The Revolutionary Art of the Future: Rediscovered Poems

by Hugh MacDiarmid, John Manson (Editor), Dorian Grieve (Editor)

A selection from 300 recently discovered poems by Hugh MacDiarmid, who 25 years after his death is still a dissenting voice, are presented in this collection. The power of derisive laughter and the poetic imagination to combat ignorance, prejudice, and stupidity are celebrated by MacDiarmid in these provocative poems on sexuality and marriage. Many of the poems satirize the hypocrisy of the church and bourgeois complacency and powerfully indict the brutality of imperialism and its consequences for war. Discovered by John Manson in the archives of the National Library of Scotland, this is the first time many of these poems have appeared in print.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

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).