Wild Geese: A Collection of Nan Shepherd's Writing

by Nan Shepherd, Charlotte Peacock (Editor)

In the 1930s, the writer and poet, Nan Shepherd was one of North-East Scotland's best known literati. Three novels, The Quarry Wood, The Weatherhouse and A Pass in the Grampians and a volume of poetry, In the Cairngorms, published between 1928 and 1934 while she was still only in her thirties, established her reputation as one of the most highly respected members of the Scottish modernist movement.

Currently best known for her masterpiece of mountain literature The Living Mountain (first published in 1977), Nan Shepherd, who died in 1981, has been in the news recently. Her image now graces the new Scottish $5 note; The Living Mountain has become a classic and sells in its thousands. It will come as a very pleasant surprise to Nan Shepherds growing following that there is a body of her work which has never been published in book form, and indeed will be entirely unknown outside a very small circle.

The editor of this volume, Charlotte Peacock, found many of these gems when researching for the Nan Shepherd biography Into the Mountain, published by Galileo in 2017. The pieces that Peacock found include a brilliant and moving 10,000 word short story, Descent from the Cross; a series of 'field writings' which were written at the same time, and in the same style as, The Living Mountain; 15 poems, never seen before; a highly entertaining piece on the poetry of Hugh MacDiarmid and, from where the title of this collection arises, a haunting description of Wild Geese in Glen Callater a version of which also went into The Living Mountain.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Nature, Short Stories

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2018

About the author

Nan (Anna) Shepherd was a Scottish novelist and poet. She was an early Scottish Modernist writer, who wrote three standalone novels set in small, fictional, communities in North Scotland. The Scottish landscape and weather played a major role in her novels and were the focus of her poetry. Shepherd also wrote one non-fiction book on hill walking, based on her experiences walking in the Cairngorms. An enthusiastic gardener and hill-walker, she made many visits to the Cairngorms with students and friends. She also travelled further afield - to Norway, France, Italy, Greece and South Africa. Shepherd was a lecturer of English at the Aberdeen College of Education for most of her working life.

Shepherd was a friend of the writers Agnes Mure Mackenzie and Neil M. Gunn and a mentor to Jessie Kesson.

Reviews

[Kendalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A faint green mist of green was in the hollows of the sown fields, a faint powdering of green on the birches. Fresh and chill and pure, April stood there, lovely beyond all his remembering."

The next installment in my love affair with Shepherds work. I'm quite determined to real every word this woman wrote. Someone please send me her grocery lists and to do lists so I can frame them and place them in a shrine in one of the many nooks of which my old apartment boasts.

[Dr. des. Siobhán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting mixture of prose, poetry and writings about other poets. As always Nan Shepherd is highly intelligent, on point and poetic. Enjoyed this one though the mixture seemed to be a bit arbitrary...

[Jack Deighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book contains a story of novella length, some of Shepherd’s landscape/natural world writing, poems, literary appreciation, and fragments from life. In all of these Shepherd’s writing is crisp, clear and insightful.

Part I Descent From the Cross: The story of a man who was hung up by his wrists in the Courland Forest as a POW during the Great War and who returns to Scotland in a poor state. Betsy determines to marry him convinced he will write a classic but his weakness means that is a forlorn hope. Even though she had always been capable of providing for herself he is racked by guilt that he cannot support her.

Part II The Deeside Field Writings: Four pieces focusing on Deeside
Colours of Deeside describes all of the colours, natural and man-made, Shepherd discerned in her explorations of the area; the many blues and hot colours, the varied green, the white and the black, the colour of water under different conditions, the intrusion of human influence into the landscape. James McGregor and the Downies of Braemar outlines the sojourn of one family in the highest croft in Scotland and the legacy which James McGregor managed to fashion out of uncompromising Colours of Deeside. Wild Geese in Glen Callater is an observation of migrating geese manœuvring to change course in the teeth of a gale. The Lupin Island was colonised by those plants from seeds deposited by the river’s flow before being stripped bare by a deluge. Many years later, courtesy of efforts to repair a bridge, a newer island formed and the Lupins returned.

Part III Poems: contains 12 of Shepherd’s poems Those written between 1918 and 1938 are classic sonnets, the later ones more free form though all employ rhyme.

Part IV Poets: In this section Shepherd discusses The Poetry of Hugh MacDiarmid (in whom, despite his detractors, she states she is a believer– in particular she notes the two main criticisms, of his politics and his vocabulary - the work of Marion Angus (whose lyricism sings) and Charles Murray (rooted in the Aberdeenshire landscape.) The latter is “especially good on winter” but Shepherd then adds, “as what Scottish poet is not?” Winter, she says, releases our (ie that of Scots) perceptiveness.
Part V Prose Pieces: Smuts - not the South African General, sadly but not unsurprisingly - is a homage to those smudges or blots which enable perfection to be appreciated, Pixies and Or’nary Peoples is how a child divides up for the author the world of stories, On Noises in the Night emphasises that it is the fact they happen in the night that makes such noises so significant, Schools and Schoolmistresses eulogises those women whom Shepherd taught at Aberdeen College of Education and who went to the furthest wildest places in pursuit of their calling, The Old Wives celebrates the idiosyncrasies and worth of the older woman, Things I Shall Never Know is a series of vignettes from Shepherd’s life each of which left her wondering.

Historical note: A couple of times Shepherd refers to “the pink of asbestos roofing” on sheds and such. I do hope that’s all been removed now.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection presents five different aspects of Shepherd’s writing. It starts with a longish short story, continues with several short pieces of ‘nature writing’, some short poems, three critical essays on other contemporary Scottish poets, and finishes with a miscellany of short (some very short) ‘prose pieces’. The whole is preceded by an illuminating introduction by Charlotte Peacock (the editor, and Shephard’s biographer).

I enjoyed the pieces of non-fiction the most. Some, like the splendid ‘The Living Mountain’ (arguably Shepherd’s masterpiece), are worth returning to; all are extremely well-observed and some very witty. To me, they are by themselves sufficient reason to have this book. The poems may be very good but I don’t appreciate poetry sufficiently to be able to say – and for much the same reason, although very well-written the essays on the three poets don’t much interest me.

The short story (about a lively, self-possessed capable woman and her love for her war-damaged and thus dependent husband) is unusual, thoughtful and thought-provoking, with much evidence of Shepherd’s considerable powers of observation and description. However, it doesn’t much encourage me to put much effort into tracking down any of her three published novels, although if I happen to find one in a second-hand bookshop then I’ll probably buy it.

[Nathalie (keepreadingbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wild Geese started out really strong and then ended up being a bit of a mixed bag. But a collection of different writings will, in most cases, end up being a mixed bag, so I’m not disappointed at all. The stronger parts for me were, especially, the initial short story Descent from the Cross as well as the Deeside Field writings (beautiful, beautiful writing). There was some good in the selected prose pieces at the end and a few of the poems spoke to me too, but surprisingly, I wasn’t too enamoured with her poetry in general. Her essays on three Scottish poets were a drag and felt like homework (disclaimer: I’m sure they are good and well-written pieces, I am just not interested in the whole poets-on-poets thing; it reminds me of university and, as I said, homework), and the rest of the book was fine.

My overall impression is good, however, and I do want to read more of Shepherd’s work. I have read The Living Mountain, which was excellent, but it was fun reading something fictional from her hand in the shape of the short story. It made me keen to give one of her novels a go one day. For now, though, her nature writing remains strongest with me.

[Mandy Applin Northwoods · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading The Living Mountain, I needed to read more of Nan Shepherd. This book did not disappoint! She writes about all of the unspoken things in such a soulful manner ... I'm still breathless after reading her essay about noises in the night, ghost stories being the progeny of the union of Night and Wind, and her philosophical ramblings about our "primeval agelessness" listening to sounds of the darkness.

There is a lot of Scotland in this book! It's a slow read because it's necessary to become at least a little bit Scot (not so much a problem on my part, it's already in my blood 😉 ) to fully experience Nan Shepherd's stories - insightful, delightful and sometimes humorous.

[The Unsafe Lorekeeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a previously unpublished collection of Nan Shepherd's prose and poetry, including a short story and her opinions of various contemporary poets. It is organized like an archive, divided into sections based on the type of material (short story, poetry, prose, etc). There is no overarching theme to the collection, so it can be read linearly or certain sections can be perused at will. Her poetry is at once soaring and deeply rooted in the earth.

[Stewart Monckton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going with 4 stars for this book because the bits I like are wonderful!

The middle part of the book contains a number of poems (and analysis of poems) which I simply did not enjoy. And while I know this says more about me than it does about the poems - I love poems that are spoken - but when I read them they feel dead and flat.

The remaining prose sections of the book are wonderful.

So, a book that I would recommend - but with parts that did not work for me.

SM

[Xenia Tran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild Geese is a collection of bits and pieces of Nan Shepherd's writing (discovered by the the editor when working on Nan's biography) and is easy to dip in and out of and give a feel for Nan's poetry and prose before she published The Living Mountain. I especially enjoyed her nature writing, her acute sense of observation and also her imagination when delving into fiction. These pieces make for a lovely backstory to her other, better known works.

[Katedurie50 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any collection of unpublished pieces is going to be rather slight, as this is, but there's still pleasure in encountering Nan Shepherd's very distinctive voice here, saturated in the rhythms of Aberdeenshire life and speech, or both rhapsodic and quietly observant of natural life. It reminds me how good a writer she was.

[RICARDO PEREZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent introduction to Nan Shepherd’s body of work. I particularly enjoyed the few examples of her poetry included in this collection like “Underground”, “Arthur’s Seat”, and “the Burning Glass”, as well as some of her short stories. And I wouldn’t had made it here without Nick Hunt’s (author of “Outlandish”) suggestion. This is definitely another wanderlust-required reading for the soul…

[Ellen Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the start of this book, and found the first story pretty revolutionary for the time when it was written. However, it went downhill towards the end. The poetry commentary is well written but also chaotic and not the most interesting read. I highly respect her writing though, she must have been a fascinating woman.

[Moira McPartlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this collection. I love The Living Mountain but this disparate collection has a feel that the writing was found in the Work in Progress pile.

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite writer. While I certainly understand why some of this was never published or widely circulated, it’s overall a treasure trove

[Annabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

First story fine. Then poetry.

[Harry McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her nature writing is heartstopping - and some of those poems are incredibly beautiful.

[Aggie :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of bits and bobs by the author of “The Living Mountain” comprising an excellent short story, some unpublished poems, 3 pieces on other Scottish poets and a number of prose pieces on natural history and other subjects. Does not quite fit together neatly, but plenty of evidence that she was a very good writer. Now to find her three novels....