Sorting out the Stars: The First Publication of 'Delia' and Its Attribution to Burns. Issue 1 (March 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Baraniuk, Carol; Leask, Nigel; Scott, Patrick
• Is Part Of: Burns chronicle. Volume 131:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 21
• Page End: 36
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Subjects: Burns attributions -- Burns apocrypha -- Burns and newspaper poetry -- Burns and pastoral verse -- Peter Stuart -- The Star -- Stuart's Star -- spurious 'Star' -- Belfast News-letter -- Della Crusca -- Silvester Otway -- James Oswald -- Delia; 821.6
• DOI: 10.3366/burns.2022.0036
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1365-7518

Abstract

Abstract : This essay discusses the disputed authorship of the short poem 'Delia'; locates for the first time the correct London newspaper in which the poem was first printed, as written by Burns, before its appearance in Belfast; confirms earlier research and speculation by Lucyle Werkmeister and further elucidates the relationship of Burns with the editor Peter Stuart, and with Stuart's 'spurious' Star newspaper; identifies, also for the first time, a previous publication of the poem with music in The Feast of Apollo (London, ?1787); and concludes that 'Delia' (and the letter that accompanied it in newspaper publication) is very unlikely to be by Burns.