Edwin Morgan

Infobox Writer


imagesize = 150px
name | occupation = Poet, Lecturer (Retired)
genre =
movement =
notableworks =
influences = Concrete poetry, beat poetry, sonnets, foreign texts.
influenced = Many modern Scots poets.
website = http://www.edwinmorgan.com/menu.html edwinmorgan.com

Edwin George Morgan OBE (born April 27, 1920) is a Scottish poet and translator who is associated with the Scottish Renaissance. He is widely recognised as one of the foremost Scottish poets of the 20th century. In 1999, Morgan was made the first Glasgow Poet Laureate. In 2004, he was named as the first Scottish national poet: The Scots Makar.

Biography

Morgan was born in Glasgow and grew up in Rutherglen. He entered the University of Glasgow in 1937 and, after interrupting his studies to serve in World War II as a non-combatant conscientious objector with the Royal Army Medical Corps, graduated in 1947 and became a lecturer at the University. He worked there until his retirement in 1980.

He came out as a gay man in "Nothing Not Giving Messages: Reflections on his Work and Life " (edited by Hamish Whyte), Polygon, 1990. He had written many famous love poems, among them "Strawberries" and "The Unspoken", in which the love object was not gendered; this was partly because of legal problems at the time but also out of a desire to universalise them, as he made clear in an interview with Marshall Walker available from [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/scribe?showdoc=15;doctype=interview/ Carcanet Press] .

At the opening of the Glasgow LGBT Centre in 1995, he read a poem he had written for the occasion, and presented it to the Centre as a gift.

In 2002 he became the patron of Our Story Scotland.

In recent years, Morgan has reached a new audience after collaborating with the Scottish band Idlewild on their album "The Remote Part". In the closing moments of the album's final track "In Remote Part/ Scottish Fiction", he recites a poem, "Scottish Fiction", written specifically for the song. In 2007, Morgan contributed two poems to the compilation "Ballads of the Book" for which a range of Scottish writers created poems to be made into songs by Scottish musicians. Morgan's songs "The Good Years" and "The Weight of Years" were performed by Karine Polwart and Idlewild respectively.

He is the last survivor of the canonical 'Big Seven' (the others being Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Garioch, Norman MacCaig, Iain Crichton Smith, George Mackay Brown, and Sorley MacLean).

At the Opening of the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh on the 9th October 2004, he read a poem written especially for the occasion, titled "The Poem for the Opening of the Scottish Parliament".

Works and Publications

* Beowulf: A Verse Translation into Modern English Hand and Flower Press, 1952
* The Vision of Cathkin Braes and Other Poems William MacLellan, 1952
* The Cape of Good Hope (limited edition) Pound Press, 1955
* Poems from Eugenio Montale (translator) School of Art, University of Reading, 1959
* Sovpoems: Brecht, Neruda, Pasternak, Tsvetayeva, Mayakovsky, Martynov, Yevtushenko (translator) Migrant Press, 1961
* Collins Albatross Book of Longer Poems (editor) Collins, 1963
* Starryveldt Eugen Gomringer Press, 1965
* Emergent Poems Hansjörg Mayer, 1967
* Gnomes Akros publications, 1968
* The Second Life Edinburgh University Press, 1968
* Selected Poems of Sándor Weöres and Selected Poems of Ferenc Juhász (translator and introduction for Sándor Weöres) Penguin, 1970
* The Horseman's Word: Concrete Poems Akros, 1970
* Twelve Songs Castlelaw Press, 1970
* Glasgow Sonnets Castlelaw Press, 1972
* Instamatic Poems Ian McKelvie, 1972
* Wi the haill voice: 25 poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky (translator and glossary) Carcanet, 1972
* From Glasgow to Saturn Carcanet, 1973
* Nuspeak8: Being a Visual Poem by Edwin Morgan Scottish Arts Council, 1973
* The Whittrick: a Poem in Eight Dialogues Akros, 1973
* Essays Carcanet, 1974
* Fifty Renascence Love-Poems (translator) Whiteknights Press, 1975
* Rites of Passage (translator) [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780856351648 Carcanet Press] , 1976
* Edwin Morgan: an interview by Marshall Walker Akros, 1977
* The New Divan [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780856352126 Carcanet Press] , 1977
* Selected poems by August Graf von Platen-Hallermünde (translator) Castlelaw Press, 1978
* Star Gate: Science Fiction Poems Third Eye Centre, 1979
* Scottish Satirical Verse (compiler) Carcanet, 1980
* Grendel Mariscat, 1982
* Poems of Thirty Years [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780856353659 Carcanet Press] , 1982
* The Apple-Tree (modern version of a medieval Dutch play) Third Eye Centre, 1982
* Grafts Mariscat, 1983
* Sonnets from Scotland Mariscat, 1984
* Selected Poems [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780856355967 Carcanet Press] , 1985
* From the Video Box Mariscat, 1986
* Newspoems Wacy, 1987
* Tales from Limerick Zoo (illustrated by David Neilson) Mariscat, 1988
* Themes on a Variation [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780856355967 Carcanet Press] , 1988
* Collected Poems (republished 1996 with index) [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780856358968 Carcanet Press] , 1990
* Crossing the Border: Essays on Scottish Literature [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780856358975 Carcanet Press] , 1990
* Nothing Not Giving Messages: Reflections on his Work and Life (edited by Hamish Whyte) Polygon, 1990
* Hold Hands Among the Atoms: 70 Poems Mariscat, 1991
* Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac: A New Verse Translation (translator) [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857540284 Carcanet Press] , 1992
* Fragments by József Attila (translator) Morning Star Publications, 1992
* MacCaig, Morgan, Lochhead: Three Scottish Poets (edited and introduced by Roderick Watson) Canongate, 1992
* Cecilia Vicuña:PALABRARmas/WURDWAPPINschaw Morning Star Publications, 1994
* Sweeping Out the Dark [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857540727 Carcanet Press] , 1994
* Long Poems - But How Long? (W. D. Thomas Memorial Lecture) University of Wales, Swansea, 1995
* Collected Translations [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857542530 Carcanet Press] , 1996
* St. Columba: The Maker on High (translator) Mariscat, 1997
* Virtual and Other Realities [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857543476 Carcanet Press] , 1997
* Chistopher Marlowe's Dr Faustus (a new version) Canongate, 1999
* Demon Mariscat, 1999
* A.D.: A Trilogy of Plays on the Life of Jesus Carcanet, 2000
* Jean Racine: Phaedra (tranlsaton of Phèdre) [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857543476 Carcanet Press] , 2000
* New Selected Poems [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857544596 Carcanet Press] , 2000
* Attila József: Sixty Poems (translator) Mariscat, 2001
* Cathures [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857546170 Carcanet Press] , 2002
* Love and a Life: 50 Poems by Edwin Morgan Mariscat, 2003
* The Battle of Bannockburn (translator) SPL in association with Akros and Mariscat, 2004
* Tales from Baron Munchausen Mariscat, 2005
* The Play of Gilgamesh [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857548419 Carcanet Press] , 2005
* Thirteen Ways of Looking at Rillie Enitharmon, 2006
* A Book of Lives [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781857549188 Carcanet Press] , 2007

Poems

Morgan has worked in a wide range of forms and styles, from the sonnet to concrete poetry. His "Collected Poems" appeared in 1990. He has also translated from a wide range of languages, including Russian, Hungarian, French, Italian, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Old English ("Beowulf"). Many of these are collected in "Rites of Passage. Selected Translations" (1976). [ [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?owner_id=507 Carcanet Press - Edwin Morgan ] ] .

Morgan is also known to be influenced by the American beat poets, with their simple, accessible ideas and language being prominent features in his work.

In 1968 Morgan wrote a poem entitled "Starlings In George Square". This poem could be read as a comment on society's reluctance to accept the integration of different races. Other people have also considered it to be about the Russian Revolution in which "Starling" could be a reference to "Stalin".

Other notable poems include:

* "The Death of Marilyn Monroe" (1962) - an outpour of emotion because of the loss of one of the world's most talented women.
* "The Billy Boys" (1968) - flashback of the gang warfare in Glasgow led by Billy Fullerton in the Thirties.
* "Glasgow 5 March 1971" - robbery by two youths by pushing an unsuspecting couple through a shop window on Sauchiehall Street
* "In the Snackbar" - a concise description of an encounter with a disabled OAP in a Glasgow restaurant.
* "A Good Year for Death" (26 September 1977) - a description of five famous people from the world of popular culture who died in 1977
* "The Poem for the Opening of the Scottish Parliament" - which he had to let someone else read at the opening ceremony because he was too ill. (9th October 2004)

Awards

* 1972 PEN Memorial Medal (Hungary)
* 1982 OBE
* 1983 Royal Bank of Scotland Book of the Year Award
* 1985 Soros Translation Award (New York)
* 1998 Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year for "Virtual and Other Realities"
* 2000 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
* 2001 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for "Jean Racine: Phaedra"
* 2003 Jackie Forster Memorial Award for Culture
* 2008 Scottish Book of the Year Award

Awards listed on the British Council Contemporary Writers website [ [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=authC2D9C28A1162422C12YlKnUDCFE8 British Council contemporary writers] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.edwinmorgan.com/menu.html edwinmorgan.com]
* [http://www.nls.uk/writestuff/ The Write Stuff - Modern Scottish Writers] website
* [http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?owner_id=507 Edwin Morgan biography at Carcanet Press]
* [http://www.enitharmon.co.uk Enitharmon Press] website
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/writers/edwin_morgan/ BBC Scotland biography and bibliography] website