Hogg, James

James (1772-1835), a Scottish poet. He was born in the Ettrick Forest in Selkirkshire. He attended the parish school. He was bred a shepherd. His first song appeared anonymously. In the summer of 1801 Scott visited the Ettrick Forest in search of material for Border Minstrelsy. The inhabitants directed him to Hogg as a man of poetic acquirements. Hogg interested himself in taking down ballads from the lips of the old inhabitants. Many of these appeared in Scott's forthcoming volume. This acquaintance with Scotland's greatest man of letters proved a stimulus to Hogg. He wrote with regularity, signing himself "The Ettrick Shepherd." He made various attempts to manage a farm for himself, but each time succeeded in losing whatever money he had secured from his publications. His most celebrated production is the Queen's Wake. He wrote a number of prose volumes, including The Brownie of Bodsbeck, Winter Evening Tales, Song Sermons, etc. Chambers is authority for the statement, that "After Burns, Hogg is unquestionably the greatest peasant poet which Scotland has produced."