Faber & Faber

20th-Century Scottish Poems: Douglas Dunn

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Synopsis:

[Douglas Dunn's Preface to 20th-Century Scottish Poems]

Editing The Faber Book of Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry (1992; revised paperback edition, 1993) was an arduous but rewarding task. This book is based on it, but it is not an epitome. Much of the most impressive poetry by Scots has been at length, and a book of this kind precluded spacious representation. It can be read as a sampler. Readers who find what they like here can go to the fuller anthology or to the poets' individual collections. However, I hope the book stands by itself as an anthology of poems worth reprinting and of poets worth recommending for further reading.

Younger poets have been productive since my original selections, and I have changed their inclusions accordingly. Interesting new poets have also appeared since 1993, and I have included a poem by as many as space permitted.

When the original anthology appeared, some reviewers were kind enough to mention that I hadn't included any of my own poems. It was nice to be noticed where I was absent. But an anthologist ought not to include poems which he or she cannot discuss critically. Besides, previous anthologies of Scottish poetry included much by their editors and closest friends, and I hope to be incapable of creating that kind of suspicion. My editorial principles are those of commitment to the subject and disinterestedness. Include me out; or, exclude me in - or whatever Sam Goldwyn's wise howler was.

The term 'twentieth-century' is, or course, an anachronism, or historical. Let it be read as a prelude to 'twenty-first century', and in a spirit that hopes for the perpetuation of good things and an end (as far as possible) to bad.

If there is one point I would like to make it is that the struggles and contests of elder or dead (alas) poets would seem to have been of assistance to the enhanced confidence and relaxation of younger generations of writers.

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Poetry

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Poetry Anthologies

Places:

Scotland

People & Characters:

Robert Burns