Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Poets
    • Poems
    • Burns Night
    • Scotland’s Makar
    • Podcasts
    • Best Scottish Poems
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • Nat 5 and Higher poems
    • Dyslexia-friendly lesson plans
    • Poems in Scots for schools
    • Rannan Chloinne / Children’s Verses
    • Nua-Nòs Gaelic Resources
    • Poems in English for schools
    • Scots poems for bairns
    • Posters
  • Events
    • What’s On
    • Organising a cultural event at the SPL
    • Meeting rooms and venue hire
  • Shop
    • SPL Shop
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • FAQs
    • Company papers
    • Jobs & Volunteering
    • Find us
    • Contact us
    • Making a complaint
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon
View of Edinburgh from the castle
Nan Shepherd

Poetry

Search and browse from over 3,000 poems, use our Online Guide to Scottish Poets, or dip into our Best Scottish Poems anthologies.


Bàrdachd
Rùraichibh agus rannsaichibh am measg còrr is 3,000 dàn. Cleachd ar Iùl air-loidhne gu Bàird na h-Alba, no cleachd ar duanairean de Sàr-Bhàrdachd na h-Alba.

Find poems

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

  • Search our website
  • Browse categories
  • SPL online catalogue

Browse by Category

Language
  • British Sign Language (BSL)
  • English
  • Gaelic
  • Scots
  • Shetlandic
  • Translations
Mood
  • Courage
  • Despair & Loneliness
  • Grief & Sorrow
  • Homesickness
  • Love
  • Optimism & Happiness
Occasion
  • Birth
  • Burns Night
  • Christmas
  • For Funerals
  • For Weddings
  • Halloween
Place
  • Aberdeenshire
  • Dumfries & Galloway
  • Edinburgh
  • Fife & Angus
  • Glasgow
  • Highlands & Islands
Curriculum Level
  • SQA Higher texts
  • SQA National 5 texts
Screenprint with a number of anachronistic Scottish poets posing in a pub.

Poems

A full index of online poems from the Scottish Poetry Library listed by theme.

Dàin

Clàr-amais slàn de dhàin air-loidhne bho Leabharlann Bàrdachd na h-Alba, a-rèir cuspair.
Discover poems
Oil painting of a figure holding forehead in thought, wreathed in laurel considers their writing which is laid out on paper infront of them

Online guide to Scottish poets

Our online guide to Scottish poets features biographies on notable Scottish poets and examples of their poetry.

Anns an Iùl againn mu Bhàird na h-Alba, lorgar eachdraidhean-beatha air bàird shònraichte na h-Alba, agus eisimpleirean den bhàrdachd aca.
Explore the Online Guide
Peter Mackay

Scotland’s Makar – Our National Poet

Academic, writer and broadcaster Pàdraig MacAoidh has been appointed as Scotland’s Makar - our national poet. Dr Mackay was appointed by the First Minister for a three-year term on the recommendation of a panel representing Scotland’s literary...
Find out more
yellow warbler bird in tree

Podcasts

Our weekly programme of poets, poems and news for you to listen to.
Listen to our podcasts
Screapadal (2017) by John Bryden

Best Scottish Poems

Scottish Poetry Library's annual online anthology of the year's 20 Best Scottish Poems, edited each year by a different editor.
Read Best Scottish Poems

Posters

Download our poetry posters
Find out more
Line drawing of a printing press

Publishers

Our growing directory of Scottish poetry publishers.
Learn about publishers

Newsletter

Sign up for our regular email newsletter.
Subscribe now

Online Shop

Browse our range of poetry books, cards and gifts in our online shop. Free UK shipping over £20.
Shop now

Popular Themes

19th century poems 20th century poems 21st century poems African poetry ageing birds childhood death everyday life film and cinema food Gaelic home identity illness landscape language loss love & romance memory mothers nature night Placebook Scotland poems about poets poems on postcards Poetry By Heart Scotland post-1914 resilience Scots Scots poems for children scottish poems ships and boats short poems sonnets suitable for children the body Tools of the Trade transience translation war winter women work World War I writing poetry
Hammond typewriter
I am an old book troglodyte
one who composes on paper
and types up the result
as many times as need be.
Continue reading The Privacy of Typewriters
More from Les Murray
Share poem on Facebook Share poem on Twitter Share poem on Pinterest
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy (UK)
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2026.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
Scottish Poetry Library
Manage Consent

To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.

We use privacy-focused tracking technologies to help us understand and improve the experience of our visitors. We track activity, not users, but you can still object to this tracking via our cookie policy.

Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
  • Manage options
  • Manage services
  • Manage {vendor_count} vendors
  • Read more about these purposes
View preferences
  • {title}
  • {title}
  • {title}