A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle

by Hugh MacDiarmid, Kenneth Buthlay (Editor)

Kenneth Buthlay's edition of A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle is widely considered to be the best edition of all and provides extensive commentary and notes, taking the reader through MacDiarmid's complex and often opaque use of language. The drunk man lies on a moonlit hillside looking at a thistle, jaggy and beautiful, which epitomises Scotland's divided self. The man reflects on the fate of the nation, the human condition in general and his own personal fears.

Genres: Poetry, Scotland, Classics

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Christopher Murray Grieve, known by his pen name, Hugh MacDiarmid, was a Scottish poet and cultural activist.

MacDiarmid was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century. Unusually for a first generation modernist, he was a communist; unusually for a communist, he was a committed Scottish nationalist. He wrote in English and literary Scots (sometimes referred to as Lallans).

Reviews

[Raicheal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle is a 2685-line poem written under a pseudonym by a literary figure who had just changed his mind about everything he thought about his own culture and wanted to avoid embarrassment.

The poem contains references to classical myth, Burns (many), Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot, Gerard Manly Hopkins, Milton, and wonderful interactions with and retoolings of Dostoevsky's thoughts.

It is written in Scots, which makes it quite fun (and almost compulsory) to read out loud, and is faithfully centered on the noble thistle.

MacDiarmid muses on all sorts of life/death/eternity/truth themes, but so far this is my favorite stanza:

"He canna Scotland see wha yet
Canna see the Infinite,
And Scotland in true scale to it."

We were RIGHT.

[Eilidh Fyfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
finally finished hugh after many months of neglect and using him for my last history essay.
a W i l d ride and extensive footnotes aplenty, welcome to the mind of macdiarmid.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A DRUNK MAN LOOKS AT THE THISTLE, first published in 1926, is considered by many to be the greatest work of 20th century Scottish literature. The poem, which is both fascinating and intriguing, expresses Hugh MacDiarmid’s views on just about everything, including the future of Scotland and of mankind.

MacDiarmid was a leading figure in the Scottish renaissance, and A DRUNK MAN, along with a host of MacDiarmid’s other writings, was highly influential in changing the course of modern Scottish literature. When I was a student in Edinburgh in the 1970s, in fact, it was impossible to informally discuss any author or work of literature without having the discussion change within ten minutes to a discussion of Hugh MacDiarmid’s ideas.

One difficulty for the reader is that the poem is written in artificial Scots, in which MacDiarmid combines words from all different regions and time periods, thereby making it substantially harder to read than, say, modern Glaswegian.

The Scottish Academic Press edition, however, provides glosses at the bottom of every page and a page of annotations for every page of text. The annotations provide needed explanations and notes on sources and substantially improve one’s understanding and enjoyment of the poem.

I recommend A DRUNK MAN LOOKS AT THE THISTLE to anyone interested in modern Scottish literature.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

A carnivalesque and expressionistic stream-of-consciousness jaunt in Scots language. An allusive rival to Eliot, Joyce, and Beckett. This annotated edition has a 43-page introductory essay by Kenneth Buthlay. The poem itself is 2685 lines. Buthlay's annotations are on the left facing page and the text of the poem is on the right side, with the glossary entries below the text.

[Jack Alexander Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

A far-reaching metaphysical modernist epic. Also, surprisingly accessible once you crack the Scots code, certainly far more than the Wasteland or, god forbid, Anathemata.

////

"The need to wark, the need to think, the need to be,
And a'thing that twists Life into a certain shape
And interferes wi' perfect liberty —
These feed this Frankenstein that nae men can escape.

For ilka thing a man can be or think or dae
Aye leaves a million mair unbeen, unthocht, undune,
Till his puir warped performance is,
To a' that micht ha' been, a thistle to the mune".

[Stephanie Hartley]

As you've probably already guessed, this book isn't the easiest in the world to read. It's in fact a long poem written in vernacular Scottish - imagine coming across a drunk Scottish farmer in a rural area and you've just about got the gist of it. Oh, and get that farmer to translate the odd Russian poem into Scots dialect here and there. The entire text is purposefully de-anglocentric, as MacDiarmid was calling for a Scottish Renaissance in terms of literature. To move away from the static resonance to English literature in Scottish fiction was most definitely the way forward in his eyes.

I have to say, this wasn't a book I would necessarily read if I didn't have to. Having said that, it's really the only text by a Scottish author that I've ever read which defies English literature, and stands up in opposition to it. The whole notion that Scottish people do not have a language of their own, which pervades the entire poem, really pointed out to me something which I'd never thought about before. Moreover, if you want to read some fantastic imagery concerning thistles (a bit niche, but hey ho), then check it out!

[Aya · Rating 5 out of 5]

MacDiarmid's poetry is revolutionary because it could never be read or considered English. He writes to resist assimilation but he also doesn't attempt to recreate a historical moment that he doesn't have access to. It's the most scots and the least Burns at the same time a poet can get --I think.

[Stuart Macbeath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accessible and important in places, contradictory and confused in others, much like MacDiarmid himself, I suppose.

[Peter McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this after reading The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft: the gods chose to bless me with a perfect example of where Ronald Hutton goes wrong. MacDiarmid is working with all the elements of the late Victorian ‘pagan’ imagination: the liberating power of the moon, the great primeval goddess, the harms of Christian morality, etc. But under Nietzsche’s influence he reworks the relationships between these images. The goddess does not offer liberation: she has fed on the power of the moon and transformed it, passing its vital potential through the negative forces of shame and pity to create the ‘thistle’ of morality ‘[t]hat breenges ‘twixt the munelicht and my hert’ and creates the Jekyll-and-Hyde self-contradictoriness of the modern European soul, a sickness that is furthest developed in Scotland. Christianity, especially Presbyterianism, figures not as the antithesis of the goddess but as her tool; in the secularisation that has ‘uprooted’ the thistle, there lies some hope for its transformation (and the subsequent transformation of both Scotland and Europe), but such transformation requires terror. MacDiarmid is the best example I know of of how faithfully Nietzschean a fascist can be, and at his best he’s terrifying; only in a few places does his ignorant play with a Scots dictionary turn him unintentionally comical.

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeez... this was hard work, and I have the benefit that my understanding of Scots is sound enough that I barely had to check my understanding of any of the words or phrases. Essentially, this epic poem looks at the state of Scotland, its society, attitudues and people in the 1920s when it was first published. But MacDiarmid's genius is that it's as relevant today as it ever was.

As a spokesman for the Scottish people, he's magnificent. The basic conceit – that a drunk man might be jabbering away to his two cronies while staring into a glass of whisky and seeing reflections all around – allows for the widest view. Starting with how Scots and the world see Burns, he covers the relationship with England, the Church, class – more or less everything. MacDiarmid is cynical throughout. There's even a very amusing section near the end that all Scottish sports fans will relate to:

Hauf his soul a Scot maun use
Indulgin' in illusions,
And half in gettin' rid o' them
And comin' to conclusions
Wi' the demoralisin' dearth
O' onything worth while on Earth...

In other words, it's the hope that kills.

I docked a star because there are points when A Drunk Man is a bit racist, or sexist, but then again it's a poem of its time, a century ago. But it's a must-read for any Scot.

[Cameron Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

definitely one of the more difficult pieces that I’ve read. The synthetic Scots can be a real arse ache sometimes when he’s really goin for it. The metaphysics stuff can get a bit bogged down as well and he does lose the thread every so often

BUT it is an incredible piece of work that I thoroughly enjoyed and took A LOT from for my own writing (in the tradition of MacDiarmid himself). A very very important piece about Scottish identity written by a very very clever and very very mad man

[David Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you can make the argument that the collected wit of Dostoevsky can contain all the world's possibilities and resentments, why not Dumbreck?

[Miller Kress · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scottish epic poem about a drunk man’s stream of consciousness. Makes over 50 references to other writers and works. Very philosophical. Written in Scots.

[John Swisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

—And weel ye micht, efter sic a nicht!

[j e rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Let us enjoy deceit, this instinct in us."

[Katherine Simmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read but actually a lot easier than I first thought it would be. The notes and glossary of words are well done and in such a way it is quick to spot translations words for any of Scots words which you get stuck on. Admittedly I read each page or so about three times to get a good understanding of translation and also the references peppered thoughout the poem.

The poem and points are well written and very appropiate given the up coming vote for Scotland. All in all an interesting work.

[Scott Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Langholm poet at his lyrical, philosophical and epic best.