Edwin Morgan

[Monco]

There are a few of Edwins poems on the net:

http://www.plagiarist.com/poetry/?wid=3124

http://www.cuteandfluffy.co.uk/diary/whenyougo.html

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/827.html

There is also a very good essay on Morgans love poetry at:

http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/STE...sue2/whyte.htm

[Silverlining]

Thanks Monco.

About the essay: It focuses on the author's sexuality, what brings to my mind the question of 'how relevant it is to his work.' If I have to read a love poem [I, not being homosexual] as being a homosexual poem, because if I would read it from a heterosexual point I would not be reading it correctly, I feel that I would not be reading the poet but his sexual preferences. If I read a love poem, I am reading a love poem. If I have to have any more details than that the poem is a love poem and if I need to understand the sexuality of the poet, I might just pass on it altogether. Also it says that his work has been limited by censorship. Maybe, but I believe in the artists' ability to create beyond that.

"The distance is a courtesy paid to the poet's audience, to their need not to know or not to be forced to acknowledge that they know. Morgan's rule would appear to be that nothing in the poem should enforce a homosexual reading on those who do not bring such an expectation to the poem. This tactic may have made it possible for his work the honoured place it currently occupies in Scottish schools."

This 'tactic' in my opinion might just show how the author understands the reader.

The essay gives me the impression that the authors' sexuality is fundamental to the understanding of his work… I cannot agree with that… I've read many of Lorca's poems [also mentioned at the end of the essay, and know what his sexual preferences were] and I never felt that I was reading his sexuality, but always his poetry.

Is Morgan an author that is only considered in Glasgow's gay circle? I doubt it…

I think that the fact that his poems are used in schools shows that his abilities as a poet are beyond his sexuality. However the essay calls it the author's 'tactic.'

~S

[Edited by Silverlining on 1st July 2002 at 00:00]

[Monco]

I really just posted the Edwin being gay article because it was the only other thing I could remember having read about him on the net.

I think a knowledge of Morgans homosexuality definitely aids understanding of his love poetry, its why the other persons gender is never made explicit, its why there is often a feeling of uneasiness in the poems. But I think they could be read just as well, and appreciated just as well without a knowledge of his sexuality. I might also add that I have heard Morgan reading his poems, and that has also given me a better understanding of the, the way he will say certain lines, and particular emphasis on certain passages (particularly when he reads 'Strawberries').

I don't know what attitudes to gays were or are like in your bit of America, but here in Glasgow and in Morgans case he could have been completely ruined by it. He had a long career as a lecturer, and later professor at Glasgow University, and he could have lost it all it had become known. Despite what anyone will tell you about Glasgow and how liberal it is, believe me its no San Francisco!

Morgan is very highly regarded in all poetry loving circles, I am not aware of any gay circles, though maybe they do exist. The poem 'In the Snack Bar' is often used in schools, and its not remotely gay, though I have been told another of his poems 'Glasgow Green' has been used in schools for years without anybody realising it was about homosexual cruising. Since that is what obviously is about, I have wondered what hell people did think it was supposed to be about!

[Silverlining]

Thanks for the reply Monco.

I'll read just about anything one recommends if it is within my interests. But I will let them know my thoughts on it.

For me a love poem is a love poem, it is not about the poet being homosexual or heterosexual but about his/her emotions and many times emotions can lead people into uneasiness. I also think that the way one understands poetry or a specific poem is a very personal thing. [I have that whole thing about 'individualism.']
The 'Glasgow Green' example that you gave is a good illustration of how different people can look at the same thing and not have the same saying about it.

The 'bit of America' I live in is Los Angeles, more precisely West Hollywood – it is mainly an artistic and part gay community – I am not gay – so people are quite tolerant about homosexuality around where I am. My view of it is that unless I am going to have a physical bond with someone it is none of my business what one's sexual preference is. It is also a multicultural city as there are people from just about everywhere in the world here.

On the first interview with Morgan he says that the Glasgow that he had grown up in has totally changed that lots of people just left the city! I wonder why…

I have not read 'In the Snack Bar' or 'Glasgow Green' so I cannot comment on them and I think is great that you got to hear the poet read this own poems!

I am going to order some books in the next week or so, am thinking about getting a book called '3 Scottish Poets' – they are: Norman MacCaig, Edwin Morgan and Liz Lochhead. Have you heard about the other 2?

~S

[Celyn]

SilverLining, they are both pretty highly thought of, and Liz Lochhead, in particular, is quite witty. (She had the misfortune of being my Art teacher at school, but seems to have survived very well!) They should both be failry well represented on the net. It sounds as though you will be really looking forward to receiving you new book(s).

[Monco]

Originally posted by Silverlining
On the first interview with Morgan he says that the Glasgow that he had grown up in has totally changed that lots of people just left the city! I wonder why…

Glasgow is not all bad, in fact (and I am speaking as a Glaswegian) its a very beautiful city, and can be a very pleasant place to live. It was once a great industrial city, but the industries have declined. Industrial workers and tolerance of homosexuality rarely go hand in hand. Morgan came out as gay aged 70 in the year 1990, but he said there had been no bad reactions to it, and was pleased he had finally done so. People say Glasgow is a multicultural city, but it is not. There is a black poet from Glasgow called Jackie Kay (also a lesbian), there is an interview with her in the Guardian which is quite revealing about Glasgows supposed multiculturalism:

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departme...iction/story/0,6000,631424,00.html


As for the other poets you mention (McCaig and Lochhead), I don't know much about them, McCaig is of the same generation as Morgan, I quite liked this one:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...h/MCCAI_P1.HTM

[Edited by Monco on 2nd July 2002 at 18:13]

[Silverlining]

Thanks for the reply Celyn.

Small world… Seems like I am about to read your former Art teacher… lol… I'll make sure to share the poems with everyone when I get the book.

~S