Hugh
MacDiarmid
(1892—1978)
Poet
His first poetry was written in English, but after studying a
Scots dictionary, he used words from different dialects to build
up a literary Scots language. His best-known work, A Drunk Man
Looks at the Thistle, was published in 1926, a self-parodic poem
of meditation and introspection. But the work he did in the 1930s
was acknowledged as his best. He swayed between political parties,
at times joining Labour, the Communists, and helping found the
SNR.
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