Lesley Duncan

Poetry Editor at The Herald (Scotland)

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Articles

Poet Alastair Reid: A sunny day in Scotland's dark heart

Apr 2, 2024 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

A rare sunny day in Scotland (Image: free) The place was a poetry meeting in St Andrews; the time more than a decade ago. The audience watched, bemused/amused, while the distinguished poet set fire to the slip of paper in his hand, a copy of the poem below. It was a playful gesture of complaint about the poem's popularity; it certainly catches that dourness in the face of beauty or good fortune that can be a characteristic of the Scottish psyche.
All this and wine, women, and existential philosophy

Oct 6, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

Edward FitzGerald was a wealthy Victorian eccentric with a wonderful way with words. His interpretation of the verses of the Persian Omar Khayyam (1048-1123) – poet, mathematician, and astronomer – are one of the landmarks of English literature, with memorable images ranging from the Sultan's Turret caught in a Noose of Light to the implacable Moving Finger whose words cannot be erased. All this and wine, women, and existential philosophy.
Poem of the week: Digging by Edward Thomas

Sep 22, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

Poet Edward Thomas (Image: unknown) Autumn has won out in Edward Thomas’s garden, as he revels in the scents of fallen leaves and purgative burning. And, final delight, he has the company of a robin with its sad songs of autumn mirth.
Poem of the week: Pondering on the benefits of standing still

Sep 8, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

W H Davies (Image: unknown) This little poem is memorable in its simplicity yet wisdom and a certain grace. The Welsh poet, WH Davies (1871-1940), described himself in his 1908 autobiography as a super-tramp. He spent some years in the USA and Canada and, in a curious coincidence with last week’s poet ,WE Henley, lost a leg, though in Davies’s case train-hopping. Both were in their different ways undaunted.
His spirit of defiance has been quoted by Churchill, Martin Luther King, and Mandela

Sep 1, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

The sixth Invictus Games take place for the first time in Germany from September 9 to 16 with the admirable cause of rehabilitating and aiding wounded or injured servicemen and women. The poem below, bearing the same Latin name, meaning unconquered or invincible, was written by R L Stevenson's friend W E Henley (1849-1903), after his leg was amputated. His fierce spirit of defiance has been quoted by Churchill, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela among others.
Poem of the week: In praise of the brave rowan tree

Aug 25, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

A bird feeds in a rowan tree Rowan trees are sporting their red berries at the moment, waiting for winged Scandinavian plunderers to nourish themselves on their autumn journeys south. What admirable trees they are, writes Lesley Duncan, at all times of the year, whether standing bravely on a mountain ridge or decorating a suburban garden. The 18-century poet Lady Nairne wrote this affectionate tribute to them.
Poem: New England poet Robert Frost on earth, sky and the coming fires

Aug 18, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

In this little literary tour de force, the New England poet Robert Frost manages to encompass, in a mere nine lines, global apocalypse and the individual human’s capacity for destructive personal relationships. The companion pieces show him in lighter mood. I once heard Frost read his poetry when I was a student in the USA. By then a legendary figure on the American literary scene, the old man with his shock of white hair, seemed to fit well with his Orcadian ancestry.
Poem: Norman MacCaig celebrates the Highland Games

Aug 11, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

Highland Games (Image: Newsquest) This is not only festival time in Edinburgh but the season for Highland games. Norman MacCaig is a reflective bystander at one of these northern festivities in this week's poem. It comes from the comprehensive volume of his work, from 1947 to 1992, edited by his son Ewen and published by Polygon. HIGHLAND GAMES They sit on the heather slopes and stand six deep round the rope ring.
Poem: Early Sunday Morning by Norman McCaig

Aug 4, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

The festival season hits Edinburgh again, filling her streets with crowds of the eager young and culture seekers. In contrast, today's poem by Norman MacCaig catches the sleepy capital city on a sabbath morning more than 60 years ago. It comes from the superb posthumous volume of his poems, edited by his son Ewen and published by Polygon.
A poem by Sorley MacLean, the most distinguished of all Gaelic poets

Jul 28, 2023 | heraldscotland.com | Lesley Duncan

Last Saturday's Herald offered insights into contemporary Scottish poetry from the McCash Prize. Today features a powerful reflection on love from Scotland's other great linguistic roots, Gaelic. The poem, by Gaeldom's twentieth-century master, Sorley MacLean, is translated by fellow Gael, Iain Crichton Smith.