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The Wreck of the Archangel: Poems
This collection of the poetry of George Mackay Brown, whose most recent work was a volume of short stories entitled "The Masked Fisherman", centres on the theme of journeys - including an ill-fated 19th century trip ending off the Orkney island of Westray, from which the book takes its title.
- GenresPoetry
116 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
10 people want to read
About the author
George Mackay Brown
183 books101 followersGeorge Mackay Brown, the poet, novelist and dramatist, spent his life living in and documenting the Orkney Isles.
A bout of severe measles at the age of 12 became the basis for recurring health problems throughout his life. Uncertain as to his future, he remained in education until 1940, a year which brought with it a growing reality of the war, and the unexpected death of his father. The following year he was diagnosed with (then incurable) Pulmonary Tuberculosis and spent six months in hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney's main town.
Around this time, he began writing poetry, and also prose for the Orkney Herald for which he became Stromness Correspondent, reporting events such as the switching on of the electricity grid in 1947. In 1950 he met the poet Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian, who recognised Mackay Brown's talent for writing, and would become his literary tutor and mentor at Newbattle Abbey College, in Midlothian, which he attended in 1951-2. Recurring TB forced Mackay Brown to spend the following year in hospital, but his experience at Newbattle spurred him to apply to Edinburgh University, to read English Literature, returning to do post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins.
In later life Mackay Brown rarely left Orkney. He turned to writing full-time, publishing his first collection of poetry, The Storm, in 1954. His writing explored life on Orkney, and the history and traditions which make up Orkney's distinct cultural identity. Many of his works are concerned with protecting Orkney's cultural heritage from the relentless march of progress and the loss of myth and archaic ritual in the modern world. Reflecting this, his best known work is Greenvoe (1972), in which the permanence of island life is threatened by 'Black Star', a mysterious nuclear development.
Mackay Brown's literary reputation grew steadily. He received an OBE in 1974 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977, in addition to gaining several honorary degrees. His final novel, Beside the Ocean of Time (1994) was Booker Prize shortlisted and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. Mackay Brown died in his home town of Stromness on 13th April 1996.
He produced several poetry collections, five novels, eight collections of short stories and two poem-plays, as well as non-fiction portraits of Orkney, an autobiography, For the Islands I Sing (1997), and published journalism.
Read more at:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org....
A bout of severe measles at the age of 12 became the basis for recurring health problems throughout his life. Uncertain as to his future, he remained in education until 1940, a year which brought with it a growing reality of the war, and the unexpected death of his father. The following year he was diagnosed with (then incurable) Pulmonary Tuberculosis and spent six months in hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney's main town.
Around this time, he began writing poetry, and also prose for the Orkney Herald for which he became Stromness Correspondent, reporting events such as the switching on of the electricity grid in 1947. In 1950 he met the poet Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian, who recognised Mackay Brown's talent for writing, and would become his literary tutor and mentor at Newbattle Abbey College, in Midlothian, which he attended in 1951-2. Recurring TB forced Mackay Brown to spend the following year in hospital, but his experience at Newbattle spurred him to apply to Edinburgh University, to read English Literature, returning to do post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins.
In later life Mackay Brown rarely left Orkney. He turned to writing full-time, publishing his first collection of poetry, The Storm, in 1954. His writing explored life on Orkney, and the history and traditions which make up Orkney's distinct cultural identity. Many of his works are concerned with protecting Orkney's cultural heritage from the relentless march of progress and the loss of myth and archaic ritual in the modern world. Reflecting this, his best known work is Greenvoe (1972), in which the permanence of island life is threatened by 'Black Star', a mysterious nuclear development.
Mackay Brown's literary reputation grew steadily. He received an OBE in 1974 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977, in addition to gaining several honorary degrees. His final novel, Beside the Ocean of Time (1994) was Booker Prize shortlisted and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. Mackay Brown died in his home town of Stromness on 13th April 1996.
He produced several poetry collections, five novels, eight collections of short stories and two poem-plays, as well as non-fiction portraits of Orkney, an autobiography, For the Islands I Sing (1997), and published journalism.
Read more at:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org....
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 13, 2020
Barely there.
You can do things with extremely plain, terse, noun-based poetry - I have in mind Ciaran Carson. But this is too minimal for me.
You can do things with extremely plain, terse, noun-based poetry - I have in mind Ciaran Carson. But this is too minimal for me.
October 9, 2009
poetry by GEORGE MACAY BROWN
FOLLOWING THE LARK
each line is an echo of the easy visual clues from each poem , no doubt.
in an unseen Orkney of life to the reader that is as global as it is insular to the writer,actions, opinion content of a small set of islands
but repeatedly with an air of..Les Mots et les choses, were ever the need arises you can see the influence of Dylan-Thomas or t.s..eliot interception on his work common but not limited,
expansive but not purely academical, (quote)... i smoke my pipe on creys Pier now
and Liston to the Atlantic,..
THE KIDS FORM FEARVOY FARM,, TRINITY(sailing from Greenland's)..effective from start to finish....as SEAUN HENNEY states this vi son has something of the skaldic poets, consciousness,the inevitable ordeal.
THE WRECK OF THE ARK-ANGEL
great book of poetry again this genre.. repeats the same passion for his island home
the line from the poem FLOWERS FROM THE STONE is a question to to many Scotsmen alike...." Scotland scattered saw-teeth melt like petals in the thin haze"
shells are scattered, caves like organs, deal "threnody praise"..
HOUSE OF WINTER
about the snow covered isle as seen from inside a house..(favourite topic in my poems)
VILLAGE ELDERS CONSULT A SEA-CHART.. ... i liked this one comprehensive,
accurate, vivid...
FOLLOWING THE LARK
each line is an echo of the easy visual clues from each poem , no doubt.
in an unseen Orkney of life to the reader that is as global as it is insular to the writer,actions, opinion content of a small set of islands
but repeatedly with an air of..Les Mots et les choses, were ever the need arises you can see the influence of Dylan-Thomas or t.s..eliot interception on his work common but not limited,
expansive but not purely academical, (quote)... i smoke my pipe on creys Pier now
and Liston to the Atlantic,..
THE KIDS FORM FEARVOY FARM,, TRINITY(sailing from Greenland's)..effective from start to finish....as SEAUN HENNEY states this vi son has something of the skaldic poets, consciousness,the inevitable ordeal.
THE WRECK OF THE ARK-ANGEL
great book of poetry again this genre.. repeats the same passion for his island home
the line from the poem FLOWERS FROM THE STONE is a question to to many Scotsmen alike...." Scotland scattered saw-teeth melt like petals in the thin haze"
shells are scattered, caves like organs, deal "threnody praise"..
HOUSE OF WINTER
about the snow covered isle as seen from inside a house..(favourite topic in my poems)
VILLAGE ELDERS CONSULT A SEA-CHART.. ... i liked this one comprehensive,
accurate, vivid...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews