Between 1802 and 1810 Robert Tannahill moved in several circles of actors, publishers and literary figures, in Paisley, Glasgow, and beyond. He was encouraged by some of friends to publish poems or to compose new songs. Among these friends were RA Smith, a music publisher at Paisley Cross, and William Stuart who lived in Anderston, then near Glasgow. Together they used to meet in the Sun Tavern, 12 High Street, Paisley, in their own literary club. Tannahill now began to contribute pieces to different periodicals such as Gleaner, Selector and the Nightingale. It was in the Nightingale that he published The Braes o Gleniffer and The Bonnie Woods o Craiglee in 1806. The following year (1807) he published a set of poems and songs under the title The Soldiers Return which remains his major collection. For the first time he made a substantial sum of money on his work, but as the biographer David Semple says (writing in 1875), there were some criticism of the work which Tannahill was sensitive to. Tannahill was later sought out by the famous James Hogg The Ettrick Shepherd who was also a writer in Scots. In March 1810 Hogg was brought in to see him. The following is an interesting description of the meeting as later recounted by Hogg:

 I supposed that when I arrived in Paisley I had only to ask for Tannahill, the poet, but to my astonishment nobody knew who he was. I was sent from one Tannahill to another, and many others, but none of them the object of my search. At last I found him on his loom, one of a long range, bearing no external indication of the intellectual lava tide that slumbered in his soulDuring the whole night we sat together, and he sang many of his choicest melodies

This description suggests that while Tannahill may have been know in literary circles, he was not yet established in the popular mind of the locality. It was after his death, and the publication of memoirs, that he began to become well known. Even today, though, Tannahill seems little known, being overshadowed by such figures of his own period as Burns and Scott. But his songs and poetry have something to offer everyone.

Tannahill, like Burns and others, wrote in a Scots that is typical of the times. In the 18^th century English came to replace Scots for most prose writing, as a result of English becoming the language of officialdom after the political union with England (1707). English became the template for most writing and when people came to write Scots, they generally adapted to the conventions of English spelling. Scots forms such as hae an and aw came to be written as hae, an and a because in English these seemed to have missing letters - have, and, all. Tannahill wrote according to this (English) rule. Like Burns, he also sometimes used both English and Scots forms together for effect and rhyme, which is why we see both go and gae, for example, or night and nicht. Spellings such as head and spread were generally pronounced as Scots heid and spreid. The following song - Braes o Gleniffer is a good example of his art and one which will always be intimately associated with his name:

Keen blaws the win' o'er the braes o' Gleniffer
The auld castle's turrets are covered wi' snaw
How changed frae the time when I met wi' my lover
Amang the brume bushes by Stanley green shaw

The wild flowers o' simmer were spread a' sae bonnie
The Mavis sang sweet frae the green birkin tree
But far to the camp they ha'e marched my dear Johnnie
And now it is winter wi' nature and me

Then ilk thing aroun' us was blythsome and cheery
Then ilk thing aroun' us was bonnie and braw
Now naething is heard but the win' whistlin' dreary
And naething is seen by the wide spreadin' snaw

The trees are a' bare, and the birds mute and dowie
They shake the cauld drift frae their wings as they flee
And chirp out their plaints, seeming wae for my Johnnie
'Tis winter wi' them and 'tis winter wi' me

Yon caul sleety could skiffs alang the bleak mountain
And shakes the dark firs on the stey rocky brae
While doun the deep glen bawls the snaw-flooded fountain
That murmur'd sae sweet to my laddie an' me

'Tis no' its loud roar, on the wintry win' swellin'
'Tis no' the caul' blast brings the tear to my e'e
For, oh, gin I saw my bonnie Scots callan
The dark days o' winter war simmer tae me