THIS is a wee, national, loose canon of Scottish poems, a short list of work by 40 terrific Scottish poets, some unidentifiable, which can be found in most anthologies of Scottish poetry or online.
If you can’t find them immediately, do a bit of sleuthing. Dig around. Find them, sample them. Ask questions about what they show you in terms of their poetic form and the big questions they address.
Covering a whole history of Scottish poetry, each one of the poems listed below, I pledge you, has some special quality that helps.
READ MORE: The major poets of modern Scotland are a celebration of difference
I. Early, Medieval and Renaissance
1. Anonymous Gaelic Song, “Deirdre’s Farewell”
2. Columba, “Altus Prosator”
3. Robert Henryson (c.1420-1490), “The Testament of Cresseid”
4. William Dunbar (c.1460-c.1520), “The Dance of the Sevin Deidly Synnis”
5. Gavin Douglas (1474-1522), “The Eneados”
6. Alexander Scott (c.1515-1583), “To love unluvit”
7. Alexander Montgomerie (c.1555-c.97), “Ane Lang Gude-Nicht”
8. Mrs MacGregor of Glenstrae (fl.1570), “Lament for MacGregor of Glenstrae”
9. Mark Alexander Boyd (1563-1601), “Cupid and Venus”
10. Anonymous Ballads, “Thomas the Rymer”, “Sir Patrick Spens” and “The Twa Corbies”
II. Enlightenment and Romanticism 11. Sileas na Ceapaich / Cicely MacDonald of Keppoch (c.1660-c.1729), “Lament for Alasdair of Glengarry”
12. Allan Ramsay (1684-1758), “Lucky Spence’s Last Advice”
13. Alastair Mac Maighstir Alastair / Alexander MacDonald (c.1695-c.1770), “The Birlinn of Clanranald”
14. Donnchadh Ban Mac-an-t-Saoir / Duncan Ban MacIntyre (1724-1812), “Moladh Beinn Dobhrain” / “Praise of Ben Dorain”
15. Jean Elliot (1727-1805), “The Flowers of the Forest”
16. Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), “Ode to the Gowdspink”
17. Robert Burns (1759-1796), “Now Westlin Winds” and “Tam o’ Shanter”
16. Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), “Proud Maisie”
19. Allan Cunningham (1784-1842), “The Sun Rises Bright in France”
20. Mary MacPherson (1821-98), “When I was young”
III. Victorian and Modern 21. James (“B.V.”) Thomson (1834-82), “The City of Dreadful Night”
22. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), poem XI from “Songs of Travel”
23. James Young Geddes (1850-1913), “Glendale & Co.”
24. John Davidson (1857-1909), “The Testament of a Vivisector”
25. Violet Jacob (1863-1946), “Hallowe’en”
26. Edwin Muir (1887-1959), “The Good Town”
27. Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1978), “Milk Wort and Bog Cotton” and “On a Raised Beach”
28. Robert Garioch (1909-81), “The Puir Faimly”
29. Norman MacCaig (1910-1996), “Five minutes at the window”
30. Sorley MacLean (1911-1996), “Hallaig”
31. Sydney Goodsir Smith (1915-1975), “Under the Eildon Tree”
32. George Campbell Hay (1915-84), “Bizerta”
33. WS Graham (1918-1986), “Loch Thom”
34. Edwin Morgan (1920-2010), “Trio” and “For the Opening of the Scottish Parliament”
35. Derick Thomson (1921-2012), “The Herring Girls”
36. George Mackay Brown (1921-96), “Hamnavoe”
37. Iain Crichton Smith (1928-98), “Poem of Lewis”
38. Liz Lochhead (b.1948), “Something I’m Not” and “Mirror’s Song”
39. Jackie Kay (b.1961), “Pride”
40. Kathleen Jamie (b.1962), “Crossing the Loch”
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