More on Makars' Court - Edinburgh Museums

Hugh MacDiarmid (1892 -1978)
Born Christopher Murray Grieve on 11 August 1892 in Langholm
('the Muckle Toon'), MacDiarmid was the main instigator of the 20th
century Scottish Renaissance, a great creative force and a tireless
campaigner for the political and cultural revival of Scotland. In
all, MacDiarmid published some thirty major books and was
awarded a Civil List Pension for his services to Scottish literature. A
Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (1926), a long poem or poem
sequence, on Scotland and the Infinite, is generally considered his
most important work:
Drums in the Walligate, pipes in the air,
The wallopin’ thistle is ill to bear
Nan Shepherd (1893 - 1981)
It’s a grand thing to get leave to live
[from The Quarry Wood (1928)]
Anna (Nan) Shepherd was born in West Cults, three miles from
Aberdeen and lived there most of her adult life. She attended
Aberdeen High School for Girls and Aberdeen University, from which
she graduated in 1915. She lectured in English Literature at
Aberdeen College of Education until her retirement in 1956, and
was a great encourager of other writers such as Jessie Kesson and
Neil Gunn. She wrote three novels, a volume of poetry, and a
volume of non-fiction, The Living Mountain (not published until
1977), which celebrates her love and knowledge of the hills.
Her work is greatly influenced by her deep understanding of the
spiritual qualities of landscape, and her analysis of human emotion,
particularly in her treatment of her female characters, is conveyed
with perception and realism.
Sponsored jointly by the Aberdeen and Edinburgh branches of The
Saltire Society, 2000.