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“The poems in this superb and revelatory collection take one to the heart of war” 
— Scottish Review of Books

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Many who endured the two catastrophic global conflicts of the twentieth century chose not to speak – or could not speak – of what they saw and suffered. But some could turn to poetry, to try to make sense of what was happening.

From the Line brings together the best of Scotland’s poetry from the two World Wars: 138 poems, from fifty-six poets, are represented here, from both men and women, from battlefields across the world and from the Home Front, too.

Some reflect on the loss of peace, or mourn the death of friends and comrades. Some tell of traumas that can never be shaken off, others of an intensity that would never be found again – but there is hope, too, and moments of humour, compassion and decency that still survive.

David Goldie is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Strathclyde, and has written extensively on the literatures of the First World War.

Roderick Watson is Professor Emeritus in English Studies at the University of Stirling. Himself a published poet, he has written and lectured widely on Scottish literature and cultural identity.

Click here to watch David Goldie and Rory Watson’s talk on Scottish War Poetry plus other videos from the 2017 ASLS Schools Conference.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

POEMS 1914–1918

Marion Angus 
   Remembrance Day 
Archibald Allan Bowman 
   from ‘In the Field’ 
   from ‘Rastatt’ 
John Buchan 
   On Leave 
   Home Thoughts from Abroad 
   The Great Ones 
   Fisher Jamie 
R. W. Campbell 
   The Border Breed 
   The Advice of McPhee 
   The Camerons (K1) 
William Cameron 
   Speak not to me of War! 
W. D. Cocker 
   The Sniper 
   Storm Memories 
   from ‘Sonnets in Captivity’ 
John MacDougall Hay 
   Their Sons 
   from ‘The Call’ 
Violet Jacob 
   To A. H. J 
   The Field by the Lirk o’ the Hill 
   The Road to Marykirk 
Roderick Watson Kerr 
   From the Line 
   The Corpse 
   A Dead Man 
   Faith 
   Denial 
   June, 1918 
Joseph Lee 
   The Bullet 
   The Green Grass 
   German Prisoners 
   The Carrion Crow 
Walter Lyon 
   I tracked a dead man down a trench 
   The Blue is Bright 
MacKenzie MacBride 
   Shouther Airms! 
Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna (Donald MacDonald) 
   Òran Arras / The Song of Arras 
Patrick MacGill 
   After Loos 
   The Night Before and the Night After the Charge 
   A Vision 
Pittendrigh MacGillivray 
   A Woman in the Street 
E. A. Mackintosh 
   Anns an Gleann’san Robh Mi Og 
   Cha Till MacCruimein 
   In Memoriam 
   The Volunteer 
   Recruiting 
   The Dead Men 
Hamish Mann 
   The Soldier 
   The Digger 
   The Barriers 
   A Song 
   To-day 
Charles Scott-Moncrieff 
   Back in Billets 
Iain Rothach (John Munro) 
   Ar Tir / Our Land 
   Ar Gaisgich a Thuit sna Blàir / Our Heroes who Fell in Battle 
Neil Munro 
   Hey, Jock, are ye glad ye ’listed? 
Charles Murray 
   A Sough o’ War 
   When will the war be by? 
   Dockens Afore his Peers 
Murchadh Moireach (Murdo Murray) 
   Luach na Saorsa / The Value of Freedom 
Alexander Robertson 
   Written in Hospital, Provence 
   Spencer loquitur: Moi, j’écoute en riant 
J. B. Salmond 
   Pilgrimage 
   The Unveiling 
   Twenty Years Ago 
Charles Hamilton Sorley 
   All the hills and vales along 
   When you see millions of the mouthless dead 
   Lost 
Mary Symon 
   The Soldiers’ Cairn 
   After Neuve Chapelle 
   A Whiff o’ Hame

POEMS 1939–1945

J. K. Annand 
   Atlantic 1941 
   Action Stations 
   Arctic Convoy 
Edward Boyd 
   Visibility Zero 
   ENSA Concert 
   Sergeant-Pilot D. A. Crosbie 
Norman Cameron 
   Green, Green is El Aghir 
G. S. Fraser 
   Rostov 
   A Winter Letter 
   S.S. City of Benares 
Olive Fraser 
   The Home Fleet 
Robert Garioch 
   Property 
   Kriegy Ballad 
   Letter from Italy 
   During a Music Festival 
Flora Garry 
   Ambulance Depot, 1942 
   War: 1939–1945 
Jack Gillespie 
   Gillespie’s Leave 
Deòrsa Mac Iain Deòrsa (George Campbell Hay) 
   Bisearta / Bizerta 
   Esta Selva Selvaggia / This Savage Wood 
Hamish Henderson 
   from Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica 
   First Elegy: End of a Campaign 
   Seventh Elegy: Seven Good Germans 
   Anzio April 
   The 51st Highland Division’s Farewell to Sicily 
J. F. Hendry 
   London Before Invasion, 1940 
   Question and Answer 
   The Return 
Michael Hinton 
   The Traveller 
Maurice Lindsay 
   London, September 1940 
   The Trigger 
Hugh MacDiarmid 
   from ‘The Kind of Poetry I Want’ 
Somhairle MacGill-Eain (Sorley MacLean) 
   Dol an Iar / Going Westwards 
   Curaidhean / Heroes 
   Glac à Bhàis / Death Valley 
   Latha Foghair / An Autumn Day 
Calum MacLeòid (Malcolm MacLeod) 
   El-Alamein 
Colin McIntyre 
   Motor Transport Officer 
   Infantryman 
Naomi Mitchison 
   London Burning 
   Siren Night 
   The Farm Woman: 1942 
William Montgomerie 
   The Edge Of The War (1939–) 
   Epitaph 
   Thirty Years After 
Edwin Morgan 
   from The New Divan (1977) 
Edwin Muir 
   The River 
Myra Schneider 
   Drawing a Banana 
Alexander Scott 
   Coronach 
   The Sodgers 
   Twa Images 
Duncan Shaw 
   Pictures 
Sydney Goodsir Smith 
   from ‘Armageddon in Albyn’ 
   I. El Alamein 
   II. The Mither’s Lament 
   III. The Convoy 
   IV. The Sodjer’s Sang 
   V. Simmer Lanskip 
   VI. Mars and Venus at Hogmanay 
   VII. The War in Fife 
   October 1941 
Louise Findlay Stewart 
   The Sea-Wolf 
William J. Tait 
   Tattoo (1938) 
   First Raid 
Ruthven Todd 
   The Drawings for Guernica 
   It Was Easier 
   These Are Facts 
Sydney Tremayne 
   Elegy 
Douglas Young 
   Leaving Athens 
   For Alasdair

Biographical Notes 
Acknowledgements

Cover image: part of the bronze frieze which excircles the Shrine of the Scottish National War Memorial, Edinburgh Castle. 
© RCAHMS (Scottish Colorfoto Collection). 
Cover design: Mark Blackadder.