poetry

63d

In spite of
The silence,
Since birth,
I have never
Stopped
Screaming.

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

Portuguese poet Luís de Camões died #OTD in 1580.

"Os Lusíadas" (1572) is considered Camões' magnum opus. The epic poem consists of ten cantos and is written in ottava rima. The poem celebrates the voyage of Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese discoveries, blending historical events with mythological elements. It extols the virtues of bravery, patriotism, and the divine mission of the Portuguese people.

Books by Luís de Camões at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1183

#books #literature #poetry

The portrait of Camões by Fernão Gomes, copied by Luís de Resende. This is considered to be the most authentic portrait of the poet, whose original, which has been lost, was painted while he was still alive.

An illustration of a bearded man wearing a collar.

Cover of the 1572 edition of Lusíadas.

"Os Lusíadas" ("The Lusiads") is an epic poem by Luís de Camões, first published in 1572. It is considered the most important work in Portuguese literature and a masterpiece of world literature. The poem celebrates the Portuguese voyages of discovery during the Age of Exploration, particularly the journey of Vasco da Gama to India.

"Os Lusíadas" consists of 10 cantos, containing a total of 1,102 stanzas, written in ottava rima (a stanza of eight lines with an abababcc rhyme scheme).

The poem is a blend of historical narrative and mythological elements, combining real events with classical allusions and divine interventions.

Edited 1y ago

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

61d

In front of me a girl with bare feet,
in a beribboned dress, picks white
flowers in a field somewhere near Pompeii…

—Stewart Conn, “Springtime”
published in IN THE KIBBLE PALACE (Bloodaxe, 1987)

Pompeii was destroyed possibly #OTD, 24 Oct, 79CE

https://www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it/portfolio-item/affreschi/

#Scottish #literature #classical #Roman #archaeology #poem #poetry #Pompeii

Stewart Conn
Springtime

In front of me a girl with bare feet,
in a beribboned dress, picks white
flowers in a field somewhere near Pompeii.

Each day I look at her, head straight,
right hand outstretched as she delicately
plucks the stem. Was she there that night

the lava flowed, birds shrivelled in the sky
and lovers turned to ash, where they lay?
If so, what had she done to deserve it?

I wonder, will it ever be
Springtime again, the blood flow freely;
or has man blighted all hope of recovery?

We are on borrowed time, you and I
and have been from the outset.
All that is left, is to live lovingly.

“Flora”
da Stabiae, Villa di Arianna inv. 8834
www.museoarcheologiconapoli.it

A Roman fresco from Pompeii. Painted on a green background, a young woman, wearing a loose, flowing robe of white and yellow, walks away from the viewer. In her left arm she carries a basket of flowers; her dress slips off her right shoulder as she reaches out to pluck a shoot from a tall flowering plant beside her.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

62d

The Asymptote magazine just published five poems by a prominent soviet underground poet Yan Satunovsky (1913—1982) from the upcoming book Prosthesis Factory (Publ. by World Poetry Books), translated to English by Ainsley Morse & Philip Redko.

I'm so delighted that Satunovsky's poetry is finally available for the world readership to know and love! < 3

https://www.asymptotejournal.com/poetry/prosthesis-factory-yan-satunovsky/

@bookstodon @poetry

#poetry #translation #samizdat #mazeldon

Edited 61d ago

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

64d

Tap me with your finger,
rub me with your sleeve,
hold me, sniff me, peel me
curling round and round
till I burst out white and cold
from my tight red coat…

—Edwin Morgan, “The Apple’s Song”
published in CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020)

A poem for Apple Day – 21 Oct – which is definitely about an apple 🍎

https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109967/centenary-selected-poems/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #EdwinMorgan #AppleDay

The Apple’s Song
by Edwin Morgan

Tap me with your finger,
rub me with your sleeve,
hold me, sniff me, peel me
curling round and round
till I burst out white and cold
from my tight red coat
and tingle in your palm
as if I’d melt and breathe
a living pomander
waiting for the minute
of joy when you lift me
to your mouth and crush me
and in taste and fragrance
I race through your head
in my dizzy dissolve.

I sit in the bowl
in my cool corner
and watch you as you pass
smoothing your apron.
Are you thirsty yet?
My eyes are shining.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

62d

🚀Launch
A CHAOS OF LIGHT: New Writing Scotland 43
28 Oct, The Book Nook, Stirling
Pay as you please (suggested £3)

Celebrate this year’s amazing edition of NEW WRITING SCOTLAND & hear a selection of featured authors reading from their work, in English, Gaelic & Scots. All welcome!

https://thebooknookstirling.co.uk/tickets/New-Writing-Scotland-Anthology-Launch-p566956822/

#Scottish #literature #poetry #shortfiction #Scots #Scotslanguage #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #Stirling

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

British poet and literary critic Lascelles Abercrombie died #OTD in 1938.

He was a prominent member of the Georgian poets. He was particularly known for his verse dramas & dramatic monologues such as The Sale of Saint Thomas and Deborah.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/3649

Abercrombie is often shown in a seated pose, wearing a suit with a slightly disheveled look, which lends a sense of relaxed seriousness. His face is framed by a head of thick, wavy hair, and he sports a thoughtful, somewhat intense gaze, as if deeply engaged in thought or lost in a literary idea.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

61d

My brother is skull and skeleton now
empty of mind behind the brow
in ribs and pelvis empty space
bone-naked without a face…

—William Montgomerie, “Epitaph”
For 2nd Officer James S. Montgomerie of the S.S. Carsbreck, torpedoed off Gibraltar, 24th October 1941

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/from_the_line/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #warpoetry #WW2 #WW2history

William Montgomerie
Epitaph
For 2nd Officer James S. Montgomerie of the S.S. Carsbreck, torpedoed off Gibraltar, 24th October 1941

My brother is skull and skeleton now
empty of mind behind the brow
in ribs and pelvis empty space
bone-naked without a face

On a draughty beach drifting sand
clawed by a dry skeleton hand
sifts in the hourglass of his head
time useless to bones of the dead

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

"Words are always getting conventionalized to some secondary meaning. It is one of the works of poetry to take the truants in custody and bring them back to their right senses. Poets are the policemen of language; they are always arresting those old reprobates the words."

Letter to Ellen O'Leary (3 February 1889)

~William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939)

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1719

#books #literature #poetry

William Butler Yeat by George Charles Beresford.

Black and white photo featuring a man wearing glasses.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

63d

CFP: “Our three-voiced country”: 20th-century cross-currents in Gaelic & other Scottish writing
26–28 Jun 2026, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye

Proposals for papers are invited exploring literary interactions between Gaelic, Scots & English in poetry, drama, the novel, song, media, & education in the 20th century – deadline 2 Feb

@litstudies

https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/co-labhairt-bhliadhnail-asl-2026/?lang=en

#Scottish #literature #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #Scots #ScottishLanguage #drama #novel #poetry #song #tv #film #education #media #mediastudies

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

63d

O whence the leaves
scuttering down Easter Road,
sycamore and rowan
desperate as refugees,
crowding against the wheels of street-side dumpsters
– common leaves
with two-three crisp packets, like gaudy imposters
fleeing by outside the corner-shop
convenient for milk and pornography…

—Kathleen Jamie, “Autumn”
published in THE BONNIEST COMPANIE (Picador, 2015)

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/kathleen-jamie/the-bonniest-companie/9781509801718

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #autumn #Edinburgh

Autumn
by Kathleen Jamie

O whence the leaves
scuttering down Easter Road,
sycamore and rowan
desperate as refugees,
crowding against the wheels of street-side dumpsters
– common leaves
with two-three crisp packets, like gaudy imposters
fleeing by outside the corner-shop
convenient for milk and pornography …

see the leaves hurry, Shy but Dirty –
past the Chinese nail-bar,
Mr Greg’s Tatoos –
they’re here, look:
blown into your stair
with the pizza delivery leaflets …
O whither the leaves?

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

16d

THIRD CANDLE
as
we
were
trying
to hold
on

were
we
alive

grasping

pitiful
memory of self
it's pitfalls

moist golden dirt
as the desert winter
reigns and everything's

blooming

and the electric candle
of the recollection is dimming

as the distant scream
touches you

in a flicker

@bookstodon @poetry

#bookston #poetry

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

16d

Michel Byrne on poet & translator George Campbell Hay | Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa (1915–1984) – born #OTD, 8 Dec

Gaelic & Scots: Cultural Connections & Inspirations in the 20th Century (Forum for Research on the Languages of Scotland & Ulster webinar, 6 May 2025)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIesmENZ0Iw

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #poetry #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #Scots #Scotslanguage

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

59d

I’d break
The bones
Of tyrant time
Just to hear
A fraction
Of your laughter
Again.

0 0 1 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist Giacomo Leopardi died #OTD in 1837.

Around 1816, Leopardi experienced what he called his "literary conversion," shifting his focus from philological studies to poetry and philosophical reflection. His early lyrical poems, or "canti," began to reflect his developing philosophical ideas. In 1816 the idylls Le rimembranze and Inno a Nettuno were published.

Books by Giacomo Leopardi at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/8593

#books #literature #poetry

Domenico Morelli, Portrait of Giacomo Leopardi, 1842, believed by acquaintances to be most faithful to the poet's physical appearance.

Portrait of a man wearing a stylish blue suit in a painting.

Manoscritto autografo de L'infinito. (Visso, Archivio comunale)

2 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

60d

In Flanders Fields/An Achadh Flanders
11 November, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh – free

A unique event dedicated to WW1 poet John McCrae & his poem “In Flanders Fields”. After translating “In Flanders Fields” into French, Linn Phipps collaborated with Penicuik songwriter Alan Murray to create a completely new version and interpretation of the poem in Scottish Gaelic to an original tune by Alan.

https://scottishstorytellingcentre.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:6372/913:28002/

#Poem #poetry #song #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #WW1

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

15d

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is all about mothers

Mothers don’t normally belong in Latin epics, which were meant to be devoted to warriors and warfare.

by Frances Myatt

https://theconversation.com/ovids-metamorphoses-is-all-about-mothers-266383?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%208%202025%20-%203610136859&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%208%202025%20-%203610136859+CID_dd5bfffedf1c121cf798264446dd13b0&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=Ovids%20Metamorphoses%20is%20all%20about%20mothers

Metamorphoses at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21765

#books #poetry #literature

Page from the edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses published by Lucantonio Giunti in Venice, 1497.

A 1497 Venice printed page from Ovid's Metamorphoses, published by Lucantonio Giunti. Features elaborate Renaissance border decoration with mythological scenes, ornate floral patterns, decorative initial letters, and Italian text in two columns beneath a woodcut illustration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphoses#/media/File:Ovidius_Naso_-_Metamorphoses,_del_MCCCCLXXXXVII_Adi_X_del_mese_di_aprile_-_1583162_Carta_a1r.jpeg

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

16d

SCOTTISH LITERARY REVIEW 17/2 (Autumn/Winter 2025)

The latest issue of Scottish Literary Review is online now via Project MUSE (institutional access required). Print copies will be in the mail to subscribers shortly! Papers range from medieval poetry, through 18th- & 19th-century literature, to Muriel Spark & the Brontës

@litstudies

https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/55415

#Scottish #literature #poetry #medieval #18thcentury #19thcentury #20thcentury #JamesHogg #RobertBurns #MurielSpark #Brontes

A dark blue journal cover with white lettering:

SCOTTISH
LITERARY
REVIEW

Autumn | Winter 2025
Journal of the Association for Scottish Literature

The cover illustration shows an open book, lying on its back, with four stylised, twisty thistles growing from between its fanned pages.

Contents page 1

Editorial

Kang-yen Chiu: Resistance to Accommodation: Postcolonial Readings of the Highland Clearances in Iain Crichton Smith’s Consider the Lilies

Megan Coyer: ‘By famine, sword, and pestilence’: James Hogg and Cholera in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country

Alison Denham: William Thom (1798–1848), Weaver Poet: The London Years

Katherine Ferrier: The Literary Gossiping of Susan Ferrier

Mao Guihua and Zheng Ronghua: Animal Subjectivity in the Poetry of Robert Burns Under the Animal Turn

Scott Hames: Tom Nairn as Essayist: Romantic Negativity and Critical Imagination

Sarah Harlan-Haughey: Low Visibility: ‘wickit wedderis’ and the Contest of Knowledge in The Taill of Rauf Coilȝear

Kaiyue He: Muriel Spark and the House of the Brontës: Female Authorship and Autonomy

Contents page 2

Joanna Martin: ‘He in alle thing wele temperite was’: The Emotional Language of The Buik of King Alexander The Conquerour

Ian Cameron Robertson: Green Blades Among the Rubble – Posterity’s Judgement on The Minstrel?

Angus Sutherland: Hogg and the Ettrick Clearances

Annalisa Nicholson: Octonaries upon the Vanitie and Inconstancie of the World, by Esther Inglis; an essay, by Jamie Reid Baxter (review)

Trish Reid: Plays in Scots, Volume 1 and Volume 2, by Michel Tremblay (review)

Honor Rieley: The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press, Volume 1: Beginnings and Consolidation, 1640–1800, edited by Nicholas Brownlees (review)

Désha Osborne: Robert Wedderburn, Abolition, and the Commons: Romanticism’s Black Geographies, by Katey Castellano (review)

Adam Kozaczka: Law, Equity and Romantic Writing: Seeking Justice in the Age of Revolutions, edited by Michael Demson and Regina Hewitt (review)

Zsuzsanna Varga: A modern skót irodalom a 19. század végétől napjainkig [Modern Scottish Literature from the End of the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day], by Attila Dósa (review)

Contents page 3

Lois Burke: The International Companion to Scottish Children’s Literature, edited by Maureen A. Farrell and Robert A. Davis (review)

Scott Lyall: History of a Revoluter: The Life of James Leslie Mitchell/Lewis Grassic Gibbon, by William K. Malcolm (review)

Peter Auger: Mary Queen of Scots: The First Biography: With the Life and Times of Its Author, George Con, by Ronald Santangeli (review)

Amy Wilcockson: Kirkyard Romanticism: Death, Modernity and Scottish Literature in the Nineteenth Century, by Sarah Sharp (review)

Hilary Clydesdale: Scottish Women’s Writing in the Long Nineteenth Century: The Romance of Everyday Life, by Juliet Shields (review)

Notes on Contributors

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

59d

Somhairle MacGill-Eain (Sorley MacLean, 1911–1996), one of the greatest European poets of the 20th century, was born #OTD, 26 Oct. A 🎂 🧵

Watch “Sorley MacLean’s Island” via the National Library of Scotland – Sorley MacLean in conversation with fellow writer Iain Crichton Smith

1/8

https://movingimage.nls.uk/film/3141

#Scottish #literature #Hebrides #Skye #Raasay #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #poetry #20thcentury #modernism

A closeup of two hands, playing a set of small pipes. Text overlay: SORLEY MACLEAN'S ISLAND

Edited 59d ago

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

59d

In Gránada, in Gránada,
They dumbed the mou o a makar,
In Gránada, in Gránada,
They strak doun Garcia Lorca…

—“In Gránada, in Gránada (Llanto por Federico Garcia Lorca)”, by Syndey Goodsir Smith (1915–1975) – a major figure in the 20th-century Scottish renaissance, born #OTD, 26 Oct

1/4

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #20thcentury #Lorca

Sydney Goodsir Smith
In Gránada, in Gránada
(Llanto por Federico Garcia Lorca)

In Gránada, in Gránada,
They dumbed the mou o a makar,
In Gránada, in Gránada,
They strak doun Garcia Lorca.

Ye bard o the tinks, o gipsy Spain,
Frae Gránada, frae Gránada,
Aa the gangrel folk that scorn chains—
O wae for Garcia Lorca!

At dawin fornent a sunwhite waa
In Gránada, in Gránada,
The rifles reik, O see him faa,
Daith rins at the tyrant’s order.

But they sall pey for that fell deed,
In Gránada, in Gránada,
Franco and his men o bluid,
Their fingers reid wi murder.

Mair nor juist ane enemie
Was kill yon morn in Gránada,
For daith is neer a bundarie
Til the voice o a folk was Lorca.

Ay, he was Spain, anither Burns,
In Gránada, in Gránada,
O wae for thae when the tide turns
That strak doun Garcia Lorca!

And wae for thae in ilka land,
Or Galloway or Gránada,
That thirl the libertie o man
For bards nor daith are stranger.

And aye their leid is Freedom,
In Galloway or Gránada,
Ay, greit for the tinkler’s martyrdom
And the white dumb mou o a makar.

Ay, greit for Lorca, bard o the waifs,
Saw birth and daith in Gránada,
Wae for the sang was stanched yon day
While the sand ran reid wi clangor.

But sing o the victorie was gained,
In Gránada, in Gránada ———!
For aye your bluid sall dirl throu Spain,
Federico Garcia Lorca!

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

Scottish poet and writer Thomas Campbell died #OTD in 1844.

In 1799 he wrote Pleasures of Hope, a traditional 18th-century didactic poem in heroic couplets. He also produced several patriotic war songs— "Ye Mariners of England", "The Soldier's Dream", "Hohenlinden" and, in 1801, The Battle of the Baltic, but was no less at home in delicate lyrics such as "At Love's Beginning".

Books by Thomas Campbell at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7520

#books #literature #poetry

Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence c. 1810.

A painting of a man in black attire, wearing a white shirt and a black jacket.

Cover of The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell by Thomas Campbell.

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

French poet and novelist Marceline Desbordes-Valmore was born #OTD in 1786.

Marceline Desbordes-Valmore published her first book of poetry, "Élégies et romances," in 1819. She was highly regarded by her contemporaries, including Victor Hugo and Alphonse de Lamartine. Her work influenced later poets, including Paul Verlaine and the Symbolists, who admired her emotional expressiveness and musicality.

Books by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5436

#Books #literature #poetry

Portrait of Marceline Desbordes by her uncle Constant Joseph Desbordes, kept at the Musée de la Chartreuse in Douai.

A woman sitting at a table, looking distressed, with her hands placed on her head in frustration.

Cover of Le livre des enfants by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore.

"Le Livre des enfants" (The Children's Book) by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore is a delightful collection of poetry and prose specifically written for children. This work, published in 1830, is a testament to Desbordes-Valmore's versatility as a writer and her deep empathy and affection for children. It reflects her Romantic sensibilities, blending her poetic talents with her maternal instincts to create literature that is both engaging and instructive for young readers.

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

1y

Swedish poet and writer Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht died #OTD in 1763.

Nordenflycht's literary debut came with the publication of "Den sörgande turturduvan" (The Mourning Turtle-Dove) in 1743, a collection of elegies mourning her husband's death. Nordenflycht's contributions to Swedish literature and her pioneering role in advocating for women's intellectual rights have been recognized posthumously.

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

#books #literature #poetry

Hedvig Nordenflycht, copperplate engraving by Johan Fredrik Martin.

A lady elegantly playing a harp, illustrating her musical abilities and dedication to the instrument.

Title page of Våra försök 1753.

"Våra försök" (translated as "Our Attempts" or "Our Experiments") is a significant work published in 1753 by Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht, often in collaboration with other members of the literary circle known as the "Tankebyggarorden" (Order of the Thought Builders). This work exemplifies the intellectual and literary pursuits of the Enlightenment period in Sweden.

The Tankebyggarorden was a Swedish literary society founded in the mid-18th century. It included prominent writers and intellectuals who aimed to promote enlightenment ideas through literature and philosophy.

The group was inspired by the Enlightenment ideals of reason, science, and the improvement of society through knowledge and education.
Collaborative Effort:

"Våra försök" was a collective endeavor, reflecting the collaborative spirit of the Tankebyggarorden. Members of the society contributed essays, poems, and other literary pieces to the volume.

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

15d

In to thir dirk and drublie dayis,
Quhone sabill all the hewin arrayis
With mystie vapouris, cluddis and skyis,
Nature all curage me denyis
Off sangis, ballattis, and of playis…

—William Dunbar (c.1459–1530), “Meditatioun in Wyntir”

Full text with glosses available online (poem no. 15)

https://metseditions.org/read/Kk2rqEDflvYQH57qHG5EqhWNP2p8v3y

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #winter #15thcentury #medieval #Scots #Scotslanguage

Meditatioun in Wyntir
William Dunbar (c. 1459-1530)

In to thir dirk and drublie dayis,
Quhone sabill all the hewin arrayis
With mystie vapouris, cluddis and skyis,
Nature all curage me denyis
Off sangis, ballattis, and of playis.

Quhone that the nycht dois lenthin houris,
With wind, with haill, and havy schouris,
My dule spreit dois lurk for schoir.
My hairt for langour dois forloir
For laik of Symmer with his flouris.

I walk, I turne, sleip may I nocht,
I vexit am with havie thocht.
This warld all ouir I cast about,
And ay the mair I am in dout,
The mair that I remeid have socht.

I am assayit on euerie syde.
Despair sayis ay, "In tyme provyde
And get sum thing quhairon to leif,
Or with grit trouble and mischeif
Thow sall into this court abyd."

Than Patience sayis, "Be not agast,
Hald Hoip and Treuthe within the fast,
And lat Fortoun wirk furthe hir rage,
Quhone that no rasoun may assuage
Quill that hir glas be run and past."

And Prudence in my eir sayis ay,
"Quhy wald thow hald that will away?
Or craif that thow may have no space,
Thow tending to ane uther place,
A journay going everie day?"

And than sayis Age, "My freind, cum neir,
And be not strange, I the requeir.
Cum, brodir, by the hand me tak.
Remember thow hes compt to mak
Off all thi tyme thow spendit heir."

Syne Deid castis upe his gettis wyd
Saying, "Thir oppin sall thee abyd;
Albeid that thow wer neuer sa stout,
Undir this lyntall sall thow lowt,
Thair is nane uther way besyde."

For feir of this all day I drowp.
No gold in kist nor wine in cowp,
No ladeis bewtie, nor luiffis blys
May lat me to remember this,
How glaid that euer I dyne or sowp.

Ȝit quhone the nycht begynnis to schort
It dois my spreit sum pairt confort,
Off thocht oppressit with the schowris.
Cum lustie Symmer with thi flowris,
That I may leif in sum disport.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

57d

Poet, writer, artist, & avant-gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925–2006) was born 100 years ago #OTD, 28 Oct, in Nassau, Bahamas – a fact which he would later describe as “ridiculous, not in character at all”. His father was a bootlegger, smuggling rum to the USA, & Finlay was sent, aged 6, to Larchfield, a boarding school in Helensburgh, Scotland, where WH Auden had recently joined the staff

A 🎂🧵

1/9

#Scottish #literature #poetry #visualart #gardening #sculpture #IanHamiltonFinlay

“Et In Arcadia Ego”, a stone sculpture by ian Hamilton Finlay (1976)

A slab of pale stone, showing a stylised scene in a woodland. In the foreground is what looks like a tank (i.e. a military vehicle), except it has incised lines across it suggesting that it is in fact made out of stone blocks. The scene is framed and under the frame the words

ET IN ARCADIA EGO
After Nicholas Poussin

are carved into the slab.

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

Previous Page Next Page