Robert Burns
If ever a poet understood the character of his nation, he was Robert Burns. The language he was most fluent in wasn’t so much Scots or English – it was the language of the heart.
SQA Texts:
Carol Ann Duffy
First female, first Scottish Poet Laureate in the role's 400 year history, Duffy's combination of tender and tough, humour and lyric, jaded and curious, idiosyncratic and conventional has won her a very wide audience of readers and listeners.
SQA Texts:
- War PhotographerNational 5Higher
- ValentineNational 5Higher
- The Way My Mother SpeaksNational 5Higher
- OriginallyNational 5Higher
- Mrs MidasNational 5Higher
- In Mrs Tilscher’s ClassNational 5Higher
Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay was born and brought up in Scotland. She was awarded an MBE in 2006, and was Scotland’s Makar from 2016-2021.
SQA Texts:
- Whilst Leila SleepsNational 5
- Old TongueNational 5
- My Grandmother’s HousesNational 5
- LucozadeNational 5
- Keeping OrchidsNational 5
- Gap YearNational 5
Liz Lochhead
Appointed Scots Makar from 2011 to 2016, Liz Lochhead is both transgressive and popular; as Anne Varty wrote, ‘her work is that of one woman speaking to many, and one person speaking for many’.
SQA Texts:
- View of Scotland/Love PoemHigher
- The BargainHigher
- RevelationHigher
- My Rival’s HouseHigher
- Last SupperHigher
- Box RoomHigher
Norman MacCaig
A poet who divided his life and the attention of his poetry between Assynt in the West Highlands, and the city of Edinburgh, Norman MacCaig combined ‘precise observation with creative wit’, and wrote with a passion for clarity.
SQA Texts:
- Visiting HourNational 5Higher
- Hotel Room, 12th FloorNational 5Higher
- Brooklyn CopNational 5Higher
- Basking SharkNational 5Higher
- Aunt JuliaNational 5Higher
- AssisiNational 5Higher
Somhairle MacGill-Eain
Sorley MacLean
Sorley MacLean's mastery of his chosen medium and his engagement with the European poetic tradition and European politics make him one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era.
SQA Texts:
- TràigheanHigher
- Latha FoghairHigher
- HallaigHigher
- A nighean a’ chùil ruaidh òirHigher
- ‘Thug mise dhut biothbhuantachd’Higher
Edwin Morgan
Morgan was Glasgow’s first Poet Laureate 1999-2002, and the first to hold the post of Scots Makar, created by the Scottish Executive in 2004 to recognise the achievement of Scottish poets throughout the centuries.
SQA Texts:
- Winter (EM)National 5
- TrioNational 5
- In the Snack-barNational 5
- Good FridayNational 5
- Glasgow Sonnet iNational 5
- Glasgow 5 March 1971National 5
Don Paterson
Since the appearance of his first collection in 1993, Don Paterson has emerged a major poet, as well as an important anthologist, editor and critic.
SQA Texts:
- Waking with RussellHigher
- The Ferryman’s ArmsHigher
- The CircleHigher
- RainHigher
- Nil NilHigher
- 11:00: BaldovanHigher