Born Glasgow in April 1920, Morgan has 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 has experimented with the language of machines as well as translating brilliantly from a variety of European languages. He has translated plays into Scots, and written 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).

TOP 

Related links

› Edwin Morgan and Poets' Pub

› www.edwinmorgan.com/menu.html

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

› SPL Education interviews Edwin Morgan

› Read a featured translation by Edwin Morgan

› www.poetryarchive.org

TOP 

Featured poem

Grendel's Mother, from Beowulf

This verse translation by Edwin Morgan was first published in 1952 by the Hand and Flower Press (Aldington, Kent), reprinted in 1962 by the University of California Press, and again in 2002 by Carcanet Press (Manchester). The latest reprint preserves the 1952 introduction, with Morgan’s thoughts on both the poem itself and the process of translation. It includes a note by Morgan from 2001:

The translation, which was begun shortly after I came out of the army at the end of the Second World War, was in a sense my unwritten war poem, and I would not want to alter the expression I gave to its themes of conflict and danger, voyaging and displacement, loyalty and loss. Inter arma musae tacent
[In time of conflict the Muses are silent], but they are not sleeping.