SOURCE: "Robert Fergusson," in Realism and Romance and Other Essays, 1897. Reprint by Kennikat Press, 1970, pp. 204-25.

In the following excerpt, MacArthur briefly discusses Fergusson's strengths and weaknesses as a poet and compares his work with that of Robert Burns.

In our estimate of Fergusson's poetry his English pieces do not count. 'These English songs,' said Burns, 'gravel me to death,' and it is easy to imagine Fergusson saying the same thing.

That is a measure of Fergusson's English performance; and for most people it will be quite enough. Clearly, had Fergusson written always in this fashion, one would not be talking of him at this time of day. Indeed, if there is one thing more than another specially noticeable in Fergusson, it is the rich feast of the Doric which in every one of his best poems he sets before us. Such phrases as 'gust your...