In 1832 the Scottish ballad collector Peter Buchan of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, presented an anthology of risqué‚ and convivial songs and ballads to a Highland laird. When Professor Francis James Child of Harvard was preparing his magisterial edition of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, he made inquiries about it, but it was not made available in time to be considered for his work. On his death it was presented to the Child Memorial Library at Harvard. Because of its unseemly materials, the manuscript languished there since, unprinted, though referred to now and again, and a few items from time to time made an appearance. The manuscript has now been transcribed with full annotation and with an introduction on the compiler, his times, and the Scottish bawdy tradition. It contains the texts (without tunes) of seventy-six bawdy songs and ballads, along with a long-lost scatological poem attributed to the Edinburgh writer James “Balloon” Tytler. Appendices give details of Buchan's two published collections of ballads. Additionally, there is a list of tale types and motifs, a glossary of Scots and archaic words, a bibliography, and an index. The High-Kilted Muse brings to light a long-suppressed volume and fills in a great gap in published bawdy songs and ballads.

In 1614, just prior to his ordination, John Donne renounced the writing of verse. He was well aware of the widespread opinion that rhyming was an inappropriate avocation for a man of the cloth. Yet, on certain occasions, Donne did write poetry again. In this group of five closely related essays, David Novarr takes a new look at Donne's poems—both secular and divine—written before and after his ordination. He reassesses the validity and utility of widely accepted critical contexts which define our understanding of particular poems, and proposes fresh approaches and interpretations. Novarr's knowledge of Donne's life, his critical insight, and his attention to the details of Donne's texts—all join to make The Disinterred Muse a major contribution to our understanding of Donne and his art.

Explores how emerging ideas of infancy and childhood gave Romantic writers and readers new ways of understanding history and literature.