Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • Poetry
    • Poets
    • Poems
    • Film
    • Podcasts
    • Makar – National Poet
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Poetry Ambassadors
      Tosgairean na Bàrdachd
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • Children’s poems in Scots
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • What’s On
    • Meeting rooms and venue hire
    • Exhibitions
  • Shop
    • Poetry Highlights
    • Stichill Marigold Press
    • Poems for Doctors, Nurses & Teachers
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Company Papers & Policies
    • FAQs
    • Find us
    • Contact us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • 20th century poems
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

20th century poems

Winter Twilight in West Lothian - by Isobel Wylie Hutchison

{ Poem }

The sun’s going down behind the great shale-heap
/ Over against the village; shadows creep
/ Shifting from door to door, and all the…

A Night’s Rain - by Walter Wingate

{ Poem }

The thunder clap may clatter –
/ The lichtnin’ flare awa’:
/ I’m listenin’ to the water,
/ …

Street Market - by Jean Guthrie-Smith

{ Poem }

Here, under the awning of cotton,
/ Tomatoes are heaped in a flare
/ Of glossy red beauty, and rotten
/ Sick-sweet smells of fruit fill…

‘The Black Belt’ - by Jean Guthrie-Smith

{ Poem }

Gruff trams and trains criss-cross and intersect
/ With glittering steel this leprous countryside;
/ Pyramid slagheaps threaten, seamed and specked
/ With smouldering pink: a…

When Will the War Be By? - by Charles Murray

{ Poem }

“This year, neist year, sometime, never,”
/ A lanely lass, bringing hame the kye,
/ Pu’s at a…

A Sough o’ War - by Charles Murray

{ Poem }

The corn was turnin’, hairst was near,
/ But lang afore the scythes could start
/ A sough o’…

In Memoriam - by E. Alan Mackintosh

{ Poem }

Private D. Sutherland
/ killed in action in the German trench, May 16, 1916,
/ and the others who died
/
/ So you were David’s…

Two Sonnets - by Charles Hamilton Sorley

{ Poem }

I
/ Saints have adored the lofty soul of you.
/ Poets have whitened at your high renown.
/ We stand among the many millions who
/ Do…

The Boy in the Train - by Mary Campbell Smith

{ Poem }

Whit wey does the engine say ‘Toot-toot’?
/ Is it feart to gang in the tunnel?
/ Whit wey is the furnace…

The Dominie’s Happy Lot - by Walter Wingate

{ Poem }

The Dominie is growing grey,
/ And feth he’s keepit thrang
/ Wi’ counts an’ spellin’ a’ the day,
/ And liffies when…

The Sair Finger - by Walter Wingate

{ Poem }

You’ve hurt your finger? Puir wee man!
/ Your pinkie? Deary me!
/ Noo, juist you haud it that wey till
/ I…

Highways and Byways - by Walter Wingate

{ Poem }

Highways for eident feet,
/ That hae their mile to gae;
/ But byways when spring is sweet,
/ …

1 2 3 Next
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2022.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
Scottish Poetry Library