W. S. Graham

The Scottish poet W. S. Graham (1918-1986), born a hundred years ago just a few days after the end of the Great War, is increasingly recognized as a writer of enduring significance, both for Scottish poetry and for 20th century Modernist poetry more broadly. In this enthusiastic and wide-ranging lecture, Gerard Carruthers offers an informative introduction to Graham's achievement and a series of skillful and appreciative close readings of poems from different phases of Graham's writing career. The poet Andrew McNeillie, described this lecture as "a superior approach to the poet's oeuvre, early and late, ... label-free, disinterested criticism at its very best." This lecture is an edited version of Professor Carruthers's Hugh MacDiarmid Lecture, a biennial series established by the Poetry Association of Scotland, and given in March 2018 at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh. Quotations from Graham's poetry and the cover image are copyright, the Estate of W. S. Graham, 1999 and 2004, and are included here by permission of the Estate and Rosalind Mudaliar. All rights reserved.