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Read Katherine Gordon’s article on the poetry of Angus and Jacob, ‘Writing the Spirit of Place’.

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2006 marked the 60th anniversary of the deaths of two significant 20th-century Scottish poets: Marion Angus and Violet Jacob. Both women came from the North-East of Scotland, and both produced poetry richly coloured by the voices and music of the region – although they also drew on influences from across Europe and beyond. This new edited collection makes available an extensive selection of their poetry from across the span of their careers. Organised chronologically in the order of their publication, it allows readers to follow the development of each poet’s writing through time, and gain an understanding of the breadth of their bodies of work. Passionate and radical, lyrical and rich in human experience, the poems of Marion Angus and Violet Jacob will delight and captivate. More than 200 poems are included in this comprehensive anthology, along with an overview of each poet’s life, a short synopsis of major themes in their poetry, and notes on individual poems, providing an invaluable critical background for a full appreciation of their work.

Katherine Gordon received her PhD in Scottish Literature from the University of Glasgow in 2000. She has written widely on the poetry of Marion Angus and Violet Jacob and is currently Assistant Professor of English at St Louis Community College, Missouri.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 
Introduction 

THE POEMS OF MARION ANGUS

From The Lilt and Other Verses (1922)

By Candle Light 
The Drove Road 
Remembrance Day 
The Fox’s Skin 
The Bridge 
Treasure Trove 
The Turn of the Day 
Moonlight 
The Lilt 
Loneliness 
All Souls’ Eve 
The Graceless Loon 

From The Tinker’s Road and Other Verses (1924)

The Tinker’s Road 
The Seaward Toon 
Mary’s Song 
In Ardelot 
George Gordon, Lord Byron 
In a Mirror 
Annie Honey 
Patrick 
Penchrise 
At Candlemas 
Most Sad is Sleep 
The Fiddler 
The Lane Kirkyaird 
Alas! Poor Queen 
Think Lang 
The Ghost 

From Sun and Candlelight (1927)

Courtin’ 
The Wife 
Waater o’ Dye 
Singin’ Waater 
World’s Love 
The Sang 
The Prood Lass 
Barbara 
Wee Jock Todd 
Jealousy 
The Blue Boat 
The Wild Lass 
‘In the Streets Thereof’ 
Memory 
The Tree 
The Silver City 
The Mourners 
Withy Wands 
Cowslips Soon Will Dance 
The Captive 
Heritage 
Change 
Winter 
Trees 
Cotton Grasses 

From The Singin’ Lass (1929)

The Wee Sma’ Glen 
The Ghaist 
Heart-Free 
Winter-Time 
Hogmanay 
Ann Gilchrist 
Welcome 
The Eerie Hoose 
The Can’el 
Invitation 
This Woman 
Jean Cam’bell 
The Singin’ Lass 
Moonlight Meeting 
Winds of the World 
A Traveller 
Huntlie Hill 
Arrival 
Evening Walk 
Among Thorns 
Cambus Woods 
Of Sorrowful Things 
Dawn and Twilight 
Anemones 

From The Turn of the Day (1931)

Spring 
A Breton Woman Sings 
A Small Thing 
The Broken Brig 
The Lissome Leddy 
The Doors of Sleep 
The Stranger 
Joan the Maid 
Lost Things 
Curios 
The Blue Jacket 

From Lost Country and Other Verses (1937)

Lost Country 
Chance Acquaintance 
When At Familiar Doors 
Two is Company 
Corrichie 
Naomi 
The Burden 
The Widow 
Desires of Youth 
Gathering Shells 
The Plaid 
A Woman Sings 
The Green Yaird 
The Musician 
In a Little Old Town 
News 
Nicht o’ Nichts 
The Spae-Wife 
New Year’s Morning 
Martha’s House 
Foxgloves and Snow 
Memory’s Trick 
Once Long Ago 
The Faithful Heart 
Links o’ Lunan 
At Parting 
November in Edinburgh 
On a Birthday 

Uncollected Poems

Unseen 
Wizardry 
The Kiss 

Uncertain Provenance

The Dove 
After the Storm

THE POEMS OF VIOLET JACOB

From Verses (1905)

Half-Way 
The Shadow 
An Immortelle 
Beyond the Walls 
‘Come On, Come Up, Ye Rovers’ 
Airlie Kirk 
In Lower Egypt 
The Call 
The Valley of the Kings 
The Lowland Ploughmanfrom Poems of India: 
II: Night in the Plains 
III: The Resting-Place 
IV: Evening in the Opium Fields 
V: ’God is Great’ 
VII: Cherry-Blossom at Dagshai 
XI: The Distant Temple

From Songs of Angus (1915)

Tam i’ the Kirk 
The Howe o’ the Mearns 
The Lang Road 
The Beadle o’ Drumlee 
The Water-Hen 
The Heid Horseman 
The Gean-Trees 
The Tod 
The Blind Shepherd 
The Doo’cot Up the Braes 
Logie Kirk 
The Philosophy of the Ditch 
The Lost Licht 
The Lad i’ the Mune 
The Gowk 
The Jacobite Lass 
Maggie 
The Whustlin’ Lad 
Craigo Woods 
The Wild Geese 

From More Songs of Angus and Others (1918)

To A. H. J. 
Jock, to the First Army 
The Field by the Lirk o’ the Hill 
Montrose 
The Road to Marykirk 
The Brig 
The Kirk Beside the Sands 
Glory 
The Shepherd to His Love 
A Change o’ Deils 
The Last o’ the Tinkler 
Fringford Brook 
Prison 
Presage 
The Bird in the Valley 
Back to the Land 
The Scarlet Lilies 
Frostbound 
‘The Happy Warrior’ 

From Bonnie Joann and Other Poems (1921)

Bonnie Joann 
The Wind Frae the Baltic 
The Tramp to the Tattie-Dulie 
Hallowe’en 
The Daft Bird 
‘Kirrie’ 
The End O’t 
The Kelpie 
Baltic Street 
Bailie Bruce 
Charlewayn 
The Gangerel 
The Tinkler’s Baloo 
The Banks o’ the Esk 
Inverquharity 
Faur-Ye-Weel 
The Shadows 
A Winter Phantasy 

From Two New Poems (1924)

Rohallion 

From The Northern Lights and Other Poems (1927)

The Northern Lichts 
The Neep-Fields By the Sea 
The Rowan 
The Licht Nichts 
The Jaud 
The Deil 
Steenhive 
The Guidwife Speaks 
The Last Ane 
Donald Maclane 
The Cross-Roads 
Geordie’s Lament 
The Helpmate 

From The Scottish Poems of Violet Jacob (1944)

The Warld 
The Poor Suitor 
The Neebour 
The Poacher to Orion 
The Baltic 
Cairneyside 

Uncollected Poems

The Barley 
Bindweed

Notes for Individual Poems 
Glossary 
Bibliography

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Cover illustration: ‘Beehives, Sunset’. Joan Eardley RSA (1921–1963). 
By kind permission of Patricia Black. Illustration courtesy of Cordelia Oliver. 
Cover design: Mark Blackadder.