Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Foreword
- Preface
- Background
- From Surgeon's Mate to Physician to the Fleet
- The Newcastle Years
- 12 Married Life and Civilian Practice
- 13 An Essay on Drunkenness
- 14 A War of Pamphlets
- 15 A View of the Nervous Temperament
- 16 Physician as Poet and Playwright
- 17 Thomas Trotter and the Great Theatre of Life
- Bibliography
- Index
16 - Physician as Poet and Playwright
from The Newcastle Years
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- Foreword
- Preface
- Background
- From Surgeon's Mate to Physician to the Fleet
- The Newcastle Years
- 12 Married Life and Civilian Practice
- 13 An Essay on Drunkenness
- 14 A War of Pamphlets
- 15 A View of the Nervous Temperament
- 16 Physician as Poet and Playwright
- 17 Thomas Trotter and the Great Theatre of Life
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
AS WELL AS his large accomplishments as a medical author, Trotter wrote poetry throughout his life and was the author of a play. He made his debut as a poet when aged only sixteen, with verses published in an Edinburgh newspaper. He continued to write poetry throughout his adult life and in 1829 collected his traceable compositions into a volume called Sea Weeds, with the sub-title Poems written on various occasions, chiefly during a naval life. The ‘M.D.’ was as ever put after his name, and Trotter identified himself as ‘Physician of the Fleet’. Facing the title page is a portrait of the author ‘Aet. 37’, reproduced here on page 147. The picture is of a youngish man of direct and commanding manner who is wearing a periwig. There is a high kerchief around his neck and he sports what appears to be the smart uniform jacket with embroidered buttonholes which, although unofficial at the time, he is known to have enjoyed wearing.
Anyone who gives to the public an offering of their poems written over a lifetime is likely to reveal something of himself, his inner life and changing attitudes – and that is certainly the sub-text for examining Sea Weeds. In terms of literary merit, his verses include some clever and engaging pieces that are likely to give pleasure to any reader, while others by common reckoning would probably be rated as mundane.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Physician to the FleetThe Life and Times of Thomas Trotter, 1760–1832, pp. 199 - 208Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011