Hugh MacDiarmid

Hugh MacDiarmid (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978) is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve, who was a leading Scottish poet. He was a member of the Communist party and a prominent Scots Nationalist.

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 * I amna fou' sae muckle as tired - deid dune. It's gey and hard wark coupin' gless for gless Wi' Cruivie and Gilsanquhar and the like, And I'm no' juist as bauld as aince I wes.
 * A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (1926)(opening lines)


 * I'll ha'e nae hauf-way hoose, but aye be whaur Extremes meet - it's the only way I ken To dodge the curst conceit o' bein' richt That damns the vast majority o' men.
 *  Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle (1926), II.141-4
 * These lines are on MacDiarmid's tombstone


 * The number of people who can copulate properly may be few; the number who can write well are infinitely fewer.
 * Review of Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928)


 * If there's a sword-like sang That can cut Scotland clear O a' the warld beside Rax me the hilt o't here. For there's nae jewal till Frae the rest o earth it's free, Wi the starry separateness I'd fain to Scotland gie.
 * To Circumjack Cencrastus


 * The rose of all the world is not for me. I want for my part Only the little white rose of Scotland That smells sharp and sweet - and breaks the heart.
 * The Little White Rose