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in the world's leading resource for Scottish poetry

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Search from over 3,000 selected poems on this site or explore our full collection in our online catalogue

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• SPL online catalogue

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Language

• British Sign Language (BSL)
• Cornish
• English
• Gaelic
• Scots
• Shetlandic

Mood

• Courage
• Despair & Loneliness
• Grief & Sorrow
• Homesickness
• Love
• Optimism & Happiness

Occasion

• Birth
• Burns Night
• Christmas
• For Funerals
• For Weddings

Place

• Dumfries & Galloway
• Edinburgh
• Fife & Angus
• Glasgow
• Highlands & Islands
• Scotland

Curriculum Level

• SQA Higher texts
• SQA National 5 texts

Find out about our latest resources, projects and events

The Library has Reopened

Social distancing is in place, the masks and gloves are freely available and we have enough hand sanitiser to swim in – we have reopened,

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Annual General Meeting 2020

How we plan to hold our AGM during the pandemic.

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Champions 2020

Guest curators commission original poems on the subject of 'Vision' to expand the SPL's regional reach.

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Our Shop is Open

Our online shop is OPEN. Order from us, have the book posted to you.

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Help support our work by becoming a Friend of the Scottish Poetry Library.

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Learn more about how to borrow books from our collections at the Scottish Poetry Library here.

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Visit

Come one, come all. The SPL is your poetry library.

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Culture Edinburgh

The SPL gratefully acknowledges the support of Culture Edinburgh, which is key to successful cultural and event development in Scotland's capital city.

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Keep up to date through our blog

Annual General Meeting 2020

21 December, 2020

How we plan to hold our AGM during the pandemic. ...More

Joy Hendry wins SPL’s inaugural Outstanding Contribution to Poetry in Scotland Award

1 December, 2020

The Scottish Poetry Library is launching a new literary prize, a biennial Outstanding Contribution to Scottish Poetry award. The first winner is Joy Hendry, the editor of influential magazine Chapman and a poet in her own right. ...More

Scottish Poetry Library welcomes raft of poets into its Online Guide

30 November, 2020

To mark St Andrews Day, the Scottish Poetry Library is adding 14 new names to its Online Guide to Scottish Poets, improving its representation of poets writing in Scots and Gaelic. ...More

Share our poem of the moment...

Fae dregs o Daft Deys debt comes hame

and we gaither in depression’s wame

aa duty-crossed –

but Burns’s birthday is a flame

set tae Defrost.

Continue reading Rabbie, Rabbie, Burning Bright

More from W. N. Herbert

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Dawn by Ed Dunens, under a Creative Commons licence

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Mon - Fri: 10.00am - 2.00pm

We've reopened with a reduced service (Click & Collect / free postal borrowing)

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The Scottish Poetry Library is staffed weekdays from 10am – 2pm and is providing a limited service including postal loans and Click & Collect. For details, click COVID-19 in the menu bar above. Dismiss