ABSTRACT
Hogg’s The Poetic Mirror; or The Living Bards of Britain was published in 1816. In his autobiography, Hogg explains that his original intention was to produce an anthology of new poems from the most notable poets of the day. Accordingly, he solicited contributions from the likes of Byron, Scott, Rogers, Southey, Wilson and Wordsworth. Though it is perhaps tempting to be sceptical about Hogg’s somewhat over-optimistic hope that such a collection would make his fortune, the idea was not without merit, given that most contemporary anthologies of poetry did not include living poets. Though several of the intended contributors duly produced material, the project seems to have faltered because of the absence of the two most marketable poets of the day, Byron and Scott (the former failed to deliver on his offer of a poem, whilst the latter, to Hogg’s fury, refused to contribute). Hogg described his reaction to looking over the material which he had received:
They were, indeed, all very well; but I did not see that they possessed such merit as could give celebrity to any work; and after considering them well, I fancied that I could write a better poem than any that had been sent or would be sent to me, and this so completely in the style of the poet, that it should not be known but for his own production. 1
