Broadside entitled 'A Funny Conversation'

This poem is introduced by a bit of text that reads: 'A FUNNY CONVERSATION Between Cuddy WILLIE, the Pigman, and HAWKIE, the Speech Crier, Twa Celebrated and Well-known Characters in Edinburgh, on occasion of the Last All-Hallow Fair, held in the Vicinity of Auld Reekie.' Broadsides are single sheets of paper, printed on one side, to be read unfolded. They carried public information such as proclamations as well as ballads and news of the day. Cheaply available, they were sold on the streets by pedlars and chapmen. Broadsides offer a valuable insight into many aspects of the society they were published in, and the National Library of Scotland holds over 250,000 of them. The dialogue structure, as exemplified here, was quite common in Scots poetry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, partly due to its popularity with the great eighteenth-century poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns. The dialogue form was derived from classical models, particularly the work of Plato. Whereas in the classics the form was the basis of a serious philosophical debate, in Scotland it was often used ironically, to satirise the opinions and pretensions of two comic characters. In this example 'Cuddy Willie' and 'Hawkie' start by discussing world affairs but end up in prison after a drunken brawl.

Collection

Popular Print in Scotland, 1650-1850

Inventory Number

4502022

Title

Broadside entitled 'A Funny Conversation'

Object Type

PhysicalObject

Measurements

- 173 x 408mm