"Wherefore I seek a poetry of facts": Science in Hugh MacDiarmid’s Poetry

Lyall, Scott

Abstract

Best known as a modernist poet in Scots, Hugh MacDiarmid’s later poetry moved away from its earlier lyricism to become a ‘poetry of facts’ written in terminological English. His appropriation of scientific sources was central to this. This paper looks at some examples of MacDiarmid’s ‘poetry of facts’, as well as the contexts behind his choice to write in this style, and suggests that MacDiarmid was less interested in science in its own right as he was in exemplifying the continuing value of the philosophical generalism once traditional to Scottish education.

• Presentation Conference Type: Keynote
• Conference Name: The British Society for Literature and Science Eighteenth Annual Conference
• Start Date: Apr 13, 2023
• End Date: Apr 15, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 4, 2023