Edwin Morgan: Inventions of Modernity

by Colin Nicholson

Edwin Morgan is Scotland's major living poet, and Inventions of Modernity is the first book-length study of his work. Since the 1940s Morgan's poetry has been carving out an alternative to the conventional evolutions from Modernism to Postmodernism, creating instead a substantial body of writing that ranges from the sublime to the hilarious. Morgan develops radical and libertarian poetics in an encyclopaedia of forms; from Anglo-Saxon meter through sonnet-sequences to concrete poems, and including gay poetry, science fiction verse, and prize-winning translations into both English and Scots from numerous languages.

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry, Scotland, Biography

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2003

About the author

Colin E. Nicholson taught at the University of Edinburgh, specialising in Canadian and Commonwealth literature.

Reviews

[Joshua Buhs · Rating 1 out of 5]

When words stand between you and understanding: so bad.

[Lisa Shafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicholson remains THE foremost authority on Edwin Morgan. If you are studying Scotland's first makkar, you cannot leave out this book.
I worked closely with Nick while doing my dissertation, and I can assure you that the man really knows his Morgan.