New Collected Poems: Iain Crichton-Smith - Softcover

Iain Crichton Smith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857549600 ISBN 13: 9781857549607

Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd, 2011

Synopsis

Rare Book

About this title

Review:

"Over the years [his] poetry has increased in strangeness and beauty. He is a poet of his own discontents, but one who has submitted his unrest to the demands of imagination." "Times Literary Supplement""

"It is very seldom that genius so wide and fervent in its sympathies and so lacking in egoism that it can be humorous without trying to be witty or clever." Sorley MacLean, author, "Hallaig""

Synopsis:

As a child Iain Crichton Smith spoke Gaelic in his village on the island of Lewis. At school in Stornoway he spoke English. Like many islanders before and since, his culture is divided: two languages, two histories entailing exile, a central theme of his poetry in both tongues. His divided perspective sharply delineates the tyranny of history and religion, of the cramped life of small communities; it also gives him a tender eye for the struggle of women and men in a world defined by denials. "Collected Poems" includes forty years' work and proves that big themes - love, history, power, submission, death - can be addressed without the foil of irony and acquire resonance when given a local habitation and a voice that risks pure, impassioned speech.

About this edition

• Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1857549600
• ISBN 13: 9781857549607
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 398
• Editor: Matt McGuire