Twentieth Century Scottish Poetry

The most wide-ranging anthology of twentieth-century poetry in English and Scots available.

During the 1920s, Scottish poetry, personified by Hugh MacDiarmid, asserted its independence, denying the claim made by T. S. Eliot that all significant differences between Scottish and English literature had ceased to exist. It was an energetic 'No' to provincialism, and a vigorous 'Yes' to nationalism as an enabler of poetry. On its first appearance in 1992, the retrospective and organising vision of Douglas Dunn's now-classic anthology revealed a profounder level of achievement in modern Scottish poetry - whether in Scots, Gaelic or English - than had been formerly acknowledged, and introduced an entire canon of writing to a wider readership, edited with discrimination and exemplary lucidity.

In the 1920s, Scottish poetry, personified by Hugh MacDiarmid, asserted its independence, categorically denying the claim that there was no difference between English and Scottish literature. Though nationality is often considered a lesser, narrower ideal than poetry, in this case the polemical response has been enabling to rider and writer alike. In this anthology poets such as MacDiarmid, Edwin Muir, Sorley MacLean and Norman MacCaig as well as that of expatriates like Andrew Young and W.S. Graham are included.

In this series, a contemporary poet advocates a poet or poets of the past or present whom they have particularly admired. By their selection of verses and by the personal and critical reactions they express, the selectors offer intriguing insight into their own work.