a poet like Burns. He became friends with Walter Scott when the latter’s interest in collecting old ballads led him to Hogg’s mother. In 1810 he went to Edinburgh to seek a literary career. In his own time Hogg was best known as a journalist for Blackwood’s Magazine. Though his epic poem 'The Queen’s Wake' was a success, even The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner - now the most famous of his works - received little recognition when it was published.