Born Glasgow in April 1920, Morgan lived in Glasgow all his life, except for service with the RAMC in the Middle East during the Second World War, and his poetry is grounded in the city. He retired from Glasgow University as titular Professor of English in 1980, serving as Glasgow's first Poet Laureate 1999-2002.

The title of his 1973 collection, From Glasgow to Saturn, suggests the range of Morgan's subject matter.

Endlessly curious, open-minded and humane, Morgan experimented with the language of machines as well as translating brilliantly from a variety of European languages. He translated plays into Scots, and wrote a trilogy on the life of Jesus, AD.

His Sonnets from Scotland rank as one of the most important works of post-war literature, exploring the life, landscapes and potential of the country.

On 16 February 2004 it was announced that the Scottish Executive had appointed Edwin Morgan as 'Scots Makar', in effect Scotland's poet laureate. He was the first to hold this post, created to recognise the achievement of Scottish poets throughout the centuries. The SPL in association with Akros Publications and Mariscat Press published his translation The Battle of Bannockburn to celebrate this appointment.

Morgan's poetry is marked by inventiveness, acceptance of change and an exhilarating energy. His latest collections include Tales from Baron Munchausen (Mariscat Press, 2005), and The Book of Lives (Carcanet Press, 2007).

In 2009, the SPL acquired the Edwin Morgan Archive with thanks to support from The National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Binks Trust, National Fund for Acquisitions, Friends of the National Libraries.

Morgan's 90th bithday in April 2010 saw the publication of a new collection, Dreams and Other Nightmares: New and Uncollected Poems 1954-2009, from Mariscat Press.

Read Eddie@90 here, a collection of tributes for his 90th birthday, published by the Scottish Poetry Library and Mariscat Press, 27 April 2010.

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Related links

› The Edwin Morgan Archive at the Scottish Poetry Library

› SPL Education interviews Edwin Morgan

› Featured translation by Edwin Morgan

› Edwin Morgan and Poets' Pub

› www.edwinmorgan.com/menu.html

› www.carcanet.co.uk (click on 'Authors', then 'M')

› Edwin Morgan on the Poetry Archive

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Norwegian

I knew his name fine, but couldn't recall it.
He was Norway's answer to Robert Burns, a countryman
among the sophisticates, and their first Modernist.
Do you not know who I mean? I have no books here
to check it up, but gave a lecture on him once:
Non-Anglophone Modernist Writing.
Not Ane Gaborg, though he did translate the Odyssey
into Nynorsk, who was mainly a novelist. Was it Obstfelder
or Olaf Bull? It might have been him. Overlapped the Victorians.
You should know. I should know. No matter -

What was astonishing in the dream was
I could recite whole stanzas of his poetry off by heart.
Lines, images flew from my tongue. I remembered it all,
astonishing even myself as I slept.

Edwin Morgan

from Dreams and Other Nightmares: New and Uncollected Poems 1954-2009 (Mariscat, 2010)

Reprinted by permission of Mariscat Press