Alexander Smith (poet) Summary

Gilfillian is the critic credited with discovering and encouraging Smith. The following article, the second on Smith by Gilfillian, introduced Smith to about six thousand readers before he had even pu... Read more

In the essay below, Walker proposes that Smith should be considered among the greatest English prose writers. Alexander Smith, the author of Dreamthorp, was born at Kilmarnock in Ayrshire on the last... Read more

Here Murphy praises Smith for his work as an essayist and as "an illuminator of the essay as a literary genre." Should you look up Alexander Smith's biography, as Christopher Morl... Read more

In the following essay, Cronin asserts that A Life Drama reflects the life-long despair Smith felt at not being part of the exclusive poetic circle of England. Bound up with A Life Drama in Alexander ... Read more

Clough was an author, poet, and critic who wrote in both England and America during the late nineteenth century. Letters to his fiancé show that Clough originally liked Smith's work, esp... Read more

Here, Aytoun continues his criticism of the Spasmodic poets. Claiming to have discovered a Spasmodic tragedy, The Firmilian, written by a hitherto unknown author. T. Percy Jones, Aytoun provides exten... Read more

In the following excerpt, written soon after Smith's death, Mason eulogizes Smith's writing career and refutes common criticisms of his work. On the 5th of last month Alexander Smith die... Read more

Here, Thayer chronicles the development of maturity in Smith's writing, from his first labeling as a spasmodic poet, to the complex issues addressed in his essays. When rare men die young, suc... Read more