Hugh MacDiarmid, the Poetry of Self

Download or read book Hugh MacDiarmid, the Poetry of Self written by John Baglow and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 1987 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christopher Grieve, writing under the name of Hugh MacDiarmid, was a major modern poet and founder of the Scottish literary Renaissance. In this study of his poetry, John Baglow eliminates what has been a stumbling block for most MacDiarmid scholars by showing the very real thematic and psycological consistency which underlines MacDiarmid's work. He demonstrates the extent to which the work was dominated by a desire to find a faith that could justify his desire to write poetry, a desire continually thwarted by a critical intellect which destroyed whatever faith he was able to construct. This constant search without a successful conclusion is at the heart of the work of many major modernist writers; MacDiarmid's poetry can be seen as embracing this tradition and making it explicit.