Selected Poetry

MacDiarmid Hugh

Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve, 1892-1978), one of the major poets of the twentieth century, is the greatest Scottish poet of any century. He drew on the literary and vernacular traditions of Scottish culture, revitalising the Scots language to create a literature that is modern, engaged and experimental, both nationalist and international in its range.

This selection explores the diversity of MacDiarmid's work, from delicate lyrics derived from the Scots ballad tradition to fierce polemic. It includes the whole of his greatest work, "A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle" (1926), and his philosophical poem "On a Raised Beach", with a full glossary of its technical terms. Scots words have been glossed at the foot of each page, and the collection includes an illuminating memoir by Hugh MacDiarmid's son, Michael Grieve.

About the Author

Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve) was born in 1892 at Langholm in the Scottish Borders. After training as a teacher, he worked as a journalist, before serving in France and Greece during the First World War. Returning to Scotland, he worked as a journalist, and in 1922 began to publish poems in Scots. From that point he became a key figure in the Scottish Renaissance. He became a founder-member of the Scottish National Party in 1928, and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1934. He was expelled from both during the 1930s, although he rejoined the Communist Party in 1956. Between 1933 and 1942 he lived with his second wife in the Shetlands. In 1951 he settled with his family at Brownsbank, near Biggar, where he lived until his death in 1978.

Reviews

"Hugh MacDiarmid has shown what can be achieved when all the risks are taken" – Edwin Morgan

"Riach has done Scottish literature a great service in masterminding the Carcanet edition of the works of Hugh MacDiarmid..." – Times Literary Supplement

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