Pretty cool, that, David. I liked the strength of expression in the clearances poems especially,
To the crofters, re direct action (referring to Alexander Murdoch's poem)
“Give back the land,” cries Alexander,
Ah! no; ’tis given by God’s own hand;
Then let your battle cry be even grander—
Not “give,” ’tis yours; “take” back the land!
And a fine laird:
I have a very large estate,
All for me, all for me;
My cares are small, my wealth is great,
All for me, all for me.
Once other people shared my land,
And rented holdings far from grand,
But I have made them understand
It’s all for me, all for me.
>In a special issue of Victorians Institute Journal on "Victorian Scotland" we published an collection of poems by Marion Bernstein edited by Linda Fleming and Edward Cohen, whose work appeared mostly in weekly Glasgow newspapers in the final quarter of the century. For thos interested, this is now available in the VIJ annex at NINES:
http://www.nines.org/exhibits/A_Scottish_Dozen
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