Michael Bruce

Michael Bruce (born March 27, 1746, Kinnesswood, Kinross-shire [now Perth and Kinross], Scot.—died July 5, 1767, Kinnesswood) was a Scottish poet whose works were allegedly "stolen" by the poet John Logan, provoking a long-lasting controversy.

Bruce’s parents gave him a good education, and he attended four winter sessions at the University of Edinburgh. In 1766 he wrote his last and finest poem, “Elegy Written in Spring.” His reputation was spread, first through sympathy for his early death, and second through the alleged theft by John Logan of several of his poems. Logan edited in 1770 Poems on Several Occasions, by Michael Bruce, in which “Ode to the Cuckoo” appeared. In the preface he stated that “to make up a miscellany, some poems written by different authors are inserted.” In a collection of his own poems in 1781, Logan printed an altered version of “Ode to the Cuckoo” as his own.