James Orr, Poet and Irish Radical

James Orr (1770-1816) was the foremost of the Ulster Weaver poets. He wrote in both Scots and English and has been favourably compared to his near contemporary Robert Burns. A radical and a lifelong supporter of the Society of United Irishmen, Orr took part in the Rebellion of 1798, after which he fled for a period of self-imposed exile in America. Baraniuk looks at Orr's life and work, examining the changing social, political and theological context of his writing and reassessing his contribution to radical literature and culture during the Romantic era.