July 21 – Death of the Scottish national poet, Robert Burns ("Rabbie Burns", "Scotland's favourite son", "the Ploughman Poet", "the Bard (of Ayrshire)"), in Dumfries, at the age of 37. His funeral (with honours as a military volunteer) takes place on July 25 while his wife, Jean, is in labour with their ninth child together, Maxwell. Burns is at first buried in the far corner of St. Michael's Churchyard in Dumfries. The volume of The Scots Musical Museum published this year includes his versions of the Scots poem "Auld Lang Syne" and "Charlie Is My Darling".[1]
Poems, partly a reprint of poems originally published in 1795 and partly new works,[2] including "After Blenheim" (see also Poems1799 and Minor Poems1813[2])
Joel Barlow. The Hasty Pudding, a mock epic on the virtues of cornmeal mush, written in France; it became Barlow's most popular work[3]
William Cliffton, The Group; or, An Elegant Representation, political verses defending Jay's Treaty and a satire on common people ignorantly discussing politics[4]
Thomas Morris, Quashy; or, The Coal-Black Maid, the author's most notable poem, describing the life of a black slave in Martinique and criticizing the British and French systems of slavery[4]
Isaac Story, "All the World's a Stage", published under the pen name "The Stranger", blank verse; includes popular satirical sketches[4]
St. George Tucker, The Probationary Odes of Jonathan Pindar, popular book of anti-Federalist satires on Alexander Hamilton, John Adams and others; written in the style of John Wolcot, who wrote under the pen name "Peter Pindar"; first published in 1793 in The National Gazette, which was edited by Philip Freneau, so the poems have been wrongly attributed to Freneau.[4]
Johann von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, Musenalmanach für das Jahr 1797, published in October, including hundreds of epigrams, both cuttingly satirical (Xenien) and "tame" (zahm), constructive general comments on literature and art:
Xenien, 414 satirical epigrams targeting critics but with a broader aim of denouncing narrow-mindedness and poor-thinking among intellectuals, with each epigram a classical distich composed of a hexameter and pentameter; published in October in Musenalmanach für das Jahr 1797; principal critics targeted were L. H. Jakob, J. K. F. Manso, and F. Nicolai; deep offense and bitter reaction resulted[6]
Tabulae votivae, 124 "tame" distichs organized into 103 tabulae[6]