Modern Scottish Poetry

An examination of several different presentations of shame in contemporary Scottish poetry and their significance in relation to nationality and class.

3,258 words () | 12 sources | APA | 2002 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes how complexity finds expression in contemporary Scottish poetry, focusing in particular on poems by Edwin Morgan, Kathleen Jamie, Don Paterson and Tom Leonard, but also including a briefer analysis of a relevant Carol Ann Duffy text. It shows how each of these writers presents Scottish shame and inferiority with variance and poetic vigour and how the individual narratives direct the reader to a larger social and political context.

From the Paper:

"The poem does not focus on personal shame but on the shame of others that inhabit the world around the woman "pissing on the pavement". These plosives have a harsh aural effect that echoes the way "her water hits the stone with force" and, of course, the hard-hitting reality of this sight to the onlooker. The London executives are, at first, unwilling to accept what is offered as true ("start incredulously") but the obstacle of her "river" of urine they are forced to "jump" reduces them to the state of "meekly" waiting for a taxi. The Glasgow crowd's reaction is tellingly far more complex than the Londoners."