Edwin Morgan

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Edwin George Morgan (27 April 1920 – 17 August 2010) was a Scottish poet and translator associated with the Scottish Renaissance.

He is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's top Scottish poets.

Morgan was named as the first Glasgow Poet Laureate in 1999.

He was voted Scotland's first national poet in 2004: the Scots Makar.

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Life and career

Morgan was born in Glasgow and grew up in Rutherglen. His parents were Presbyterian. He was not surrounded by books as a child, nor did he have any literary acquaintances. He was branded a swot by schoolmates. He persuaded his parents to fund several book clubs in Glasgow. He later wrote that the Faber Book of Modern Verse (1936) was a "revelation" to him.

Morgan studied at the University of Glasgow in 1937. While self-educating in "a good deal of Italian and German" as well as at university, he learned French and Russian. Morgan graduated in 1947 and became a lecturer at the University after dropping out of college to serve in World War II as a non-combatant conscient objector with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He served as a full professor until his retirement in 1980.

Morgan described 'CHANGE RULES!'

'The great graffito', whose liberating double-take hints at both a lifelong dedication to formal experimentation and his radically democratic left-wing political views. Morgan's voice is a distinguishing feature, from traditional sonnet to blank verse, from epic seriousness to camp and ludic nonsense; whether interested in time-travelling space fantasies or studying recent technological advancements in physics and electronics, the diversity of Morgan's voices is a distinguishing characteristic.

Morgan first articulated his sexuality in Nothing Not Giving Messages: Reflections on his Work and Life (1990). In an interview with Marshall Walker, he had written several famous love poems, including "Strawberries" and "The Unspoken," in which the love object was not gendered; this was partially because of legal issues at the time, but also out of a desire to universalize them. He read a poem he had written for the occasion and presented it to the center as a gift at the opening of the Glasgow LGBT Centre in 1995.

He became the patron of Our Story Scotland in 2002. Liz Lochhead read a poem written for the occasion by Morgan titled "Poem for the Opening of the Scottish Parliament" at the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh on October 9, 2004. Scots Makar was announced as Morgan's replacement in January 2011.

Morgan, who died early in his life, found a new audience after collaborating with Scottish band Idlewild on their album The Remote Part. In the closing moments of the album's last track, "In Remote Part/ Scottish Fiction," he recalls a poem titled specifically for the song.

Morgan wrote two poems to be turned into songs by Scottish writers in 2007. "The Good Years" and "The Weight of Years" were two Morgan's songs, performed by Karine Polwart and Idlewild respectively.

During a 2005 visit, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney "paid" formal homage.

Morgan's health worsened at a residential home in later life. Dreams and Other Nightmares, his 90th birthday, he launched a line in April 2010, months before his death. He was the last survivor of the canonical 'Big Seven' from birth (the others were Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Garioch, Norman MacCaig, Iain Crichton Smith, George Mackay Brown, and Sorley MacLean).

Edwin Morgan died of pneumonia in Glasgow on August 17, 2010. In the morning, the Scottish Poetry Library announced the publication. Some, politicians Alex Salmond and Iain Gray, as well as UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, received tributes. The bequest's proceeds would be used for the party's independence referendum campaign, which was the next day. Morgan also donated £45,000 to a number of acquaintances, former colleagues, and charitable groups, as well as laying down another £1 million for the establishment of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, Scotland's annual award scheme for young poets. The Edwin Morgan Trust was established in 2012 to manage the generous Award that the poet wished to receive from the proceeds of a long and distinguished writing career. Edwin Morgan's life and work will be commemorated from the 27th of April 2020 with a year-long centennial programme.

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Awards and honours

• 1972 PEN Memorial Medal (Hungary)
• 1982 OBE
• 1983 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award for Poems of Thirty Years
• 1985 Soros Translation Award (New York)
• 1998 Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year for Virtual and Other Realities
• 2000 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry
• 2001 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize for Jean Racine: Phaedra
• 2002 The Saltire Society's Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun award for notable service to Scotland
• 2003 Jackie Forster Memorial Award for Culture
• 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature, from the Saltire Society and the Scottish Arts Council
• 2007 Shortlisted for T. S. Eliot Prize for A Book of Lives.
• 2008 Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award