OpenLearn Works Unit 18: Literature - poetry - bbyy AAllaann RRiiaacchh
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
OpenLearn Works Unit 18: Literature – poetry by Alan Riach Copyright © 2019 The Open University
2 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
Contents
Introduction 4
18. Introductory handsel 5
18.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems 10
The range of Scots dialects in three poems – continued 15
18.2 A brief and very concise history of poetry in Scots 19
18.3 Distinctive characteristics and Scots as a language for poetry 23
18.4 What I have learned 28
Further research 29
References 29
Acknowledgements 30
3 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
Introduction
Introduction
In this unit, you will learn more about poetry in the Scots language. There are samples of
poems representing dialect diversity across various parts of the country, from Shetland,
the Borders, the North East, to each of Scotland’s cities. All are different but connected to
each other.
There is also a range of Scots evident in poetry throughout Scotland’s history, from major
poets of different periods, such as William Dunbar, Elizabeth Melville, Robert Burns, Hugh
MacDiarmid, Christine de Luca and Gerda Stevenson, some of whom you have already
come across in this course. This unit will introduce you to how poetry works in Scots and
how the language itself offers particular opportunities for distinctive poetic expression.
The first thing to emphasise is that all poetry is a transformation of everyday language into
something more highly sensitised than its normal use. Also, there are many different
forms of poem: a sonnet has a distinct structure, a ballad is usually a song that tells a story
in verse in four-line rhyming stanzas, a monologue may be in free verse, an epic such as
Gavin Douglas’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid, touched upon in unit 15, tells a long story
through a number of books and involves numerous characters, men and women in
dramatic situations, taking the form of an extended narrative with many digressions.
In any single case, the Scots language can suggest tones of voice, utilise aspects of
enunciation, vocal and verbal expressions, present or suggest characters, represent
tension, harmony, discord, sorrow or joy, and ultimately it can create meaning in poems in
ways no other language can – or rather, it does so just as all languages do, but in its own
distinctive ways. The lack of a ‘standard’ Scots may be an advantage to writers from
different locations whose voices and hearing have become attuned to the sounds of their
favoured or native territories.
Sydney Goodsir Smith (1915–75) was born in New Zealand but adopted and adapted
Scots in many of his best poems. In ‘Epistle for John Guthrie’ he made the point that all
poems, all works of art, are the result of artifice: they are made things. Here, speaking of
the antipathy towards Scots language in many quarters, he stated the following:
Audio content is not available in this format.
A general guide for you to reading any poem is to think of the word ‘sift’ and apply it as an
acronym like this:
Subject: what is it about?
Imagery: what are the main images it evokes?
Form: what structure does it take?
Tone: how does it sound?
Like any poem in any language, poems in Scots might take any subject, imagery and form
but their tone is particularly affected by the language. In a poem, meaning is usually
conveyed through sound as well as structure, imagery and subject. These component
parts all work together, so what characterises one changes all the others. Throughout this
unit, you will be working with this approach as you explore how the Scots language
shaped much of the poetry of Scotland.
Important details to take notes on throughout this unit:
4 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018. Introductory handsel
● the range of vernacular dialects and the synthesis of dialects in crafted, literary Scots
poems
● the range of forms in literary Scots poems and the relation between voice (or voices)
and poetic form (or forms) through history
● ways of saying (forms of address: who is being talked to, what is the position of the
reader and what is the position of the writer?)
● the distinctive or ‘untranslatable’ characteristics of poetry in Scots.
Activity 1
Before commencing your study of this unit, you may wish to jot down some thoughts
on the important details we suggest you take notes on throughout this unit. You could
write down what you already know about each of these points, as well as any
assumption or question you might have.
Provide your answer...
18. Introductory handsel
A Scots word and example sentence to learn:
Makar
Definition: One who fashions, constructs, produces, prepares, etc.
○ Example sentence: “Pairlament walcomes the annual celebration o Scotland’s
national makar, Robert Burns...”
○ English translation: “Parliament welcomes the annual celebration of Scotland’s
national poet, Robert Burns...”
Activity 2
Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker.
You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation.
Voice Recorder is not available in this format.
Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word
5 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018. Introductory handsel 6 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18. Introductory handsel Language Links Edwin Morgan The word makar is a Scots term for poet, literally, a ‘maker of poems’. The craft as well as the art suggested by the term is important because it emphasises that poems are made for a purpose, and many poets before the Romantic era (c.1770–1830) had specific purposes in mind. In the Medieval and Renaissance world, all art was didactic, and the major Scots language poets of c.1425–1550, Robert Henryson, William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas and David Lyndsay, all had things to teach their readers. They also had defined social roles, at court, in the church or as teachers. The word ‘Makar’ was revived among our contemporaries when Edwin Morgan was appointed the first ‘Scots Makar’ in 2004. He was followed by Liz 7 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18. Introductory handsel
Lochhead in 2011 and Jackie Kay in 2016. Morgan expressed some concern that the term
suggested something antiquated but he and his successors came to welcome it as
distinctively Scottish, as opposed to the designation ‘Poet Laureate’.
Each of these modern poets used their role in this public office to write on public events and
political change that affected people, generally in Scotland. The Romantic idea of the
isolated voice, lyrically speaking of personal experience, was less important than the social
location of a poet speaking on behalf of, and addressing a wider public. This was
exemplified in Morgan’s poem for the opening of the Scottish parliament in 2004,
‘Open the Doors!’.
The poem is mainly in English but uses Scots phrases when declaring what people do not
want of their politicians: ‘What do the people want of the place?’ he asks:
‘A nest of fearties is what they do not want.
A symposium of procrastinators is what they do not want.
A phalanx of forelock-tuggers is what they do not want.
And perhaps above all the droopy mantra of “it wizny me” is what they do not want.’
Related word:
Thrawn
Definition: Twisted, crooked, perverse, bad-tempered, oppositional
○ Example sentence: “Mony eens hiv windered if Stevenson insistit oan scrievin
his story ‘Thrawn Janet’ in Scots cause it is a folk tale...”
○ English translation: “Many people have wondered if Stevenson insisted on
writing his story ‘Thrawn Janet’ in Scots because it is a folk tale...”
Activity 3
Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker.
You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation.
Voice Recorder is not available in this format.
Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word
8 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018. Introductory handsel First_Sunday_Ferry_Protest Hugh MacDiarmid’s poem ‘The Sauchs in the Reuch Heuch Hauch’ contains the word ‘thrawn’ which here suggests a quality of devilish twistedness, a refusal to obey authority. In the poem, the people (‘we’) might ‘come doon’ from stormy moods of anger, intoxication, passion, troubled feelings, and settle down gently ‘like a bird i’ the haun’’ but these sauchs – willow trees, twisted out of shape by prevailing winds – are unchanging and unpersuadable in their opposition to any establishment power. 9 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems 18.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems This section will focus on three poems representing different forms of the Scots language from their own geographical territories: Shetland, the North East, and Ayrshire. These poems draw on the idioms and speech forms their authors grew up with and became intimately familiar with as sound-patterns in their childhood. The question they raise is one of authenticity. When a poet uses their own native language, is that more ‘authentic’ than when a poet uses Scots words and phrases taken from other writers or even straight out of the dictionary? There is also the question of authority and self-confidence. If a poem works, how confident we may feel about its authority will be endorsed. If it seems inauthentic, we inevitably feel more uncertain about the authority of its language. Over centuries, Scots has been subject to these questions, often resulting in uncertainty and lack of confidence. To many English-language readers and writers, Scots still seems merely eccentric. Yet if we’ve seen (especially with ‘The Sauchs in the Reuch Heuch Hauch’) that the rebarbative aspect of the language can enhance the meaning of a poem, we should begin by giving the benefit of the doubt to the poets writing in Scots. To investigate this, we’ll start with one of Shetland’s finest native writers, J.J. Haldane Burgess (1862–1927), blind poet, novelist, violinist, historian and linguist, who assisted Jakob Jakobsen’s research into the Norn language in Shetland. Activity 4 You have come across the Shetland dialect of Scots a number of times already. In this activity, you will work with it again, this time focusing on how this dialect shapes this poem and its meaning. Part 1 Listen to the poem and simply enjoy the sound of the words of the poem read by Bruce Eunson, who himself is from Shetland. Which feature of the dialect stands out to you in the way in which it makes the poem sound? As always, once you have listened, read out the poem yourself and record your rendition - try to emulate the Shetland dialect, if you can, following Bruce Eunson’s example. Voice Recorder is not available in this format. 10 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems Answer This is a model answer, your answer might be different. To me, being a non-native speaker of neither Scots nor English, the poem has a strong resemblance with Scandinavian languages, especially through the way in which vowels are much more prominent than in Standard English, often pronounced as long vowels. This is reflected in the many long ‘a’-sounds (the ɑːin the phonetic alphabet) as in lass, dan, caa’d; the way in which the ‘o’ is pronounced as a long ɔ: in afore, o, mony; the long u: as in troo or sook. Another two vowels stand out for me, on the one hand, because these do not exist as such in English. When written, they are: ü in üt or pür, and ae in maet, spraechin, laeck or fraeksit. When spoken the ü is very much like the Danish !Warning! Calibri not supportedø sound, and the ae reminds me of the Danish æ or the way in which the German ä is pronounced. These sounds add a strong sense of musicality to the language in combination with the different intonation and rhythm from English or other Scots dialects, more like a slow sing-song where the vowels are allowed to stand out and linger. Part 2 Now read the poem and the translation into English and consider again how the Shetland Scots of the poem contributes to the meaning of the poem. Da Blyde-Maet Whin Aedie¹ üt² da blyde-maet³ for himsell An her, pür lass, ’at dan belanged ta him, Whin nicht in Aeden wis a simmer dim Afore he wis dreeld oot ta hok an dell, Hed he a knolidge o da trüth o things, Afore da knolidge koft wi what’s caa’d sin? Afore da world raised dis deevil’s din, Heard he da music ’at da starrins sings? Some says ’at Time is craalin laek a wirm Troo da tik glaar⁴ dey caa Eternity, A treed o woe an pain it aye mann be ’At Fate reels aff frae ever fleein pirm⁵ Bit Joy an Hopp in aa dis life I see, It’s plain anyoch ta see ta him ’at’s carin, T’o Time is spraechin⁶, laeck a fraeksit⁷ bairn, Ipo da bosim o Eternity. We’se aet da blyde-maet yet, an it sall be O mony anidder, deeper, graander life, An Time sall learn troo aa dis weary strife Ta sook da fu breests o Eternity. Vocabulary help: 11 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems 1. Adam 2. ate 3. glad-food, eaten when a woman first rises from child-bed 4. slime 5. pirn 6. screaming 7. fractious Answer This is a model answer, your answer might be different. If we translated this poem into English it might read as follows: The Glad-Food (the meal eaten when a woman first rises from child-bed) When Adam ate the glad-food for himself / And she, poor lass, who then belonged to him, / When night in Eden was a summer twilight / Before he was evicted, / Had he a knowledge of the truth of things, / Before the knowledge tainted with what’s called sin? / Before the world raised this devil’s noise, / Did he hear the music that the stars sing? / Some say that Time is crawling like a worm / Through the thick slime they call Eternity, / A thread of woe and pain it always must be / That Fate reels off from the ever turning pirn. // But Joy and Hope in all this life I see, / It’s plain enough to see by he who cares, / Though Time is screaming like a fractious child, / Upon the bosom of Eternity. / We shall eat the glad food yet, and it shall be / Of many another, deeper, grander life, /And Time shall learn through all this weary strife / To suck the full breasts of Eternity. The language of the original is deeply connected to the Shetland location where Haldane Burgess lived, but the subject of the poem is universal. It begins with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, about to take on the burden of the Tree of Knowledge and set out from ‘Eternity’ into a world of Time and ‘weary strife’. Despair and tragic loss is hauntingly present in the poem, but appetite and a defiant will to embrace the ‘graander life’ in the world at large is the poem’s final, optimistic assertion of value and hope. This balance of loss and hope provides a tension and dramatic structure to the poem. It begins with the word ‘Whin’ (‘When’) which always implies that more than one thing is going on at the same time. (‘When this happened, this was also happening…’) So there’s a suspenseful element in the structural unfolding of the poem. There’s also a distinctively Shetland idiom in the language so that the universal – or specifically Christian – story it tells implies a local application. And that is emphasised by the oral, immediate aspect of the sounds and tones of the vocabulary used. This is not a vatic pronouncement but a colloquial utterance conveyed with great authority. Activity 5 Now go to the North East and consider a very different poem, a song, in fact, The Wild Geese by Violet Jacob, who was born in Montrose as the daughter of the 18th laird of Dun and who later married an officer. However, despite her social standing, “Jacob had great sympathy with the lives of others, especially those who were not blessed in their lot – the poor, the put-upon, the vagrants. She had a keen eye, too, for the age-old inequalities in the relationships between men and women, giving a voice…” (Scottish Poetry Library, 2012) to the unheard. 12 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems
Part 1
Read the poem and analyse its structure, for example focusing on rhyme, regularity of
verses, intonation and sentence stress. In addition, consider the distinctive language
forms of vocabulary and the modulations of tone, as you did in Haldane’s poem, too.
If you are not familiar with analysing poetry or want to refresh your memory, have a
look at the very useful guide by Patrick Condliffe in the Matrix Education blog ‘How to
analyse a poem in 6 steps,’ which provides useful suggestions what you should look
out for in poetry.
The Wild Geese
‘Oh tell me what was on yer road, ye roarin’ norlan’ Wind,
As ye cam’ blawin’ frae the land that’s niver frae my mind?
My feet they traivel England, but I’m deein’ for the north.’
‘My man, I heard the siller tides rin up the Firth o Forth.’
‘Aye, Wind, I ken them weel eneuch, and fine they fa’ and rise,
And fain I’d feel the creepin’ mist on yonder shore that lies,
But tell me, ere ye passed them by, what saw ye on the way?’
‘My man, I rocked the rovin’ gulls that sail abune the Tay.’
‘But saw ye naething, leein’ Wind, afore ye cam’ to Fife?
There’s muckle lyin’ ‘yont the Tay that’s mair to me nor life.’
‘My man, I swept the Angus braes ye hae’na trod for years.’
‘O Wind, forgi’e a hameless loon that canna see for tears!’
‘And far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,
A lang, lang skein o’ beatin’ wings, wi’ their heids towards the sea,
And aye their cryin’ voices trailed ahint them on the air –’
‘O Wind, hae maircy, haud yer whisht, for I daurna listen mair!’
(from: Jacob, V. (1915) Songs of Angus, London, John Murray, also
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/wild-geese-0 )
Provide your answer...
13 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems Answer This is a model answer, your answer might be different. Four four-line stanzas with regular rhymes (AABB / CCDD / EEFF / GGHH) give a regularity which restrains the emotional power of the poem, carrying it forward with regular metre and holding the feeling in, as it were. Yet the emotional power is great. You can feel the Scots words almost onomatopoeic in their effect as they describe the ‘roarin’ norlan’ Wind’ as it comes blowing from the speaker’s native plave, ‘that’s niver frae my mind’. The alliteration in those words (the repeated ‘r’ and ‘n’ sounds, each letter occurring three times, gives that rolling, forceful image of the wind moving as forcefully and inexorably as the waves in the water ‘siller tides’ of water it carries over). The blast comes south into England where the speaker is travelling and brings to him a sound and sense of ‘the siller tides’ as they ‘rin up the Firth o Forth.’ The wind then tells the speaker of the visions it has witnessed: mist and seagulls, the hills of Angus and the wild geese flying. The speaker in exile, filled with heartache and longing to be home, admits ‘There’s muckle lyin’ ‘yont the Tay that’s mair to me nor life.’ He concludes thinking of the wild geese, and their ‘lang skein o’ beatin’ wings, wi’ their heids towards the sea, / And aye their cryin’ voices trailed ahint them on the air –’ and ends by asking the wind to be silent and speak no more of what causes him such longing and pain: ‘O Wind, hae maircy, haud yer whisht, for I daurna listen mair!’ A visceral pathos is present here in which the natural forces of wind and water, a tidal sense of returning and the deep human longing for a similar return, are aligned but differentiated. Wind and water do their natural thing, but people are always subject to exile and human feeling, like this. Part 2 As a second step, listen to Jacobs’ song being performed. There are two easily available versions, one by Jim Reid and the other by Jean Redpath. Listen to both versions, again paying attention to the sound of the Scots dialect reflected in the words of the poem, to the melody not just of the song but also of the language. Jim Reid’s version has a stronger East-Coast feel and you will again notice the strong long vowels, which you have come across in Haldane’s poem. 14 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems The range of Scots dialects in three poems – continued Gerda Stevenson 15 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems
Activity 6
A very different kind of poem is the monologue by Gerda Stevenson, ‘The Abdication
of Mary Queen of Scots’ (though a sense of loss is present here too). The poet from
the Scottish Borders wrote this poem in 2014 in response to a painting (1773) of the
same title by Gavin Hamilton, exhibited in the collection of the Hunterian art gallery at
Glasgow University. View the painting.
Part 1
Read the poem, written in Mary’s voice, in which she mentions the languages she
uses: Latin for legal proceedings, Greek and French as well as the language of her
speech, Scots. Pay close attention to how the line-breaks and emphases within the
lines make the Scots restrained, exhausted, passionate, angry, contemptuous and
strong at different times.
When reading, consider the following questions:
a. She mentions the ‘coorse nieve’ at her gown, over her right arm, and the hand of
Mary Seton on her left arm: how do these two kinds of holding, or touching,
contrast with each other?
b. The regalia and intrigue of royalty, political faction and plots are present in poem
and painting, both visible on the surface and behind the scene, and in the history
leading up to what it depicts. How does the contemporary poet (Gerda Stevenson
was born in 1959) connect not only with the painting but with Mary herself
(1542–87)?
c. How important is the fact that Mary miscarried twins just before her abdication?
What emphasis is this given in the poem?
The Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots
After the painting of the same title by Gavin Hamilton; Mary Queen of Scots, born
Linlithgow, 1541, died Fotheringhay, 1587; imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle, 1567,
where, on 20th and 23rd July, she miscarried twins, and was forced to abdicate the day
after.
Tak ma croon, an dinna fash –
aa yon wis ower fur me lang syne.
Ye needna glaum at ma silk goon
wi yer coorse nieve – I’m nae threit;
I’ll sign yer muckle scroll, dae whit I maun,
past carin noo; thae last three days ma flesh
an saul hae wandert shores o hell-fire, dule an daith:
twa bairns I cradled in ma wame aa through the months,
sae douyce, o Spring an Simmer, slippit cauld an stieve
intae the dowie air o Leven’s grey stane waas,
claucht frae ma jizzen, an burriet ootby, wi nae prayer,
fur aa I ken, an nae sang, twa scraps o heiven,
aa ma howp in their twin licht smoorit noo,
tho milk’s aye buckin frae ma breists unner ma lace an steys;
an I couldnae gie a fig fur yer fouterin laws,
sat there, scrieven yer Latin clatters o queens an kings –
16 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems
O, I could run rings roon ilka yin o ye in Greek an aa,
as weel’s ma bonnie French, but ye’re naethin, naethin noo,
juist ghaists; an, och, Mary, Mary Seton, last
o ma fower leal ladies, dinna waste yer tears
on gien up a bittie gowd an glister, haud ma airm
if it helps, but dinna, dinna greet fur this.
(Luath Press, 2018, p. 4)
Provide your answer...
Answer
This is a model answer, you may have come up with different ideas.
The monologue form does at least two things at once: it discloses the character of the
speaker, and it presents the condition surrounding the speech itself. The most famous
example in English poetry might be Robert Browning’s ‘My Last Duchess’ and this is
worth comparing with Gerda Stevenson’s poem.
The contrasts are revealing. The historical circumstance is depicted in Gavin
Hamilton’s painting and the poem refers to this closely but it is also a dramatic speech
in its own right, giving voice to a character whose iconic presence in Scottish history
has rarely been given such intimate, verbal immediacy.
a. The way in which Mary is touched at her gown on her right arm is fierce, forceful
and without pity, whereas Mary Seton is holding onto Mary, who is supporting
Mary Seaton hiding behind her.
b. The fact that the poem is told in the first person provides a sense of closeness
and immediacy that helps Stevenson connect with the painting but most of all
Mary herself. The poem exudes a strong sense of Mary’s emotions which range
from anger to despair, for example expressed in phrases such as: past carin’ noo;
I’m nae threit; claucht frae ma jizzen; Ye needna glaum at ma silk goon / wi yer
coorse nieve; an I couldnae gie a fig fur yer fouterin laws; but ye’re naethin,
naethin noo / juist ghaists. Stevenson explores Mary’s emotions as a learned
woman in power surrounded by men, as a grieving mother and as a woman who
even in her desperation seeks to support a fellow female in Mary Seton.
c. This is a central feature of the poem and can be read as the reason for Mary not
caring anymore. The centre of her world, her two children, have been claucht
from her, now all other worries and problems pale into insignificance, as
expressed in Mary stating: I couldna gie a fig; but dinna, dinna greet fur this.
Part 2
Finally, reread the poem, preferably out loud, and ask if there are specific words and
phrases in the poem that seem especially effective? How is this effect delivered?
Voice Recorder is not available in this format.
Provide your answer...
17 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018.1 The range of Scots dialects in three poems Answer This is a model answer. Your answer might be different. The use of Scots seems to individualise the speaker but it also makes her vulnerable to the machinery of state authority. In the end, perhaps, qualities of self-possession and dignity come across, over-ruling the pathos and pity of the circumstance. Again the strong vowels, the plain yet very vivid description in Scots of Mary’s feelings say more than elaborate sentences could express and exude the deflation and sense of hopelessness Mary feels, for example when she compares the loss of her children with darkness coming over her: aa ma howp in their twin licht smoorit noo. The poem is less structured than Jacobs’ one you have studied. The lack of structure and rhyme in the verse as well as each line reflects the unfolding chaos that has taken over Mary’s life, through which a sense of anxiety and uncertainty is becoming tangible. The use of Scots conveys a very strong sense of realism and authenticity, making Mary ‘one of us’. 18 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.2 A brief and very concise history of poetry in Scots
18.2 A brief and very concise history of
poetry in Scots
In this this section, you are going to work with three examples of poetry in Scots from
across the centuries, not to attempt a comprehensive overview but to gain a sense of the
historical longevity and quality of Scots-language poetry. The literary history of the Scots
language can still be recognised in dialect forms of Scots today. There are some key
aspects that you will come across, namely that:
● Courtly forms prevailed in some of the earliest examples of Scots poetry and are still
in use, though not at court.
● At different periods in history, poetry in Scots was revived, both by a renewed effort to
write new poems and a self-conscious reappraisal and republishing of older Scots
poetry for a new generation of readers.
● Scots poems can be formal or informal, cool and restrained or impassioned and
forceful: there is no prescription in terms of provenance or legitimacy, other than the
capacity of the reader to engage with them.
Activity 7
In this activity you will work with very different kinds of poems from the 15th, 17th and
21st centuries. As in previous activities, you will read the poems and analyse their
subject, imagery, form, and tone. This time, you will also compare and contrast the
poems with each other in relation to their subject, imagery, form, and tone. As in
previous activities, you will be able to listen to the poems and engage closely with the
sound and rhythm of the Scots language the poets used and how it impacts on the
reader’s/listener’s meaning making of the texts.
Part 1
1. William Dunbar (c.1460-c.1520) ‘To a Ladye’
a. Read and analyse the poem using the SIFT questions from the introduction.
Sweit rois of vertew and of gentilnes,
Delytsum lyllie of everie lustynes,
Richest in bontie and in bewtie cleir
And euerie vertew that is deir
Except onlie that ye ar mercyles.
In to your garthe this day I did persew.
Thair saw I flowris that fresche wer of hew,
Baithe quhyte and rid, moist lusty wer to seyne,
And halsum herbis vpone stalkis grene,
Yit leif nor flour fynd could I nane of rew.
I dout that Merche with his caild blastis keyne
Hes slayne this gentill herbe that I of mene,
Quhois petewous deithe dois to my hart sic pane
That I wald mak to plant his rute agane,
So confortand his levis vnto me bene.
(1919, [c1901]) www.bartleby.com/101/)
19 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018.2 A brief and very concise history of poetry in Scots
b. Listen to the poem.
Voice Recorder is not available in this format.
2. Anonymous ballad ‘The Twa Corbies’
a. Read and analyse the poem using the SIFT questions from the introduction.
As I was walking all alane
I heard twa corbies making a mane:
The tane unto the tither did say,
'Whar sall we gang and dine the day?'
'—In behint yon auld fail dyke
I wot there lies a new-slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there
But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.
'His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady 's ta'en anither mate,
So we may mak our dinner sweet.
'Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I'll pike out his bonny blue e'en:
Wi' ae lock o' his gowden hair
We'll theek our nest when it grows bare.
'Mony a one for him maks mane,
But nane sall ken whar he is gane:
O'er his white banes, when they are bare,
The wind sall blaw for evermair.'
(1919, [c1901] https://www.bartleby.com/101/380.html)
Vocabulary help: Corbies - ravens. Fail - turf. Hause - neck. Theek - thatch.
a. Listen to the ballad, which is often performed as a song, in renditions by
Hamish Imlach and Steeleye Span.
3. Christine De Luca, ‘Hentilagets’ / ‘Odds and ends’ (2014)
This is a poem composed after studying Verbiest’s Chinese map of the world (1674),
which puts China at the centre of the world. Having seen the map on display in the
Hunterian Museum, Glasgow University, Christine De Luca writes in Shetlandic, and
translates into English, her poem about the residual strengths and potential of the
Shetland islanders whose archipelago map-makers still often enclose in a box in the
corner of a map of Britain.
a. Study the map then read the poem first in Scots and then in its English version.
Hentilagets*
No dat I’d lippen dee, Verbiest, sae trang wi
da Chinese Emperor, ta ken aboot dis hentilagets
o skerries. Or, for dat maitter, wi der namin.
Even da best map-makkers missed wis oot or,
whan dey fan wis, prammed wis ida Moray Firt
ithin a peerie box. Maistlins we wir jöst owre
da horizon, a vague prospect, Ultima Thule.
I canna blame dem, for dat nordern ocean
stipplt apö first maps wis buskit wi wrecks
an sea munsters; hed da likkly o a graveyard.
Hendrik Hondius man a read da starns wi
a Davis quadrant an checkit better charts,
20 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018.2 A brief and very concise history of poetry in Scots
Mercator’s, afore he teckled terra incognito,
dat Orcades and Schetlandia Blaeu engraved.
An sae da box appeared: tree dimensions flatcht
ta twa; latitude an longitude forgien;
laand scaled doon, crubbit up, sae da rest could braethe.
But tap dat box an, boy, we’ll loup oot! Gie you
sic a gluff, you’ll nivver trust a Verbiest again!
We’ll rex wis, i wir ain place, prood an prunk
boannie as a weel-med gansey, newly dressed.*
*Hentilagets are tufts of sheep’s wool often caught in heather; usually the softest.
*Dressing a newly knitted garment involves washing and stretching.
Translation:
Odds and ends
Not that I’d expect you, Verbiest, so busy with
the Chinese Emperor, to know about these oddments
of skerries. Or, for that matter, with their naming.
Even the best map-makers missed us out or,
when they found us, crammed us into the Moray Firth
in a little box. Mostly we were just over
the horizon, a vague prospect, Ultima Thule.
I cannot blame them, for that northern ocean
stippled on to first maps was decorated with wrecks
and sea monsters; had the appearance of a graveyard.
Hendrik Hondius must have read the stars with
a Davis quadrant and checked better charts,
Mercator’s, before he tackled terra incognito,
that Orcades and Schetlandia Blaeu engraved.
And so the box appeared: three dimensions flattened
into two; latitude and longitude compromised;
land scaled down, confined, so the rest could breathe.
But tap that box and, boy, we’ll leap out! Give you
such a fright, you’ll never trust a Verbiest again!
We’ll stretch out, in our own place, visible and confident,
beautiful as a well-made jumper, newly finished.
b. Now listen to Christine De Luca introducing and reading her poem. Then read it out
recording yourself.
Voice Recorder is not available in this format.
Part 2
● How do these samples of poems in different forms of Scots relate to each other?
● What do they have in common and what distinguishes them from each other?
Provide your answer...
21 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018.2 A brief and very concise history of poetry in Scots Answer This is a model answer. Your answer might be different. Dunbar’s sonnet is a love poem but characterised by sorrow and loss. The ballad is a macabre, sinister evocation of the consequences of violence and war. Hentilagets is a joyful celebration of life’s abundance, and a reminder that often the neglected or obscure things, people and places, deliver vital material in the unfinished and vastly diverse context of the world’s cultural production. They seem to be about utterly different things, yet each gives a sense of value to the unfamiliar or abandoned thing, a lost love, a murdered knight, tufts of sheep’s wool caught on a barbed wire fence. This value is inherent in the language of the poems itself. Qualities of wry recognition, dark humour, ironic distancing, characterise each of them in different ways. To a Ladye is beautifully poised, opening with fondness and a loving statement immediately tempered by a recognition of mercilessness, and of the waste brought about by cold weather in early spring. The Twa Corbies depicts a knight who has not only been killed but also has been abandoned by his hawk, his dog and his beloved lady. Hentilagets brims over with details of objects but is sustained by a personal investment in the tone of the poet’s voice. The immediacy is there in I dinna blame them [the mapmakers] for putting the Shetland archipelago in a box, to fit them into a map, but at the same time the poem is inclusive in its references and open in its attitude. 22 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.3 Distinctive characteristics and Scots as a language for poetry 18.3 Distinctive characteristics and Scots as a language for poetry When asked what he thought Robert Burns’ best single line of poetry was, Hugh MacDiarmid said that it was the line, ‘Ye are na Mary Morrison…’ from the song, ‘ Mary Morrison’. In context, the meaning is simple enough: the speaker, a young man at a dance, is looking around for the woman he has set his heart on and doesn’t see her. The women he sees are fine and good but none of them are Mary Morrison. Norman MacCaig said he thought MacDiarmid’s choice was surprising, since he’d expected MacDiarmid to quote a politically charged line, such as ‘A man’s a man for a’ that…’ But MacDiarmid’s choice was deeply political in one important sense. He wrote elsewhere that he was committed to bringing to an end the idea of ‘superiority’ attached to one language and imposed over and above another. He was thinking not only of Scots and Gaelic but all the languages of the world which had been threatened, and some made extinct, by colonial conquest. He wrote: ‘All dreams of imperialism must be exorcised, including linguistic imperialism / Which sums up all the rest.’ (MacDiarmid, H. 1955.) In this light, his preference for that line of Burns takes on a powerful significance, because there is all the difference in the world between saying ‘You are not Mary Morrison’ and ‘Ye are na Mary Morrison.’ Those two tiny, seemingly unimportant words ‘Ye’ and ‘na’ set the tone for the whole line; they combine regret, haunted urgency in the search for the beloved, loss and regret at not seeing her or finding her there, and a definite, optimistic sense of preference: other young women may indeed be fine, attractive, bright in various ways and beautiful to the eyes of various beholders, but none of them is the woman for him. It’s in that vernacular, colloquial, intimate yet objective tone that the poetry of the line resides. 23 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.3 Distinctive characteristics and Scots as a language for poetry Alexander Runciman – Robert Fergusson, 1750–1774 Burns (1759–96) wrote his poems and songs in the culmination of the work of a number of writers which opened the ground for him, both in terms of a reading public in Edinburgh, who were well-educated in Scottish poetic tradition and eager for new work, and in terms of a broader public keenness for engagement with Scots vernacular poetry, first in Burns’ native Ayrshire, then further afield. The key figure in this story is Allan Ramsay (1686–1758), whose two-volume anthology The Ever Green (1724) drew upon the Bannatyne Manuscript of poems from the 15th and 16th centuries collected by George Bannatyne in the 16th century. When Ramsay published his anthology in the 18th century, it reintroduced poets such as Dunbar and Henryson to a new readership. The immediate successor in this story is Robert Fergusson (1750–74), whom Burns described as his ‘elder brother in misfortune, by far my elder brother in the Muse’: that is, Burns recognised that Fergusson, in his poverty and ultimate breakdown and incarceration in an asylum for the insane, was in more desperate conditions than himself but that nonetheless, he was as great or even a greater poet. Certainly, Burns gained from the writing and cultural presence these two predecessors had made. In the 19th century, poetry in Scots was sometimes found in the newspapers and periodicals of the cities, particularly Glasgow and Aberdeen. Tom Leonard’s anthology 24 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.3 Distinctive characteristics and Scots as a language for poetry
Radical Renfrew collects many of these poems of protest, demanding social redress. As
the majority of the population of Scotland centred in the cities (especially industrial
Glasgow) the vernacular speech idioms and literary forms that had been familiar and
fluent in village politics and rural life were applied in city contexts. Important poets of this
era included David Webster (1787–1837), Thomas Burnside (1822–79), and John Barr
(1822–92) and Jessie Russell (1850–1923) both of whom emigrated to New Zealand.
After the First World War, the Scottish Literary Renaissance led by Hugh MacDiarmid
foregrounded poetry in Scots, with the long, book-length poem ‘A Drunk Man Looks at the
Thistle’ (1926) galvanising the literary scene in its radical engagement with adult themes
and ideas that most nineteenth-century Scots language poetry had been neglecting.
MacDiarmid took on an international range of reference in the priorities of politics and the
economy described by Marx, ideas of psychology and sexuality explored by Freud,
concepts of power and the refusal of a ‘slave-mentality’ affirmed by Nietzsche. In this, he
had much in common with his contemporaries, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, but he
delivered his most searching expositions of these ideas in poems written in vernacular
Scots.
MacDiarmid’s younger Scottish contemporary, William Soutar (1898–1946), was equally
dedicated to writing poems in Scots, both poems for adults such as MacDiarmid had
pioneered, and brilliantly written poems for children, ‘Bairnrhymes’, riddles and
‘Whigmaleeries’.
These poets regenerated Scots poetry in the 18th, and then again emphatically in the 20th
century. The extent to which Scots is available to anyone in the 21st century through
online sources as well as freely accessible archives means that the rich history of the
subject can be more fully explored than ever before. At the same time, it will always be
necessary to enhance and complement our study of the subject by experiencing Scots as
a living language, which means venturing into the world beyond libraries and universities.
Having acquired some knowledge and experience of how Scots is spoken currently, it is
equally necessary to return to our opening point, that words, language, forms of
expression are different in poems than they are in everyday speech. This unit has done no
more than introduce some of the range of different poetic forms and moments of urgency
through history in which they have found expression.
Activity 8
In the penultimate activity of this unit, you will note your views on one of the aspects
you have come across here: The distinctive or ‘untranslatable’ characteristics of poetry
in Scots.
1. Go through the work you have done in this unit again and think about the poem
that has captured you most of all, especially in terms of:
a. the way in which the Scots language was used to make an impression on
you as a reader/listener. Think also of reasons for your choice.
b. whether you think the message of the poem could not have been the same
had it been written in English or Standard Scottish English – linking to the
idea of distinctive or ‘untranslatable’ characteristics of poetry in Scots.
c. your favourite line/phrase/word(s) used in the poem.
d. maybe also the link between language and the theme of the poem.
25 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018.3 Distinctive characteristics and Scots as a language for poetry
2. Then write a short paragraph expressing your thoughts on the points listed above.
You may even want to write this short paragraph in Scots. Below is some
guidance on how to approach this, especially if you are not a Scots speaker.
Provide your answer...
Answer
This is a model answer. Your answer will be different.
The poem that moved me most was Gerda Stevenson’s ‘The Abdication of Mary
Queen of Scots’. I was struck be the power of emotion here, by how Mary was
presented as a strong woman, even in her weakest hour. Had the poem been written in
English, this compelling message would have been significantly weakened. The Scots
language gives Mary authenticity, it is at the heart of her sense of identity. Scots is the
most appropriate ‘tool’ to express her powerful emotions.
My favourite lines are the ones reflecting her anger, deep sadness and the power she
still holds through not submitting her mind to her abductors are:
O, I could run rings roon ilka yin o ye in Greek an aa,
as weel’s ma bonnie French, but ye’re naethin, naethin noo,
juist ghaists
Scots language is closely related to the theme of the poem, power. This happens in
two ways, Scots is used as the language of the oppressed, those not in power, but also
as the language of people with a strong sense of identity who resist the power of the
establishment
Writing in Scots
You have now come across a wide range of texts in different regional variations of Scots
and have:
1. become acquainted with the way in which the language is ‘put together’ into
sentences and texts.
2. also studied key grammatical features of Scots, which are tools for forming longer
utterances in the language.
3. throughout this course assembled your own record of Scots vocabulary, ideally
noting examples of how the words you listed are used in context.
These three aspects will now help you put together your own written Scots. Instead of
writing in English and then translating into Scots, we suggest you start writing in Scots
straightaway.
If you are new to the language, start small, even with just bullet points. Then go back to
texts in Scots you have read in the course and explore how writers have used words and
phrases to link shorter bits of sentences to create longer and more complex ones.
Then, step by step, you are on your way to produce your own written Scots – and do not
worry about mixing words from different Scots dialects. Remember that you have learned
that Scots is a living language that is shaped by its users who pick and choose their own
repertoire of vocabulary.
26 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 202018.3 Distinctive characteristics and Scots as a language for poetry 27 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
18.4 What I have learned
18.4 What I have learned
Activity 9
Before finishing your work on this unit, please revisit what you worked on in Activity 1,
where we asked you to take some notes on what you already knew in relation to the
key learning points of the unit.
Display of content entered previously
Compare your notes from before you studied this unit with what you have learned here
and add to these notes as you see fit to produce a record of your learning.
Here are the key learning points again for you as a reminder:
● the range of vernacular dialects and the synthesis of dialects in crafted, literary
Scots poems
● the range of forms in literary Scots poems and the relation between voice (or
voices) and poetic form (or forms) through history
● ways of saying (forms of address: who is being talked to, what is the position of
the reader and what is the position of the writer?)
● the distinctive or ‘untranslatable’ characteristics of poetry in Scots.
28 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020Further research Further research You can explore further works by the poets you have encountered in this course and discover more poems in Scots on the Scottish Poetry Library website. Rampant Scotland features an interesting selection of Scottish poetry. Read a dialogue about Haldane’s Da Blyde-Meat between Alan Riach and writer Morag MacInnes on the Writing the North website. Find out more about Christine de Luca and her work. Listen to Christine De Luca talking about writing poems in Shetlandic and in English, how the language of her childhood home in Shetland shaped her and the poetry she writes. She also reads some of her poetry in this video. Read more about Hugh MacDiarmid’s work and views in this chapter by Alan Riach (2011) ‘The Violence and Virtues of Nations’ in Gardiner M. et al. Scottish Literature and Postcolonial Literature: Comparative Texts and Critical Perspectives, Edinburgh University Press, ProQuest Ebook Central. Listen to Hugh MacDiarmid reading ‘A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle. Read and listen to William Soutar’s poetry for children on the William Soutar website (which includes sound recordings and films). Now go on to Unit 19: Literature – prose. References Condliffe, P. (2012) ‘How to analyse a poem in 6 steps’, Matrix Education [Online]. Available at https://www.matrix.edu.au/how-to-analyse-a-poem-in-6-steps/ (Accessed 6/ 12/19). Dunbar, W. (1919, [c1901]) ‘To a Ladye’, in Quiller-Couch, A. T. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250-1900, Oxford, Clarendon Bartleby.com [Online] Available at www.bartleby.com/101/. (Accessed 6/12/19). Haldane, J. J. (n.d.) ’Da Blyde-Maet’, Writing the North [Online] Available at http://www.writingthenorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Da-Blyde-Maet.pdf (Ac- cessed 6/12/19). Leonard, T. (ed.) (1990) Radical Rendrew: Poetry from the French Revolution to the First World War, Edinburgh, Polygon. Lesley Duncan, L. and Riach, A. (eds) (2013) The Smeddum Test: 21st-century Poems in Scots: The McCash Anthology 2003-2012, Kilkerran: Kennedy & Boyd. MacDiarmid, H. (1955) In Memoriam James Joyce (Glasgow: Maclellan, 1955), p.61, cited in Selected Poetry, ed. Alan Riach and Michael Grieve (Manchester: Carca- net, 2004), p.244. McClure, J.D. (ed.) (2017) A Kist o Skinklan Things: An Anthology of Scots Poetry from the First and Second Waves of the Scottish Renaissance, Glasgow, Association for Scottish Literary Studies. 29 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
Acknowledgements Riach, A. (2016) Putting our identity into our own words – the connection between languages, literature and common humanity. National, 2016, 23 Sept. Scottish Poetry Library (2012) Violet Jacob [Online] Available at http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/violet-jacob-0/ Smith, S.G. (2010[1975]) ‘Epistle for John Guthrie’, Collected Poems, London, John Calder. Stevenson, G. (2018) QUINES: Poems in tribute to women of Scotland, Luath Press, 2018, p. 4. ‘The Twa Corbies’ (Scottish Version) (1919, [c1901]) in Quiller-Couch, A. T. (ed.) The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250-1900, Oxford, Clarendon Bartleby.com [online] Available at https://www.bartleby.com/101/380.html (Accessed 6/12/19). Watson, R. (2006) ‘Living with the Double Tongue: Modern Poetry in Scots’, in Ian Brown, Thomas Owen Clancy, Susan Manning Susan, Murray Pittock (eds.) The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: Modern Transformations: New Identities (from 1918), (Volume 3). Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature, 3, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 163–175. Acknowledgements Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. If any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources: Robert Garioch Sutherland plaque: gnomonic - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ 28120556@N08/8361785388 - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Edwin Morgan: Alex Boyd. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Ed- win_Morgan_by_Alex_Boyd.jpg. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Fist Sunday Ferry Protest: Giorgio Galeotti - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: First_Sunday_Ferry_Protest_-_From_Uig_(Isle_of_Skye)_to_Lochmaddy_(North_Uist), _Scotland,_UK_-_May_21,_1989_04.jpg - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Photograph of Gerda Stevenson: Gerda Stevenson De Luca, C. (2014) ‘Hentilagets/Odds and ends’ Christine De Luca Painting of Robert Fergusson: Robert Fergusson, 1750 - 1774. Poet. Photography by Antonia Reeve. https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/2421/robert-fergusson- 1750-1774-poet-about-1772. National Galleries of Scotland. 30 of 30 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4190 Monday 27 July 2020
You can also read
