Morgan, Edwin George

(1920- )

   Born in Glasgow, his time at Glasgow University was interrupted by wartime service in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He graduated in 1947 and became a lecturer at the university and was professor of English from 1975 until his retirement in 1980. In 1999, Morgan was made the first Glasgow Poet Laureate, and in 2004, the first Scottish National Poet. He was one of the "Big Seven"-George Mackay Brown, Robert Garioch, Norman MacCaig, Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley MacLean and Iain Crichton Smith (see entries). His A.D. A Trilogy of Plays on the Life of Jesus (2000) led to controversy with church leaders. He has been awarded seven honorary degrees and the Order of Merit from Hungary. His other awards: PEN Memorial Medal (Hungary), 1972; Order of the British Empire, 1982; Soros Translation Award (New York), 1985; Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year, 1998. Some of his other publications: The Vision of Cathkin Braes, 1952. A Second Life, 1968. From Glasgow to Saturn, 1973. Collected Poems, 1990. Some of his poems: "From the Domain of Arnheim," "Sonnets from Scotland," "The Loch Ness Monster's Song."

   Sources: In Quest of the Miracle Stag: The Poetry of Hungary. Adam Makkai, ed. Atlantic-Centaur, Corvina, 1996. Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern and Postmodern Poetry, Vol. 2. Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris, eds. University of California Press, 1998. The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry, from Britain and Ireland. Edna Longley, ed. Bloodaxe Books, 2000. 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 Oxford Book of Sonnets. John Fuller, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Who's Who. London: A & C Black, 2005. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).