1882 in poetry

List of years in poetry (table)
... 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 ... 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 ... 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 ...
In literature 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885
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Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), whose contributions to science were profound (including formulation of Maxwell's equations which for the first time expressed the basic laws of electricity and magnetism in a unified fashion, and other discoveries that helped usher in modern physics), this year became a published poet when a collection of his poems was published by his friend Lewis Campbell, two years after Maxwell's death.

As a great lover of British poetry, Maxwell memorized poems and wrote his own. The best known is Rigid Body Sings closely based on Comin' Through the Rye by Robert Burns, which he apparently used to sing while accompanying himself on a guitar. It has the immortal opening lines [1]:

(Maxwell is also known for creating the first true-colour photograph in 1861.)

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

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