Dave noted of W.S. Graham: 'Now as far as I know he wasn't a Gaelic speaker
anyhow, to the best of my
knowledge Greenock isn't exactly populated with such, correct me if I'm
wrong, as that would be something about him I didn't know, but what I mean
is that English was his language anyhow.'
And Robin responded, correctly: 'Perhaps this turns on a divergence over
"language" -- I don't think David (H) is arguing that Graham spoke Gaelic,
but that he made a choice of English rather than Scots.'
Robin then went on: 'how do you react to the earlier stuff, up to "The
Nightfishing"? Much as I love MML, and thereafter, I can't seem to get into
the pre-1950s work at all.'
I agree that Graham was a late developer. While he valued his early work
highly, I (like many) date his maturity from 'The Nightfishing' (1955). This
is widely regarded as his masterpiece; wonderful as it is it is matched by
'Malcolm Mooney's Land' (1970). 'Implements in their Places' (1977) is less
sustained but contains some magnificent poems. All of these collections were
published by Faber & Faber, where T.S. Eliot was an admirer. Faber have a
re-edited (and newly annotated) 'Collected Poems of W.S. Graham' scheduled
for release in May 2003. The editor is the poet Matthew Francis, who also
has a critical study nearing completion. The Francis edition will replace
'Collected Poems 1942-1977', which was seen through the press personally by
Graham in 1979, shortly before he died of cancer.
David Howard
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