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  • SQA Higher texts
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Curriculum Level: SQA Higher texts

The Bargain - by Liz Lochhead

{ Poem }

The river in January is fast and high.
/ You and I
/ are off to the Barrows.
/ Gathering police-horses twitch and fret
/ at the Tron…

View of Scotland/Love Poem - by Liz Lochhead

{ Poem }

Down on her hands and knees
/ at ten at night on Hogmanay,
/ my mother still giving it elbowgrease
/ jiffywaxing the vinolay. (This is…

My Rival’s House - by Liz Lochhead

{ Poem }

is peopled with many surfaces.
/ Ormolu and gilt, slipper satin,
/ lush velvet couches,
/ cushions so stiff you can’t sink in.
/ Tables polished clear enough…

Basking Shark - by Norman MacCaig

{ Poem }

To stub an oar on a rock where none should be,
/ To have it rise with a slounge out of the…

Visiting Hour - by Norman MacCaig

{ Poem }

The hospital smell
/ combs my nostrils
/ as they go bobbing along
/ green and yellow corridors.
/
/ What seems a corpse
/ is trundled into a lift and…

Assisi - by Norman MacCaig

{ Poem }

The dwarf with his hands on backwards
/ sat, slumped like a half-filled sack
/ on tiny twisted legs from which
/ sawdust might run,
/ outside the…

To a Louse, On Seeing one on a Lady’s Bonnet at Church - by Robert Burns

{ Poem }

Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crowlan ferlie!
/ Your impudence protects you sairly:
/ I canna say but ye strunt rarely,
/ Owre gawze and lace;
/ Tho’…

Tam o’ Shanter - by Robert Burns

{ Poem }

Of Brownyis and of Bogillis full is this buke.
/ — Gawin Douglas
/
/ When chapman billies leave the street,
/ And drouthy neebors, neebors…

Holy Willie’s Prayer - by Robert Burns

{ Poem }

And send the Godly in a pet to pray.
/ — Alexander Pope.
/
/ O Thou that in the Heavens does dwell!
/ Wha, as it…

A Red, Red Rose - by Robert Burns

{ Poem }

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
/ That’s newly sprung in June;
/ O my…

To a Mouse - by Robert Burns

{ Poem }

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
An’ justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion
An’ fellow-mortal!

Aunt Julia - by Norman MacCaig

{ Poem }

Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic
/ very loud and very fast.
/ I could not answer her —
/ I could not understand her.
/
/ She…

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