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Edwin Muir (15 May 1887 – 3 January 1959 / Orkney / Scotland)
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Edwin Muir was an Orcadian poet, novelist and noted translator. Remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry in plain, unostentatious language with few stylistic preoccupations, Muir is a significant modern poet.
Biography
Muir was born in Deerness, where his mother was also born, at Hacco, remembered in his autobiography as "Haco". In 1901, when he was 14, his father lost his farm, and the family moved to Glasgow. In quick succession his father, two brothers, and his mother died within the space of a few years. His life as a young man was a depressing experience, and involved a raft of unpleasant jobs in factories and offices, including working in a factory... more »
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Popular Poems
- Abraham
- Circle and Square
- Horses
- In Love For Long
- Merlin
- Reading in Wartime
- Robert the Bruce (To Douglas in Dying)
- Scotland 1941
- Scotland's Winter
- The Angel and the Girl
- The Animals
- The Castle
- The Child Dying
- The Combat
Quotations
more quotations »-
''Long time he lay upon the sunny hill,
Edwin Muir (1887-1959), Scottish poet. Childhood (l. 1-2). . . Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 198...
To his father's house below securely bound.''
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''Those lumbering horses in the steady plough,
Edwin Muir (1887-1959), Scottish poet. Horses (l. 1-4). . . Oxford Anthology of English Literature, The, Vols. I-II. Frank Kermode and John Hollan...
On the bare field—I wonder why, just now,
They seemed terrible, so wild and strange,
Like magic power on the stony grange.''
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''But famished field and blackened tree
Edwin Muir (1887-1959), Scottish poet. One Foot in Eden (l. 20-23). . . New Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250-1950. Helen Gardner, ed. (1972...
Bear flowers in Eden never known.
Blossoms of grief and charity
Bloom in these darkened fields alone.''
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''The world's great day is growing late,
Edwin Muir (1887-1959), Scottish poet. One Foot in Eden (l. 3-5). . . New Oxford Book of English Verse, The, 1250-1950. Helen Gardner, ed. (1972) ...
Yet strange these fields that we have planted
So long with crops of love and hate.''
I cannot make a comment about Edwin Muir if I cannot read his poem! !
I cannot make a comment about Edwin Muir if I cannot read his poem! !