POET

Norman Maccaig (1910 - 1996)

BIOGRAPHY

In the Times Literary Supplement G. S. Fraser calls Norman MacCaig "the most active and interesting mind fully at work on poetry in Scotland today." Praised for his modesty, MacCaig is well-known for his honest treatment of natural images tempered by a unique brand of wit—"[his] strong suit is the literary-philosophical description of landscape," writes Robert Nye in the London Times. MacCaig's sixteenth volume of poetry, Voice-over, marks something of a departure for him, notes Simon Rae in the Times Literary Supplement: "MacCaig hasn't turned his back on the physical world, but he has, it seems, moved—easily and naturally—away from the excitements of the incidental to a more fixed contemplation of the elemental and the immemorial."

MacCaig told Contemporary Authors: "Of the arts other than poetry, I am most interested in music, of all kinds. I get great pleasure from fishing, particularly in the Highlands. I can read French, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Gaelic. I have visited France, Italy, the U.S.A., and Australia."

CAREER

Teacher in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1934-67, 1969-70; University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, lecturer in English Studies, 1970-72, reader in poetry, 1972-78. University of Edinburgh, fellow in creative writing, 1967-69.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

POETRY

Far Cry, Routledge, 1943.
The Inward Eye, Routledge, 1946.
Riding Lights, Hogarth, 1955, Macmillan, 1956.
The Sinai Sort, Macmillan, 1957.
(Editor) Honor'd Shade: An Anthology of New Scottish Poetry to Mark the Bicentenary of Robert Burns, W. & R. Chambers, 1959.
A Common Grace, Hogarth, 1960, Dufour, 1961.
A Round of Applause, Hogarth, 1962, Dufour, 1963.
Measures, Hogarth, 1965, Dufour, 1966.
Surroundings, Hogarth, 1966.
Rings on a Tree, Hogarth, 1968.
A Man in My Position, Hogarth, 1969, Wesleyan University Press, 1970.
(Editor with Alexander Scott) Contemporary Scottish Verse, 1959-1969, Calder & Boyars, 1970.
Three Manuscript Poems, Rougemont, 1970.
Selected Poems, Hogarth, 1971.
(Editor with Iain Crichton Smith and George MacKay Brown) Penguin Modern Poets 21, Penguin, 1972.
The White Bird, Hogarth, 1973.
The World's Room, Hogarth, 1974.
Tree of Strings, Hogarth, 1977.
Old Maps and New: Selected Poems, Hogarth, 1978.
The Equal Skies, Hogarth, 1980.
A World of Difference, Hogarth, 1983.
Collected Poems, Hogarth, 1985, revised edition, Trafalgar Square, 1991.
Voice-over, Hogarth, 1988.
(With others) Seven Poets, edited by Hugh MacDiarmid, State Mutual Book and Periodical Service, 1989.
(With Edwin Morgan and Liz Lochhead) Three Scottish Poets, edited by Roderick Watson, Trafalgar Square, 1993.
Selected Poems, edited by D. Dunn, Chatto and Windus, 1997.

Contributor of poems and articles to numerous journals. Interviews with MacCaig and others published as Scottish Writers Talking, edited by I. Murray and B. Tait, Tuckwell, 1996.

FURTHER READINGS

BOOKS

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Volume 36, Gale, 1986.
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 27: Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, 1945-1960, Gale, 1984.
Frykman, Erik, "Unemphatic Marvels": A Study of Norman MacCaig's Poetry, Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 1977.
Hendry, Joy, and Raymond Ross, editors, Norman MacCaig: Critical Essays, Edinburgh University Press, 1990.
McNeill, Marjory, Norman MacCaig: A Study of His Life and Work, Mercat Press (Edinburgh), 1996.
Murray, Isobel, and Bob Tait, Scottish Writers Talking: George Mackay Brown, Jessie Kesson, Norman MacCaig, William McIlvanney, David Toulmin, Tuckwell Press (East Linton), 1996.

PERIODICALS

Encounter, January, 1972, pp. 67-74; January, 1986, p. 56.
New Statesman, December 20, 1985, p. 60.
Punch, March 25, 1988, p. 46.
Stand, winter, 1989, p. 75.
Studies in Scottish Literature, Volume 24, 1989, pp. 30-48.
Times (London), August 4, 1983; October 31, 1985; May 19, 1988; January 24, 1996.
Times Literary Supplement, June 10, 1965; December 25, 1969; May 23, 1975; September 9, 1977; May 6, 1988; April 5, 1991, p. 25.