A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle
by Christopher Murray Grieve
At a glance:
- Author: Christopher Murray Grieve
- First Published: 1926
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry
- Subjects: Self-discovery, Symbolism, Drinking or drunkenness, Scotland or Scottish people, Life and death
The Work
In a letter to his publisher in 1926, MacDiarmid described A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle as a “long poem . . . divided into several sections having within the sections a great variety of manners and measures of verse.” The various forms MacDiarmid employed were designed to demonstrate the poet’s intellectual alliance with the most advanced currents of thought of his time. The basic stanza of the poem, the abcb of the classic Scots folk ballad, roots the poem in a cultural context that the poet wished to elevate to international significance....
(The entire page is 632 words.)
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