MacCaig, Norman Alexander

(1910-1996)

   Born in Edinburgh, the son of a chemist, he was educated at the Royal High School, then studied classics at Edinburgh University. During the war he was a conscientious objector on humanitarian grounds. He became a primary school teacher then spent the next thirty-six years in teaching. He was fellow in creative writing at Edinburgh University (1967-69), and for eight years, from 1970, he lectured at Stirling University; he was awarded the Queen's Medal for Poetry in 1986. His Gaelicspeaking mother, from Scalpay in Harris, had a profound influence on his use of language in his poems, where every word is fresh and precise. He spent much of his holiday time at Assynt in the northwest of Scotland, to which he refers in many of his poems. Some other Scottish poets criticized him because he wrote only in standard English. He died in Edinburgh. Some of his sixteen volumes of poetry: Far Cry, 1943. Measures, 1965. A Man in My Position, 1969. Selected Poems, 1971. Voice-over, 1988. Some of his poems: "Above Inverkirkaig," "By Achmelvich Bridge," "Crofter's Kitchen, Evening," "Hogmanay," "Loch Sionascaig," "Wild Oats."

   Sources: Biography of Norman MacCaig, Answers.com (http://www.answers.com/topic/norman-maccaig). Biography of MacCaig, Norman Alexander (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/MacCaig, Norman Alexandercrumey/norman_maccaig.html). Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Poems of the Scottish Hills: An Antholog y. Hamish Brown, ed. Aberdeen University Press, 1982. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Faber Book of Drink, Drinkers and Drinking. Simon Rae, ed. Faber and Faber, 1991. The New Modern Poetry: British and American Poetry since World War II. M.L. Rosenthal, ed. Macmillan, 1967. The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse. Robert Crawford and Mick Imlah, eds. Penguin Books, 2000. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.