literature

1y

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard.
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!"

#OTD in 1898.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde was published by Leonard Smithers, under the name "C.3.3.", which stood for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballad_of_Reading_Gaol

Ballad of Reading Gaol at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/301

#books #literature #poetry

Cover of The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1904).

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283d

Today, 2 February, is Candlemas. As well as being a Christian holy day, it is one of the four Scottish Quarter Days, when rents were due.

The Scots poem “At Candlemas” by Marion Angus (1865–1946) is a typically unsentimental look at how swiftly youth turns to old age:

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Candlemas #Scots #Scotslanguage #womenwriters #20thcentury #aging

At Candlemas
Marion Angus

Lang syne at Candlemas
At first cam o’ the mune,
I, a bit lassie,
Hame-gaun fae the toon,
Fell in wi’ a stranger
Frail as ony reed,
Wi’ a green mantle
Hapt aboot her heid.

Haste, I wad haste me,
The whinny road along,
Whinny, crookit road
Faur the grey ghaists gang.
Wi her een fu’ o’ spells,
Her broo runkled sair,
She micht weel be the witch
O’ the Braid Hill o’ Fare.

Here cams Candlemas,
A wan deein’ mune,
Eh! bit I’m weary.
Cauldrife wis the toon!

Yon’s a blythe bairnie
Soople as a reed,
Rinnin’ wi’ a hankey
Tied aboot her heid,
Hastin’, hastin’,
Limber-licht fit,
Doon the crookit road
Faur the grey moths flit.

Quo’ she, ‘Ye’r sma’-bookit,
Yer broo’s runkled sair,
Er’ ye the auld witch
O’ the Braid Hill o’ Fare?’

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283d

The haill clanjamfrie: What’s so braw aboot Scots
13 March, Royal Society of Edinburgh & online – free, ticketed

Through live readings of poetry & prose, alongside open conversation, this RSE Investigates event explores Scots as a powerful tool for creative expression & social commentary – with writers Len Pennie, Chris McQueer, & Michael Pedersen

https://rse.org.uk/event/the-haill-clanjamfrie-whats-so-braw-aboot-scots/

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #writing #creativewriting

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283d

"Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants, willing to be dethroned."
ch. 2: Nestor page 28

Ulysses by James Joyce was partially serialised in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, the entire work was published in Paris by Sylvia Beach #OTD in 1922.

Ulysses at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4300

#books #literature

Picture of first edition of Joyce's Ulysses.

Cover design:
Simple, elegant design in blue-green/teal color
Greek-inspired lettering for "ULYSSES"
Minimal decoration, emphasizing the classical connection
The color was chosen to match the Greek flag (blue and white)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_(novel)#/media/File:JoyceUlysses2.jpg

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1y

"They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars—on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places."

'Desert Places'

~Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963)

Robert Frost at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1091

#books #literature #poetry

"Robert Frost, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing front", c. 1910.

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283d

February dark is fields and fields long,
from this sill to the whin ridge and beyond,
wet as a dog’s nose, curious
where flame ticks against glass…

—Pippa Little, “Brown Nights”
published in nothing but a set of eyes for stars: New Writing Scotland 41 (ASL, 2023)

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws41/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #February

Pippa Little
BROWN NIGHTS

Last summer, late, I filled your tea cup,
bone and gold, with melted wax:
it sits in its saucer now, lit
pale rose, sets corners fluttering
as my breath teases the wick –

February dark is fields and fields long,
from this sill to the whin ridge and beyond,
wet as a dog’s nose, curious
where flame ticks against glass,

wanting only a warm –
out there owl outflies a bullet
and stones stir to ease their aching.
All-invisible: yet I can’t draw closed the curtain.

Brown nights and days these are,
slow as peat water snarled
in roan pipe and stell, a calling
far across the valley toward a ship of light

tomorrow I will let soil fill the trails
in both my hands: for now, this window lit
with your small pulse is single thing enough
to bare against the dark.

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1y

#OTD in 1889.

August Strindberg's naturalistic drama Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), 1888, is first performed, by the Scandinavian Experimental Theater at the University of Copenhagen. His wife Siri von Essen plays the title rôle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Julie

Miss Julie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14347

#books #literature #theatre

Photograph of the first production of Miss Julie at The People's Theatre in November 1906.

Unknown photographer, 1906 - Strindberg and the Five Senses, bu Hans-Goran Ekman.

On the left, a woman dressed in traditional servant attire appears to be engaged in a kitchen task, emphasizing the play’s working-class setting.

In the center-right, a woman in a long white dress (likely portraying Miss Julie) is interacting closely with a man in a formal suit (likely the character Jean), highlighting the tension and intimacy central to the plot.

The set design features modest furniture, utensils hanging on the wall, and exposed wooden beams, reflecting the realistic and detailed staging typical of early 20th-century naturalist theatre.

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283d

Ken MacLeod: Imagined Futures

Ken MacLeod joins the Plutopia News Network to discuss his work’s political themes: failed modern systems, rising nationalism, & the struggle to find common interest in a fragmented world. He also reflects candidly on the craft of writing, which he says still hinges on the hardest part: plotting & bringing a story to a satisfying, coherent conclusion.

https://plutopia.io/ken-macleod-imagined-futures/amp/

#Scottish #literature #ScienceFiction #scifi #writing #podcast

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24d

The Idea of Influence: Neil Gunn Discussion Panel
14 November, Waterstones, Inverness. Free.

Highland-based authors Kirsty Gunn & Shona Maclean will be in conversation with leading Scottish literature expert Dr Paul Shanks, celebrating the legacy of Neil Gunn & discussing how he has inspired their own writing.

https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-idea-of-influence-neil-gunn-discussion-panel/inverness

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #NeilGunn #Highlands #Inverness

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282d

Saltire Sessions: Michael Pedersen

The Saltire Society talks to author, poet, & Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen about his work, his inspirations, & the power of collaboration

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCTgutNfMB4

#Scottish #literature #poetry #writing #collaboration #Edinburgh

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1y

What Is the Story of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle?

by Alexander Roberts

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a history of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and it has an interesting history of its own.

https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-story-anglo-saxon-chronicle/

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at PG

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/657

and

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75186

#books #literature #history

A map of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy

Edited 1y ago

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282d

Robert Burns & the How-to of Barrel Gauging

“Alongside the expansion of the state in this period, scientific advances greatly enhanced methods for measuring and taxing goods, and in turn required officials proficient in these complex practices.”

James Fox looks at Robert Burns’s own copy of The Excise Officer’s Pocket Companion

https://howtobook.hypotheses.org/5697

#Scottish #literature #history #RobertBurns #18thcentury #BookHistory #HistoryofScience #HistoryofMathematics

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222d

Who Were the Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Nu83pQl7mgQ

At PG:

Gwendolyn Bennett

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Gwendolyn+Bennett

Alice Dunbar Nelson

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Alice+Dunbar+Nelson

Anne Spencer

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Anne+Spencer

Zora Neale Hurston

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Zora+Neale+Hurston

#books #literature #poetry

Anne B. Spencer in her wedding dress - picryl.com

She is standing with her right hand on the back of a chair.

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281d

Celebrating Black History Month

February marks Black History Month, a month-long observance in the United States and Canada that recognizes the significant contributions of Black Americans to history, as well as the historical legacies of the African diaspora.

By The Editors

https://daily.jstor.org/black-history-month-editors-picks/

Black history at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=black+history

#books #literature #blackhistorymonth

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282d

Call for papers
(Mis)Placing Scottish Literature
UCSL PG Symposium 2026

8 May, University of Glasgow

What is Scottish about the texts we study? What makes a writer Scottish? When does a text become international? Is it all connected to book sales? What does parochialism mean in a global world? What does the nation mean when the international order disintegrates?

https://ucsl-scotland.com/2026-pg-symposium/

#Scottish #literature #callforpapers #identity

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281d

Medieval women used falconry to subvert gender norms

by Rachel Delman

https://theconversation.com/medieval-women-used-falconry-to-subvert-gender-norms-274374?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20February%203%202026%20-%203663937433&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20February%203%202026%20-%203663937433+CID_c95ef3e382076569833a6409852a49ff&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=Medieval%20women%20used%20falconry%20to%20subvert%20gender%20norms

Ornithology at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=ornithology

#books #literature #ornithology

Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus, a small member of the Accipitrinae subfamily, chromolithograph.

This illustration shows two individuals hawks perched on branches.

The upper bird displays the characteristic streaked breast plumage, hooked beak, and yellow legs typical of the species, while the lower bird shows darker plumage with barred underparts.

A partially eaten bird (appearing to be a rose-breasted grosbeak or similar species) is visible at the bottom, illustrating the hawk's predatory nature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawk#/media/File:Accipiter_striatusDO1908P02CA.JPG

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288d

An raoir, mar a gheall an sanas,
bha na fèidh air an rathad,
sùilean lainnireach an solus a chàr…

—Uilleam Nèill, “Feidh”
Published in Making tracks: and other poems (Gordon Wright, 1988)

#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #poem #poetry #deer #20thcentury

Feidh
Uilleam Nèill

An raoir, mar a gheall an sanas,
bha na fèidh air an rathad,
sùilean lainnireach an solus a chàr.
Cha b’iad na fèidh ruadha nam beann àrda
ach an fheadhainn beag a th’ againn sa choilltean Ghallobha.
Thanaig sreath bàrdachd Dhonnchaidh ’nam inntinn:
“Chunnaic mi ’n damh donn sna h-eildean . . .”

Cha tigeadh dhomhsa ach facail bheaga ’na choimeas
mu na feidh bheaga seo:
“Ma ’s beag iad, tha iad grinn is neo-challaichte,
agus, gus an tig an saoghal gu crioch,
dileas d’an ghnè-san.”

Deer
William Neill

Last night, as the sign promised,
the deer were on the road,
shining eyes in the car’s light.
These were not the red deer of the high mountains,
but the little ones we have in the woods of Galloway.
A line of Duncan’s poetry came into my mind:
“I saw the brown stag and his hinds . . .”

Nothing would come to me but little words compared with his,
about these little deer:
“If they are small, they are graceful and untamed
and, till their world comes to an end,
faithful to their kind.”

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148d

“Permission is a gift no one can steal and can begin from something very simple. Teach them to sing. Give them the finest things you can find. Give them music.”

—Janice Galloway on Kenneth Hetherington, her music teacher at Ardrossan Academy

17 June is Thank a Teacher Day

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/13/janice-galloway-my-hero-kenneth-hetherington

#Scottish #literature #music #musicteacher #teaching #teachers #ThankATeacherDay

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1y

The great American classic we’ve been misreading for 100 years
The Great Gatsby is more than cocktail parties and color symbolism.

by Constance Grady

https://www.vox.com/culture/402406/great-gatsby-f-scott-fitzgerald-centennial-100

The Great Gatsby at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64317

#books #literature

The front dust jacket art of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, with title against a dark sky. Beneath the title are lips and two eyes, looming over a city.

Original cover illustration by Francis Cugat (1893–1981) and published by Charles Scribner's Sons.

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281d

Four crabs from the cold firth
alive for a shilling. The largest
reared in the pot, in spite of
the fierce water, but soon
we cracked his limbs with our teeth
and wheedled with spoons and fingers
for the last shreds of flesh
from the crannies of his briny body…

—Angus Calder, “Crab”
from WAKING IN WAIKATO (diehard, 1997)

Angus Calder (1942–2008) – journalist, historian, editor, critic, & poet – was born #OTD, 5 Feb

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/crab/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury

Crab
by Angus Calder

Four crabs from the cold firth
alive for a shilling. The largest
reared in the pot, in spite of
the fierce water, but soon
we cracked his limbs with our teeth
and wheedled with spoons and fingers
for the last shreds of flesh
from the crannies of his briny body.

In that brittle maze
I found no features to remind me
of our brains, our livers
or our smooth bellies, yet doubtless
their functions were held by some part
of the paste of his cavities.

Spread, soup and risotto –
only the gills were rejected.

In the days we ate him
I did not forget
his moment on the floor
to amuse the baby, when she
gloated at the slow clash
of his last menace,
nor that shape which made me think
of a soft soldier
fried in the cockpit of a tank.

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178d

Pale yellow letters
humbly straggling across
the once brilliant red
of a broken shop-face
CONFECTIO…

—Edwin Morgan, “To Joan Eardley”
Joan Eardley (1921–1963) was born #OTD, 18 May

🖼️ Joan Eardley, “Sweet Shop, Rotten Row, 1960–1961”, Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow

https://www.gla.ac.uk/collections/#/details?irn=59156&catType=C

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #art #visualart #painting #20thcentury #JoanEardley

"To Joan Eardley"
by Edwin Morgan

Pale yellow letters
humbly straggling across
the once brilliant red
of a broken shop-face
CONFECTIO
and a blur of children
at their games, passing,
gazing as they pass
at the blur of sweets
in the dingy, cosy
Rottenrow window –
an Eardley on my wall.
Such rags and streaks
that master us! –
that fix what the pick
and bulldozer have crumbled
to a dingier dust,
the living blur
fiercely guarding
energy that has vanished,
cries filling still
the unechoing close!
I wandered by the rubble
and the houses left standing
kept a chill, dying life
in their islands of stone.
No window opened
as the coal cart rolled
and the coalman’s call
fell coldly to the ground.
But the shrill children
jump on my wall.

“Sweet Shop, Rotten Row”. A painting by Joan Eardley. Oil paint is applied thickly, in blotches of colour. A mustard-yellow sign bearing the letters CONFECTIO sits above a blurred shop front, showing a green window on the left and a red door on the right. Three almost abstract figures of children – two girls and a boy, probably – are dashing past the shop from left to right in a swirl of pinks, browns, and blues. The leftmost child has long black hair streaming out behind her head, adding to the sense of swift movement.

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207d

Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/75877

The Illiad at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Iliad

#books #literature #archaeology

Illustration from the "Iliad for Boys and Girls." The Fight for the body of Patroclus shows opponents facing each other and about to throw spears. On the left several men are trying to drag the naked body of Patroclus away.

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282d

Toni Morrison on What Flannery O’Connor’s Short Fiction Reveals About Race in America

Considering the Role of Blackness and Black Bodies in the American Literary Canon

https://lithub.com/toni-morrison-on-what-flannery-oconnors-short-fiction-reveals-about-race-in-america/

#books #literature

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282d

Read Love Letters From Royals and Romantics Across 500 Years of British History

A new exhibition at Britain’s National Archives features a letter to Elizabeth I, Jane Austen’s will and a plea to free Oscar Wilde from prison

by Christian Thorsberg

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/read-love-letters-from-royals-and-romantics-across-500-years-of-british-history-180988119/

Shakespeare, Austen and Wilde at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/65
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/111

#books #literature

Ira Aldridge (1807-1867), in the character of Othello, Attributed to James Northcote

The image shows:

Aldridge in costume as Othello
White flowing robes or cape
Ornamental detail at the collar (possibly jewelry or costume decoration)
Noble, dignified bearing
Upward gaze suggesting nobility and tragedy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Aldridge#/media/File:Ira_Aldridge_(1807-1867),_in_the_character_of_Othello,_Attributed_to_James_Northcote_(1746-1831).jpg

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280d

Build me a bridge over the stream
to my neighbour’s house
where he is standing in dungarees
in the fresh morning…

—Iain Crichton Smith, “Neighbour”
published in NEW COLLECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2011)

https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781857549607/new-collected-poems/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #IainCrichtonSmith

Iain Crichton Smith
Neighbour

Build me a bridge over the stream
to my neighbour’s house
where he is standing in dungarees
in the fresh morning.

O ring of snowdrops
spread wherever you want
and you also blackbird
sing across the fences.

My neighbour, if the rain falls on you,
let it fall on me also
from the same black cloud
that does not recognise gates.

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